Chapter II · Śloka 22
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ||
नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि |
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णा-
न्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ||
vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi |
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||
navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi |
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||
Just as a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, similarly the soul accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
The garment analogy makes the abstract tangible: the self is to the body what the wearer is to clothing — unchanged by what it puts on or takes off. There is no violence in changing clothes, and by extension, no ultimate harm in the soul's change of body.