and inconstant. Bear them with equanimity, bravely and patiently, O Prince.

“For, verily, I say unto you, that the man whom these things have ceased to further torment—he who stands steadfast undisturbed by pleasure and pain—he to whom all these seem alike such a one, say I, hath acquired the road to Immortality.

“That which is unreal hath no shadow of Real Being, notwithstanding the illusion of appearance and false knowledge. And that which hath Real Being hath never ceased to be—can never cease to be, in spite of all appearances to the contrary. The wise have inquired into these things, O Arjuna, and have discovered the real Essence, and Inner Meaning of things.

“Know that The Absolute One, which underlies and pervades all things, is indestructible. No one can work the destruction of that Imperishable One.

“These bodies, which act as enveloping coverings for the souls occupying them, are but finite things—things of the moment—and not the Real Man at all. They perish as all finite things perish. Let them perish. Up, O Prince of Pandu, knowing these things, prepare to fight!

“He who in his ignorance thinketh, ‘I slay,’ or ‘I am slain,’ babbleth like an infant lacking knowledge. Of a truth, none can slay none can be slain.

“Take unto thy inner mind, this truth, O Prince! Verily, the Real Man—the Spirit of Man—is neither born, nor doth it die. Unborn, undying, ancient, perpetual and eternal, it hath endured and will endure forever. The body may die, be slain, be destroyed completely—but He that hath occupied it remaineth unharmed.

“How can a man who knoweth the truth that the Real Man is eternal, indestructible, superior to time, change and accident—how can such a man commit the folly of thinking that he can either kill, or be killed, or be killed himself?

“As a man throweth away his old garments, replacing them with new and brighter ones, even so the Dweller in the body, having quitted its old mortal frame, entereth into others which are new and freshly prepared for it.