May your soul rest in peace

As a man discards
worn-out clothes
to put on new
and different ones,
so the embodied Atman
discards its worn-out bodies
to take on other new ones.
Weapons do not cut it,
fire does not burn it,
waters do not wet it,
wind does not wither it.
It cannot be cut or burned
it cannot be wet or withered
it is enduring, all pervasive,
fixed, immovable, and timeless.
It is called unmanifest,
inconceivable, and immutable
since you know that to be so,
you should not grieve!

If you think of its birth
and death as ever-recurring,
then too, Great Warrior,
you have no cause to grieve!
Death is certain for anyone born,
and birth is certain for the dead
since the cycle is inevitable,
you have no cause to grieve!
Creatures are unmanifest in origin,
manifest in the midst of life,
and unmanifest again in the end.
Since this is so, why do you lament?
Rarely someone sees it,
rarely another speaks it,
rarely anyone hears it--
even hearing it,
no one really knows it.
The Atmanembodied in the body
of every being is indestructible
you have no cause to grieve
for all these creatures,

Arjuna!
Look to your own duty
do not tremble before it
nothing is better for a warrior
than a battle of sacred duty.
The doors of heaven open
for warriors who rejoice
to have a battle like this
thrust on them by chance.
If you fail to wage this war
of sacred duty,
you will abandon your own duty
and fame only to gain evil.
People will tell
of your undying shame,
and for a man of honor
shame is worse than death.
The great chariot warriors will think
you deserted in fear of battle
you will be despised
by those who held you in esteem.
Your enemies will slander you,
scorning your skill
in so many unspeakable ways--
could any suffering be worse?
If you are killed, you win heaven
if you triumph, you enjoy the earth
therefore, Arjuna, stand up
and resolve to fight the battle!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .