The Self dwells in the house of the body,
Which passes through childhood, youth, and old age.
So passes the Self at the time of death
Into another body. The wise know this truth
And are not deceived by it.
When the senses come in contact with sense-objects
They give rise to feelings of heat and cold,
Pleasure and pain, which come and go.
Accept them calmly, as do the wise.
The wise, who live free from pleasure and pain,
Are worthy of immortality.
What is real never ceases to be.
The unreal never is. The sages
Who realize the Self know the secret
Of what is and what is not.
Know that the Self, the ground of existence,
Can never be destroyed or diminished.
For the changeless cannot be changed.
Which passes through childhood, youth, and old age.
So passes the Self at the time of death
Into another body. The wise know this truth
And are not deceived by it.
When the senses come in contact with sense-objects
They give rise to feelings of heat and cold,
Pleasure and pain, which come and go.
Accept them calmly, as do the wise.
The wise, who live free from pleasure and pain,
Are worthy of immortality.
What is real never ceases to be.
The unreal never is. The sages
Who realize the Self know the secret
Of what is and what is not.
Know that the Self, the ground of existence,
Can never be destroyed or diminished.
For the changeless cannot be changed.
Bodies die, not the Self that dwells therein.
Know the Self to be beyond change and death.
Therefore strive to realize this Self.
Those who look upon the Self as slayer
Or as slain have not realized the Self.
How can the Self be killed or kill
When there is only One?
Never was the Self born; never shall it
Cease to be. Without beginning or end,
Free from birth, free from death, and free from time,
How can the Self die when the body dies?
Who knows the Self to be birthless, deathless,
Not subject to the tyranny of time,
How can the Self slay or cause to be slain?
Even as we cast off worn-out garments
And put on new ones, so casts off the Self
A worn-out body and enters into
Another that is new.
Source: Bhagavad Gita, chapter 2, verses 13 2 30.
Translated for meditation by Eknath Easwaran.