In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna is torn between engaging in a war that would lead to death and abandoning such a war. He points out that Bhishma and Drona are all prepared to go to war with him. According to Arjuna, this war will lead to the death of many people and consequently affect the peace and tranquility of families. He wonders whether it is the right thing to kill or to withdraw from the battle. As such, he seeks counsel from Lord Krishna. In his counsel, Lord Krishna admonishes him for cowardice and his fear for engaging in battle. With this advice, Lord Krishna points out the fact that death does not exist.
In his asserting that there is no death, Krishna alludes to several facts. Firstly, Krishna alludes to the fact that something that exists cannot cease to exist on its own. Similarly, something that does not exist cannot spontaneously come into existence. Human beings do physically exist. From this fact, Krishna means that since human beings do exist, they cannot spontaneously cease to exist. He demonstrates that the very aspect of death suggests the essence of moving out of existence. Since human beings do exist by their nature, it is impossible for them to cease from existing as eluded by the essence of death (Miller, 2004). From this perspective, Lord Krishna means that human beings cannot die since they are existing and it is impossible to take them out of existence via death because it does not exist.
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Secondly, Krishna points out that the purported death of human beings cannot be considered dead indeed. According to Krishna, death only occurs when someone ceases to exist completely. However, human beings do not cease to exist. Krishna argues that what stops to exist at the point of purported death is the body of that individual who is purported to have died. However, the body is only an embodiment of the actual person. The body only houses the actual person and is not the person (Second Teachings). When the body dies decays and decomposes, it cannot be taken to mean that the person has died. Therefore, Krishna means that death only occurs to the body of an individual but does not affect the individual himself; a person does not die, and hence death does not exist.
Thirdly, Krishna holds the view that the person embodied in a body can reinvent him or herself in another body. He proposes the cycle that a person is born, grows, dies, and reborn in another body. This point of view seeks to demonstrate that the life of an individual is a continuous process that does not stop; it goes beyond the point when one is considered to have died. Therefore, when the body of an individual dies, the person enters into another body and is reborn in that body. From this perspective, there are no new individuals in the world. However, the same individuals recycle their lifespan repeatedly beyond the point of physical death (Miller, 2004). Considering this point of view from a literal sense one can conclude that indeed there is no death since the person who dies is born in another body.
Fourthly, by claiming that there is no death, Krishna means that the physical causes of the purported death do not affect the individual in question. The major causes of death are injuries from cuts, hitting, and diseases, which only affect the body of the person in question. It is the body that feels pain when beaten, cut, sick or burnt. Such acts can destroy the body. However, the destroyed body does not prevent the self from leaving and getting another body. Whereas these physical causes of death can destroy the body, they lack that same capacity when it comes to destroying self because the individual beneath the body cannot be cut, bunt or beaten. Such acts do not inflict physical pain to self but rather to the body that encompasses self. Since such acts do not affect the real person, it is impractical to claim that such a person has died out of such causes of death (Second Teachings). Therefore, Krishna means that since such causes of death cannot affect the real self, then it is illogical to claim that self can die.
Moreover, Krishna points out that people manifest differently at different stages of their lives. During birth, they manifest as newborns. As the body grows, the person is manifested as mature. Moreover, the person manifests as old as he ages. The cycle demonstrates that while the person is the same, he manifests in different forms of the embodiment at every stage of his life. While the embodiment changes, the person remains the same. When the body dies, the person can be manifested in another embodiment but remains the same person. Therefore, when the embodiment changes, the effects are inconsequential in self. Similarly, when the embodiment dies, such death cannot imply the death of self (Miller, 2004). With his assertion that there is no death, Krishna infers that the death of the body cannot be equated to the death of self.
Lastly, Krishna equates the life of an individual to a person who wears clothes. According to Krishna, one can wear clothes and take them off at will. He or she can also wear other clothes but remain the same person. The analogy demonstrates that even if a body dies, that person can change the body and live in another body (Second Teachings). While the body wears out and succumbs to death, the self changes from the body, put on another body, and continue to exist. Just as if the tattered clothes do not cause the body to equally wear out and die, the worn out body does not also cause self to die (Miller, 2004). On the contrary, self-changes the body and puts own a new one. Therefore, Krishna means that self can change the body and that death of a body does not translate to death of self. As such, there is no death.
Overall, Krishna makes interesting explanations and analogies in clarifying his assertion that death does not exist. With this assertion, he means that an individual’s embodiment can die, but such death does not imply that the individual has died. He also implies that a person’s self can change their body and put on another body when one body wears out and dies. Therefore, the self becomes consistently reinvented and propagated in another body without death. He also argues that whatever is in existence cannot spontaneously get out of existence. Similarly, that which is out of existence cannot spontaneously get to existence. As such, since the self exists, it cannot disappear spontaneously through the process of death. For these reasons, Lord Krishna argues that it is irrational to claim that the self has died and death does not exist.
References
Miller, B. S. (2004). The Bhagavad Gita: Krishna’s Counsel in Time of War . New York, NY: Bantam Books.
Second Teachings. Philosophy and Spiritual Discipline.
