न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचि नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः । अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥ २० ॥
na jāyate mriyate vā kadāchin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ ajo nityaḥ śhāśhvato ’yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śharīre
Translation
The soul is never born and never dies; it does not come into being and then cease to exist. It is unborn, eternal, ever-present and primeval — it is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.
Hindi Meaning (हिंदी अर्थ)
आत्मा न कभी जन्म लेती है और न कभी मरती है; न यह अस्तित्व में आकर समाप्त होती है। यह अजन्मा, नित्य, सदा विद्यमान और सनातन है — शरीर के नष्ट होने पर भी यह नष्ट नहीं होती।
Commentary
This is one of the Gita's clearest philosophical statements on the nature of the self (atman). Krishna draws a sharp line between the body, which is born, ages and dies, and the soul, which merely occupies bodies without itself being subject to that cycle. The verse asserts this flatly, as the central premise on which the rest of Krishna's argument — that grieving for the death of bodies makes no sense once you understand what actually dies and what doesn't — depends.