2.26 But even if thou thinkest of It as being constantly born and constantly dying, even then, O mighty-armed, thou shouldst not grieve.

2.26 Atha va etc. On the other hand if you deam 'This' to be the body and to be born constantly,-because its stream does not stop-even then, there is no necessity to lament. Or, if, following the [Vainasika Buddhists' ?] doctrine of continuous decay of things, you deem This to be constantly dying, even then where is the need for lamenting ? If you, in the same manner, deem the Self to be constantly born or to be constantly dying on account of Its contacts and separations with bodies, even then it is unwarranted, on every account, on the part of the men of rational thinking, to lament. Otherwise this [division of] permanence and impermanence does not stand reasoning. For-

**2.26** O mighty-armed one! Even if you consider this embodied soul to be eternally subject to birth or eternally subject to death, even then you should not grieve in this manner. **Commentary:** "But if you think... you should not grieve" – Here, the Lord presents an alternative viewpoint by using the words "but if" and "you think." He says that although the established principle and the true reality is that the embodied soul is never subject to birth or death at any time (Gita 2.20), nevertheless, even if you accept a view completely contrary to this principle—that the soul is eternally born and eternally dies—even then you should not grieve. The reason is that one who is born will surely die, and one who dies will surely be born—this law cannot be averted. If a seed is sown in the earth, it swells and sprouts, and that very sprout gradually grows and becomes a tree. If observed with subtle insight, did that seed remain in one form even for a single moment? In the earth, it first shed its hard form and became soft; then, abandoning the soft form, it became a sprout; thereafter, leaving the sprout form, it became a tree; and finally, when its lifespan ended, it dried up. In this way, the seed did not remain in one form even for a moment; rather, it changed every instant. If the seed had remained in one form even for a moment, how could the process up to the withering of the tree have occurred? It abandoned its previous form—that was its death, and it assumed another form—that was its birth. Thus, it was born and died every moment. This body is just like that seed. In a very subtle form, the male germ cell united with the ovum. It grew and grew, became the form of a child, and then was born. After birth, it grew, then declined, and finally died. In this way, the body did not remain in one form even for a moment but kept changing—that is, it was born and died every instant. The Lord says that even if you consider the soul within the body, like the body itself, to be eternally subject to birth and death, even then this cannot be a cause for grief.