Bhagavad Gita on Grief & Loss

“na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin”

The soul is never born and never dies; eternal and ageless, it is not slain when the body is slain.

Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.

“mātrā-sparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇa-sukha-duḥkha-dāḥ”

Heat and cold, pleasure and pain come and go and do not last. Endure them with patience, dear one.

Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.

“sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja”

Let go of all your burdens and take refuge in Me alone. I will free you from all that weighs on you; do not grieve.

Krishna's final, crowning counsel to Arjuna at the close of the Gita, on the field of Kurukshetra — to surrender every burden and take refuge in the Divine alone.