Chapter 2, Verse 26

अथ चैनं नित्यजातं नित्यं वा मन्यसे मृतम्। तथापि त्वं महाबाहो नैवं शोचितुमर्हसि৷৷

atha cainaṅ nityajātaṅ nityaṅ vā manyasē mṛtam. tathāpi tvaṅ mahābāhō naivaṅ śōcitumarhasi৷৷

Translation

Even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born, constantly dying, even then, O Mighty Man, thou still hast no cause to grieve.

Translation — Purohit Swami

Commentary

अथ now, च and, एनम् this (Self), नित्यजातम् constantly born, नित्यम् constantly, वा or, मन्यसे thinkest, मृतम् dead, तथापि even then, त्वम् thou, महाबाहो mightyarmed, न not, एवम् thus, शोचितुम् to grieve, अर्हसि (thou) oughtest. Commentary: Lord Krishna here, for the sake of argument, takes up the popular supposition. Granting that the Self is again and again born whenever a body comes into being, and again and again dies whenever the body dies, O mightyarmed (O Arjuna of great valour and strength), thou shouldst not grieve thus, because birth is inevitable to want is dead and death is inevitable to what is born. This is the inexorable or unrelenting Law of Nature.

Commentary — Swami Sivananda

Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.