Chapter 2 · Knowledge of the Self
Bhagavad Gita 2.22
As worn-out clothes are changed for new.
Shri Bhagavan
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya / navāni gṛhṇāti naro’parāṇi / tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇā / nyanyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī
As a man puts aside worn-out clothes and takes up new ones, so the one who dwells in the body puts aside worn-out bodies and enters others that are new.
हिंदी · जैसे मनुष्य पुराने वस्त्र उतारकर नए पहन लेता है, वैसे ही देही जीर्ण शरीरों को छोड़कर दूसरे नए शरीरों में चला जाता है।
What it means
As worn-out clothes are changed for new.
As a person puts off worn-out clothes and takes new ones, so the embodied Self leaves worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Where this verse stands
The Self and the changing body
Chapter 22.11–30
Krishna establishes the enduring Self and challenges grief grounded in mistaking the perishable for the whole person.
This verse belongs to the middle development of the movement.
Common questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 2.22 mean?
As worn-out clothes are changed for new. As a person puts off worn-out clothes and takes new ones, so the embodied Self leaves worn-out bodies and enters new ones.
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 2.22?
Shri Bhagavan. The speaker is taken from the text’s own उवाच line as transcribed, not inferred from the verse number.