Shloka 58
Daṇḍa as the Foundation of Social Order (दण्डप्रतिष्ठा)
देहान् पुराणानुत्सृज्य नवान् सम्प्रतिपद्यते । एवं मृत्युमुखं प्राहुर्जना ये तत्त्वदर्शिन:
dehān purāṇān utsṛjya navān sampratipadyate | evaṁ mṛtyumukhaṁ prāhur janā ye tattvadarśinaḥ ||
Arjuna said: “Casting off old bodies, one takes on new ones. In this very way, those who truly see reality describe death as merely an entry into another state—an inevitable passage rather than annihilation.”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that death is not the end of the self but a transition comparable to discarding an old body and assuming a new one; those who know reality (tattvadarśinaḥ) understand death as a threshold rather than destruction.
Arjuna speaks reflectively, framing mortality in philosophical terms: he presents the idea that embodied existence continues through the taking up of new bodies, citing the view of truth-seers to support this understanding.