The Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 2 · verse 2.20
The soul is never born, nor does it die. It has not come into being, will not come into being, and will not cease to be. Unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, primeval — it is not slain when the body is slain.
Sanskrit (Devanagari)
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः। अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे॥
Transliteration
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ; ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṁ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre
English translation
The soul is never born, nor does it die. It has not come into being, will not come into being, and will not cease to be. Unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying, primeval — it is not slain when the body is slain.
Meaning — what the verse is actually saying
The Gita's definition of the self is radical: the real you is not the body that is born and dies. It is the awareness in which birth and death appear. Everything else — biography, identity, possession — belongs to the body.
Modern practice — what to do today because of this
When grief over loss becomes overwhelming, return to this verse. Not as consolation, but as inquiry: what in you is actually lost when something is lost? The body changes. The role changes. The awareness that knew the changing has not changed.