Geethartha Chintane-123: The Cycle of Birth, Death, Joy, and Sorrow

Team Udayavani, Dec 14, 2024, 9:18 AM IST

When the transitions of childhood, youth, and old age do not cause sorrow to the soul, why should moving to another body (dehantara) bring grief? Lord Krishna explains this to Arjuna, stating, “What exists is merely a body. The soul didn’t need to part when youth or old age occurred, so why should it be any different when transitioning to another body?”

Krishna poses a question, “You have gone through countless births before this. If so, for whom are you grieving now? This current body and relationships are just part of a cycle. The people who were your kin in previous births are no longer so now. Why then do you consider only those in this birth as ‘yours’?”

Krishna further elaborates that the sense of attachment to one’s family and relationships is fleeting and temporary. When someone departs, sorrow is experienced by the living, not by the departed soul. Reflect on the series of bodies the soul has inhabited over lifetimes, he says, and understand that permanent sorrow is unnecessary unless someone is lost forever.

Just as childhood, youth, and old age occur in sequence, so do different bodies, forming a continuous cycle. Joys and sorrows are inevitable companions in this cycle. Only liberation (moksha) brings a state of eternal bliss. Krishna advises Arjuna to focus on the bigger picture, saying, “Even when old age arrives, childhood will return in another form. Look forward and move with conviction.”

This teaching leads to the famous verse: “Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya” (Just as a person discards old clothes and wears new ones, the soul discards an old body and takes on a new one.)

~ Sri Sugunendra Theertha Swamiji of Paryaya Sri Puthige Sri Krishna Matha

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