The Gita on losing someone you love
What does the Gita say about the death of a loved one?
The short answer
The Gita begins exactly here, with Arjuna in tears over people he loves. Krishna's answer: the wise grieve for neither the living nor the dead (2.11), because the one you love passes on from this body the way they passed from childhood to youth to age (2.13). Every being comes from the unseen and returns to it; only the middle is visible to us (2.28). The pain is real, and it passes: bear it (2.14). Grief is honoured here, but it is not the last word.
The verses
अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे ।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः ॥aśocyān anvaśocas tvaṃ prajñā-vādāṃś ca bhāṣase
gatāsūn agatāsūṃś ca nānuśocanti paṇḍitāḥ
You have grieved for those who deserve no grief, and you talk words of wisdom. Learned men grieve not for the living nor the dead.
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā
tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati
As in this body infancy and youth and old age come to the embodied self, so does the acquisition of another body; a sensible man is not deceived about that.
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata
avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā
The source of things, O descendant of Bharata, is unperceived; their middle state is perceived; and their end again is unperceived. What occasion is there for lamentation regarding them?
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।
आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkhadāḥ
āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṃs titikṣasva bhārata
The contacts of the senses, O son of Kuntī, which produce cold and heat, pleasure and pain, are not permanent; they are ever coming and going. Bear them, O descendant of Bharata!
More doubts the Gita answers
Sanskrit from our library: GRETIL's text with Śaṅkara's commentary for chapters 1–17 and the BORI critical edition of the Mahābhārata for chapter 18, each verse checked against the critical edition. English: K. T. Telang's translation (1882), in modern English. Tap a verse number to read its whole chapter.