vāsāṁsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya
navāni gṛhṇāti naro ’parāṇi
tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny
anyāni saṁyāti navāni dehī (Bhagavad gita 2.22)
As a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, the soul similarly accepts new material bodies, giving up the old and useless ones.
Ramanuja’s Commentary
We learn from the Vedic scriptures that those who lose their physical bodies fighting for righteousness receive superior physical bodies in heavenly spheres of blessedness. Such a transition can be compared to discarding old, used, worn out clothes and attiring oneself in fresh, new raiment. So from another angle of vision it is being confirmed that the eternal soul is indestructible changing its embodied form for another when the physical body perishes. Now in the next verse some examples are emphasised to give a more developed and comprehensive understanding of this indestructibility in the next verse.
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