6 Bhagavad Gita Shlokas That Break the Illusion of "Forever" in Love
Riya Kumari | Aug 05, 2025, 23:56 IST
( Image credit : Pixabay )
Let’s talk about “forever.” The word that’s printed on couple mugs, whispered at 2 a.m. over pillow talk, and tattooed right above the ex’s name (regretfully, always in cursive). It’s the glittering lie we buy with open hearts and blurry judgment, until, surprise, forever turns out to be just a summer and a Spotify playlist.
No one ever thinks they’ll be the one left behind. Not at first. You enter love like a promise. Quietly. Completely. With the kind of belief that only someone who hasn’t been broken yet can carry, the belief that this time, it will last. That somehow, you will be the exception to the endings everyone else writes poems about. That love, this love, will make it. But life doesn’t work like that. People leave. Sometimes gently. Sometimes without warning. Sometimes while still saying they love you. Not because love wasn’t real, but because love isn’t always enough. And when the silence settles, when the messages stop coming, and the voice that once felt like home now belongs to someone else, there is one truth that stays: You. Your breath. Your mind. Your presence. Your pain. You are the only constant you will never be able to escape. And that, more than anything, is what the Bhagavad Gita quietly, unflinchingly teaches.
1. What isn’t real won’t last, no matter how much you love it.
You thought it was forever. But if it disappeared, maybe it was only ever a beautiful illusion, not a truth meant to stay.
"नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.16)
"The unreal has no existence; the real never ceases to be. The seers of truth have concluded the same about both."
The Gita doesn’t diminish your feelings. It only asks: were you loving them, or the version of them in your head? There’s a difference. One is grounded. The other is wishful thinking with great lighting. One is rooted. The other is imagined. And illusions, no matter how beautiful, don’t survive time.
2. We grieve hardest not over people, but the stories we told ourselves.
It’s not always the person you miss. Sometimes, it’s who you got to be when they were around. The hope. The safety. The idea that you were finally home.
"अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.11)
"You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, and yet speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
Wisdom doesn’t ask you to numb the pain. It asks you to question the story you’re clinging to and see what was real underneath it. It means you’ll understand what you’re actually mourning. Not always the person, sometimes, just the dream of what could have been.
3. Everything changes. The wise don’t fight that.
Even the promises that felt eternal eventually dissolve. People change. Circumstances shift. Sometimes they leave, not because they stopped caring, but because staying the same became impossible.
"देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.13)
"Just as the boyhood, youth and old age come to the embodied Soul in this body, in the same manner, is the attaining of another body; the wise man is not deluded at that."
The Gita whispers a hard truth: if you expect permanence from something that was always temporary, you will suffer. Let go with grace. Maturity is knowing how to do that without turning bitter. You can either break with change, or bend with it. Problem begins when you resist the inevitable.
4. You can love deeply and still lose and it’s not your fault.
You gave your time, your energy, your heart. That was your part. The outcome? Not in your control. What they did with it? You can't change.
"कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
"You have the right to perform your actions, but never to the fruits. Do not be motivated by the fruits of actions, nor attach yourself to inaction."
The Gita teaches you the difference between effort and outcome. You are not responsible for someone else’s capacity to receive what you offered. You can give your whole heart and still not be chosen. That doesn't make you unworthy. It makes you human. That’s their journey. Not yours to carry.
5. When things fall apart, trust that something greater is at work.
There will be days when the loss feels unbearable. When you can’t understand why someone who meant everything is no longer beside you. There will be days when the pain is too loud. When your chest feels hollow. When you ask the same question over and over: Why did they leave if it was real?
"यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 4.7)
"Whenever there is decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, O Arjuna, then I manifest Myself."
This verse isn’t just about divine avatars. It’s about how healing shows up in crisis. It’s about you, how clarity comes during collapse. How truth arrives only when comfort has left the room. Not always in the way you want. But always when you need it. Sometimes, heartbreak clears space for truth.
6. You don’t need anyone to complete you. You were always whole.
This is the uncomfortable truth no one wants to hear. Neediness is not love. Longing is not loyalty. And the fear of being alone is not a reason to stay. Needing someone is not the same as loving them. Clinging is not connection.
"विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.71)
"That person who abandons all desires, who lives free from longing, without the sense of 'I' and 'mine', he attains peace."
To detach doesn’t mean to stop feeling. It means to stop clinging. To stand so fully in yourself that love becomes something you give, not something you beg for. It’s to feel everything, but not be enslaved by it.
Final Reflection:
Love is not the illusion.
Forever is.
We hold on so tightly, not because they were perfect, but because we can’t imagine life without the comfort they gave us. But the Gita doesn’t offer comfort. It offers clarity. It asks you to live in a way where you no longer need illusions to feel whole. People will leave. Even the ones who didn’t want to. Even the ones who swore they never would. And when they do, all that’s left is you.
