Gita 02.22 – The dress metaphor redefines death not as a miserable termination but as a welcome transition
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
Word-to-word
vāsāṁsi — garments; jīrṇāni — old and worn out; yathā — just as; vihāya — giving up; navāni — new garments; gṛhṇāti — does accept; naraḥ — a man; aparāṇi — others; tathā — in the same way; śarīrāṇi — bodies; vihāya — giving up; jirṇāni — old and useless; anyāni — different; saṁyāti — verily accepts; navāni — new sets; dehī — the embodied.
Translation
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Explanation
It is one of the most well-known verses in the Bhagavad Gita. It talks about how the body is like a dress for the soul.
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya – As one gives up the old clothes
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi – The person accepts new clothes
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny – Similarly the soul gives up old body when it grows old
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī – And accepts a new body
Till now, Krishna has been talking about how the soul is indestructible amid the changing of the body. Now, the question may come up: what exactly is the relationship between the soul and the body?
Krishna has talked about various things. First, He has talked about the body being like the accommodation of the soul (Bg 2.13): dehino ’smin yathā dehe—the body is like the residence of the soul. And in Bg 2.17: yena sarvam idaṁ tatam—He has talked about how the soul pervades the body.
The soul is different from just a tenant who lives in a house. The tenant lives in a house, stays in one place, and doesn’t literally pervade it. But the soul, while residing in one place, pervades through the energy of consciousness.
Krishna is now using another metaphor to explain the relationship between the body and the soul. He says the body is like a dress. The dress metaphor actually emphasizes and conveys many things. The dress, in one sense, is external to the person. The person remains the same even when the dress changes, and the dress itself is changeable. Not only is it changeable, but it is also essential to change the dress because the dress grows old, and one cannot keep wearing the same dress lifelong.
The significance of what Krishna is telling Arjuna is clear: if you see, He uses the word navāni (new) twice. Just as new dresses are taken up, similarly, new bodies are taken up. Krishna is giving a further positive spin to the whole process of reincarnation—the philosophical point of the difference between the body and the soul—by explaining that the soul is going to get a new body just like a person gets a new dress.
Our Acharyas have explained, and Prabhupada also elaborates, that the new body will be a better body if a person has performed proper karma. Just as a person gets a new dress based on their paying capacity and desire, similarly, we get a new body based on our desires and our paying capacity, which is our karma.
Though Bhishma and Drona botched up things on a few occasions by not protecting Draupadi and siding with the Kauravas, overall, they have lived lives of great virtue. Because of those virtuous lives, they will get elevated bodies. They will get new, better bodies. Now, they have old bodies that are getting worn out, so they will actually get a better deal.
Arjuna need not lament this transmigration. Even if he says, “I will lose them,” that loss is inevitable sooner or later. Just as we don’t take the changing of dresses very seriously, similarly, we don’t have to be agonized and traumatized by the changing of the bodily dress.
When we know that the soul is eternal, understanding that the soul is simply getting a new body helps us calm our system.
Now, of course, there are many other issues involved here. Normally, when we get a new dress, it’s not that with the new dress, we change our location. But the process of transmigration involves the soul usually changing its location. Very rarely is the soul born in the same place or the same family. The soul changes location, and the relationships it had with others are severed—usually irreversibly. This also causes grief.
Grief is natural, but the magnitude and nature of grief vary depending on our understanding of the person. If we think the person is just a lump of matter and that their existence ends irreversibly, then for the person who is going to die, the idea of permanent nonexistence is not just scary but horrifyingly unbearable.
For the loved ones around that person, if they think the person’s existence is going to end, the nature and magnitude of their agony are far greater than when they understand that the person is simply going elsewhere.
When we understand this, we can actually minimize the agony and trauma. We view death not as a termination but as a transition.
At this transition, we have something positive to do—for both the person who is dying and those around them. If we think the person’s existence is ending, we can only bring emotional closure, express love, and try to make the end as pleasant as possible.
But when we know the end is not the end—when we know the person is going to another life—we can help them prepare for that life by fostering better consciousness at the moment of death.
The profound science of how we attain a destination based on our disposition will be elaborated by Krishna in the 8th chapter. For now, the point is this: understanding that death is not a termination but a transition opens up positivity in preparing for it.
Both the dying person and their loved ones can strive to elevate their consciousness. In this way, Krishna is offering not just a positive spin but a perception of the positive reality.
A positive spin implies merely looking at reality optimistically or reframing it in new words. But Krishna is offering the perception of the positive reality: the soul has a life beyond death, and we can help that soul attain a better life beyond death.
Just as we help our loved ones have a better life in this world, we can help them have a better life in the next. Krishna tells Arjuna that he will be helping his loved ones, Bhishma and Drona, have a better life in the next world by accelerating their transition.
That transition is inevitable, but Arjuna will be accelerating their movement from old, worn bodies to new, better ones. Although Bhishma and Drona were Kshatriyas and physically fit, the effects of age were still evident.
Through the metaphor of changing clothes, Krishna encourages Arjuna not only to give up lamentation but to see the inevitable conflict and its results positively.
Thank you.
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