9. Arjuna said:—If it is so, O lord of worlds! then I ween that the loss of the body is attended with no loss or gain to the ignorant (because they have nothing to care for an immortal soul like the learned).
10. The lord replied:—so it is, O mighty armed Arjuna! they lose nothing by the loss of the perishable body, but they know that the soul is imperishable, and its loss is the greatest of all losses.
11. How be it, I see no greater mistake of men in this world; than when they say, that they have lost anything or gained something that never belongs to them. It appears like the crying of a barren woman for her child, which she never had, nor is expected to have at any time.
12. That it is axiomatic truth established by the learned, and well known to all men of common sense, though the ignorant may not perceive it verily, that an unreality can not come to reality, nor a reality go to nothing at any time. (This equivalent to the definite propositions, "what is, is; and what is not, is naught; or that, positive can not be the negative, not the negative an affirmative").
13. Now know that to be imperishable, that has spread out this perishable and frail world; and there is no one that can destroy the indestructible (or the entity of the immortal soul).
14. The finite bodies are said to be the abode of the infinite soul, and yet the destruction of the finite and frail, entails no loss upon the infinite and imperishable soul. Know therefore the difference between the two.
15. The soul is a unity without a duality, and there is no possibility of its nihility. (because the unity is certain reality, and duality is a nullity). The eternal and infinite reality of the soul, can never be destroyed with the destruction of the body.
16. Leaving aside the unity and duality, take that which remains, and know that state of tranquillity which is situated between the reality and unreality, to be the state of the transcendental Deity.
17. Arjuna rejoined:—such being the nature of the soul, then tell me, O lord, what is the cause of this certainty in man that he is dying, and what makes him think, that he is either going to heaven above or to the hell below. (What is the cause of heavenly bliss and the torments of hell).
18. The lord replied:—know Arjuna! There is a living soul dwelling in the body, and composed of the elements of earth, air, water, fire and vacuum, as also of the mind and understanding: (all of which being destructible in their nature, cause the destructibility of the living principle, and its subjection to pain and pleasure in this life and in the next. gloss).