|| 2.20 ||

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि न्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे।।

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

na (never) jāyate (takes birth) mriyate (dies) vā (or) kadācit (at any time) na (never) ayam (this) bhūtvā (having come into being) bhavitā (will come into being) vā (or) na (not) bhūyaḥ (again) ajaḥ (unborn) nityaḥ (eternal) śāśvataḥ (ever-existing) ayam (this) purāṇaḥ (the oldest) na (never) hanyate (is killed) hanyamāne (being killed) śarīre (the body)

For the soul there is neither birth nor death at any time. He has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.

This is one of the most famous verses in the Gītā, summarizing the nature of the soul. Kṛṣṇa declares that the soul never takes birth and never dies at any time. It has not come into being, does not come into being, and will not come into being. It is unborn, eternal, and primeval. While the body goes through changes—birth, growth, old age, and death—the soul remains constant. It is ‘purāṇaḥ’, the oldest, yet it always remains fresh and new. It is not slain when the body is slain. This knowledge is the ultimate antidote to fear and grief. If Arjuna truly realizes this, his hands will stop shaking. He will see the war not as a slaughterhouse, but as a divinely orchestrated transition for the eternal souls involved. The soul’s existence is independent of the biological frame it currently occupies.
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