Not the broken version. Not the abandoned one. But the real, grounded, healing you, who finally understands that the only true forever is within. When they left, it felt like everything ended. But now you know, everything real, everything lasting, had only just begun.
1. What isn’t real won’t last, no matter how much you love it.
Walk
( Image credit : Unsplash )
You thought it was forever. But if it disappeared, maybe it was only ever a beautiful illusion, not a truth meant to stay.
"नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.16)
"The unreal has no existence; the real never ceases to be. The seers of truth have concluded the same about both."
The Gita doesn’t diminish your feelings. It only asks: were you loving them, or the version of them in your head? There’s a difference. One is grounded. The other is wishful thinking with great lighting. One is rooted. The other is imagined. And illusions, no matter how beautiful, don’t survive time.
2. We grieve hardest not over people, but the stories we told ourselves.
Stargazing
( Image credit : Unsplash )
It’s not always the person you miss. Sometimes, it’s who you got to be when they were around. The hope. The safety. The idea that you were finally home.
"अशोच्यानन्वशोचस्त्वं प्रज्ञावादांश्च भाषसे।
गतासूनगतासूंश्च नानुशोचन्ति पण्डिताः॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.11)
"You grieve for those who should not be grieved for, and yet speak words of wisdom. The wise grieve neither for the living nor for the dead."
Wisdom doesn’t ask you to numb the pain. It asks you to question the story you’re clinging to and see what was real underneath it. It means you’ll understand what you’re actually mourning. Not always the person, sometimes, just the dream of what could have been.
3. Everything changes. The wise don’t fight that.
Talk
( Image credit : Unsplash )
Even the promises that felt eternal eventually dissolve. People change. Circumstances shift. Sometimes they leave, not because they stopped caring, but because staying the same became impossible.
"देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा।
तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.13)
"Just as the boyhood, youth and old age come to the embodied Soul in this body, in the same manner, is the attaining of another body; the wise man is not deluded at that."
The Gita whispers a hard truth: if you expect permanence from something that was always temporary, you will suffer. Let go with grace. Maturity is knowing how to do that without turning bitter. You can either break with change, or bend with it. Problem begins when you resist the inevitable.
4. You can love deeply and still lose and it’s not your fault.
Memories
( Image credit : Unsplash )
You gave your time, your energy, your heart. That was your part. The outcome? Not in your control. What they did with it? You can't change.
"कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन।
मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.47)
"You have the right to perform your actions, but never to the fruits. Do not be motivated by the fruits of actions, nor attach yourself to inaction."
The Gita teaches you the difference between effort and outcome. You are not responsible for someone else’s capacity to receive what you offered. You can give your whole heart and still not be chosen. That doesn't make you unworthy. It makes you human. That’s their journey. Not yours to carry.
5. When things fall apart, trust that something greater is at work.
Dance
( Image credit : Unsplash )
There will be days when the loss feels unbearable. When you can’t understand why someone who meant everything is no longer beside you. There will be days when the pain is too loud. When your chest feels hollow. When you ask the same question over and over: Why did they leave if it was real?
"यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्युत्थानमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 4.7)
"Whenever there is decline of righteousness and rise of unrighteousness, O Arjuna, then I manifest Myself."
This verse isn’t just about divine avatars. It’s about how healing shows up in crisis. It’s about you, how clarity comes during collapse. How truth arrives only when comfort has left the room. Not always in the way you want. But always when you need it. Sometimes, heartbreak clears space for truth.
6. You don’t need anyone to complete you. You were always whole.
Couple
( Image credit : Unsplash )
This is the uncomfortable truth no one wants to hear. Neediness is not love. Longing is not loyalty. And the fear of being alone is not a reason to stay. Needing someone is not the same as loving them. Clinging is not connection.
"विहाय कामान्यः सर्वान्पुमांश्चरति निःस्पृहः।
निर्ममो निरहङ्कारः स शान्तिमधिगच्छति॥"
(Bhagavad Gita 2.71)
"That person who abandons all desires, who lives free from longing, without the sense of 'I' and 'mine', he attains peace."
To detach doesn’t mean to stop feeling. It means to stop clinging. To stand so fully in yourself that love becomes something you give, not something you beg for. It’s to feel everything, but not be enslaved by it.
Final Reflection:
Forever is.
We hold on so tightly, not because they were perfect, but because we can’t imagine life without the comfort they gave us. But the Gita doesn’t offer comfort. It offers clarity. It asks you to live in a way where you no longer need illusions to feel whole. People will leave. Even the ones who didn’t want to. Even the ones who swore they never would. And when they do, all that’s left is you.
Not the broken version. Not the abandoned one. But the real, grounded, healing you, who finally understands that the only true forever is within. When they left, it felt like everything ended. But now you know, everything real, everything lasting, had only just begun.