Bhagavad Gita Verse 2, Chapter 14

idam jnyaanamupaashritya mama saadharmyamagataahaa |
sargepi nopajaayante pralaye na vyathanti cha || 2 ||
 
Those who have taken refuge in this knowledge, and have attained identity with me, are not born even during creation, and not afflicted during dissolution.
 
idam : this
jnyaanam : knowledge
upaashritya : taken refuge
mama : my
saadharmyam : identity
aagataahaa : attained
sarge : creation
api : even
na : not
upajaayante : born
pralaye : dissolution
na : not
vyathanti : afflicted
cha : and
 
Actors who work in the daily soap opera world lead interested lives. If an actor is selected to play a part in a well-established and long running soap, they are overjoyed since their career has just skyrocketed. But once the actor is selected, they are afraid when they read each day’s script, since their role can be killed off at any time by the director. The director and actor have two different visions. The director is concerned with moving the story forward, whereas the actor is concerned with preserving his role.
 
Now, if we identify with the various roles or the various parts that we play each day, we will face a fate similar to that of the actor. We experience birth and death every day, every minute, throughout our lives. When we get a new job, for instance, a new "senior manager of marketing" is born. When we lose that job, that senior manager "dies". If a marriage happens in the family, several new "in-laws" are born. If something goes wrong in that marriage, all those in-laws "die". If something makes us angry, an angry man is born, and will die in a short while once the anger dissipates. Birth and death are part and parcel of Prakriti's functioning.
 
Shri Krishna urges us to identify with Ishvara so that we are not disturbed or agitated when any kind of birth or death, even that of our own body, occurs. If the actor has the same vision as the director, he will take the end of his role in good stead and go on to do a wonderful job in his next assignment. If we have removed our ignorance through knowledge, if we have realized our true nature as identical to that of Ishvara, we will see things from Ishvara’s perspective and stop identifying with the ups and downs experienced by our body.
 
How exactly does this creation, this birth take place? Shri Krishna explains next.