Bhagavad Gita & Upanishad Wisdom for Grief

The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead.

Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you; nor shall any of us ever cease to be.

Just as the soul passes through childhood, youth and old age, so too it passes on at death. The steady are not bewildered by this.

Pleasure and pain, heat and cold — they come and they go. They do not last. Bear them patiently.

One who stays steady in sorrow and in joy, undisturbed by either, is ready for lasting peace.

The soul is never born and never dies. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.

As a person puts aside worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so the soul sets aside a worn-out body.

Weapons cannot cut the soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it.

For all who are born, death is certain. Do not lament over what cannot be avoided.

You have a right to your actions, but never to their outcomes. Do your part, and let the rest go.

Do your work with a steady mind, letting go of attachment to success or failure. Such evenness of mind is called yoga.

One whose mind is untroubled in sorrow, who is free from fear and anger, is called a person of steady wisdom.

As rivers pour into the ocean and it remains still, so peace comes to one whom desires enter without disturbing.

From anger comes delusion; from delusion, confused memory; and from confused memory, the loss of reason.

On this path no effort is ever lost, and even a little practice protects one from great fear.

Lift yourself up by your own self; do not let yourself sink. You can be your own truest friend.

For one who has befriended the mind, the mind is the best of friends.

For one who is moderate in eating, resting, working and sleeping, practice becomes the destroyer of sorrow.

Like a lamp in a windless place that does not flicker — so is a mind that has found stillness.

The mind is restless and hard to hold, but it can be steadied by patient practice and letting go.

One who does good never comes to a bad end.

Be friendly and compassionate to all, free from ego, forgiving, and even-minded in joy and sorrow.

Set down every worry and take refuge in the divine. Do not grieve.

Not overjoyed by what is pleasant, nor shaken by what is unpleasant, the steady mind rests in the eternal.

It is better to walk your own path imperfectly than another's path perfectly.

Lead me from the unreal to the real; lead me from darkness to light; lead me from death to immortality.

The Self is not born, and it does not die. It is unborn, eternal, and ancient.

One who sees all beings in the Self, and the Self in all beings, no longer turns away from anything.

Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached.

You cannot believe in God until you believe in yourself.

Whatever is destined not to happen will not happen, try as you may. Whatever is destined to happen will happen, do what you may.

The river and its waves are one surf: where is the difference between the river and its waves?

Do not go to the garden of flowers! O Friend! go not there; in your body is the garden of flowers.