In the Bhagavad Gita, the Ātman is presented as the eternal, indestructible core of a being, utterly distinct from the perishable body. It is described as unborn and undying, never coming into existence at a particular moment and never ceasing to be. The text emphasizes that the soul is unchangeable and immutable, remaining constant while all material forms undergo transformation. Thus, when the body is said to die, the Gita insists that the true self is not slain, for it stands beyond birth and death altogether.

To clarify this immortality, Krishna employs vivid images: weapons cannot cut the soul, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, and wind cannot dry it. The Ātman is portrayed as beyond the reach of all material processes, unmanifest and unthinkable in ordinary terms, yet ever-present as the unchanging reality within. Just as a person discards worn-out garments and puts on new ones, the soul is said to cast off an old body and assume another, passing from one embodiment to the next without itself being diminished or altered. Death, in this vision, is not an end but a transition in which only the outer covering is shed.

The Gita also contrasts the changing body with the steady witness within. The body moves through childhood, youth, and old age, yet throughout these stages the same conscious principle endures. At death, this same conscious self simply passes on to another body, so that grieving over the destruction of the body alone is seen as a misunderstanding of the deeper reality. This teaching underlies Krishna’s counsel that one should not lament for embodied beings whose essential self cannot be harmed.

Finally, the text situates the individual soul within a larger divine context. All souls are described as eternal fragments of the Supreme, related to the universal Self (Paramātman) that pervades and sustains all. The individual self (jīvātman) is thus not an isolated entity but shares in the nature of the highest reality. Recognizing this immortal, unchanging Ātman as one’s true identity becomes the basis for right understanding, steady action, and the possibility of liberation from the cycle of birth and death.