Ramanuja's Gita Bhashyam - Chapter 2 - sloka 20

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Adidevananda translation of Sri Ramanuja Gita Bhashya, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

The Real and the Unreal Sloka 16-20

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 2 - Samkhya Yoga - Sloka 20

Na jayate mriyate va kadachit na ayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah I

Ajah nityah shashvatah ayam puranah na hanyate hanyamane sharire II sloka 20

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचित् न अयं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।

अजः नित्यः शाश्वतः अयं पुराणः न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ।। श्लोक २० 

It (the self) is never born; It never dies; having come into being once, It never ceases to be. Unborn, eternal, abiding  and primeval, It is not slain when the body is slain.

As the self is eternal for the reasons mentioned earlier and hence free from modifications. It is said that in all the attributes of the insentient body like birth, death, etc., never touch the self. In this connection, as the statement, "It is never born, It never dies" is in the present tense, it should be understood that t

he birth and death which are  experienced by all in bodies, do not touch the self. The statement " Having come into being one , it never ceases to be " means that this self, having emerged at the beginning of a Kalpa (one aeon of manifestation) will not cease to be at 

the end of the Kapla (ie will emerge again at the beginning of the next kalpa unless it is liberated). This is the meaning - that birth at the beginning of the Kalpa in bodies such as those of Brahma and others, and death at the end of a Kalpa as stated in scriptures, do not touch the self. Hence, the selves in bodies, are unborn and therefore eternal. It is abiding , not connected, like matter, with invisible modifications taking place. It is primeval; the meaning is that It existed from time immemorial; It is ever new ie, It is capable of being experienced always as fresh. Therefore when the body is slain, the self is not slain.