Chapter 2 Verse 11

Chapter 2, Verse 11

"Although you mean well, Arjuna,
Your sorrow is for nothing.
The wise mourn neither for the dead
Nor for the living,
For life and death shall pass away."

Paramahansa Yogananda:

"In this verse, the Sanskrit word Gatasun, translated as 'dead', means literally 'one whose breath has gone'. Breath is synonymous with mortal life. It is the stimulator of the restlessness or motion associated with life. Yogis, who by breath-control (Pranayama) manage the vital life-force in the body, enter the breathless state of super-consciousness (Samadhi) and thus are able to subdue every ripple of restlessness. Those resolute students who deeply practice the technique of Yoga concentration become riveted to the supreme unchangeable state in spirit. They master the restlessness that is synonymous with mortal life, and experience consciously the calm, the silence, and the accompanying freedom from identification with the body, the mind, and the emotions. From that state of consciousness comes the understanding of the nature of matter and its motions of constant change. The wise, therefore, are not tossed by ups and downs on the waves of pleasure and pain. They dive deeply into the spirit-ocean of joy, unruffled by the waves of change that rage upon the surface of human consciousness. Those who look at the surface of the sea behold the birth and death of the waves, but those who seek the depths of the ocean behold one indivisible mass of water."