Bhagavad Gita 2.16 · Krishna
What is real never ends
नासतो विद्यते भावो नाभावो विद्यते सतः।
उभयोरपि दृष्टोऽन्तस्त्वनयोस्तत्त्वदर्शिभिः॥
nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥubhayorapi dṛṣṭo’antastvanayostattvadarśibhiḥ
What is unreal has no lasting being, and what is real never ceases to be. Those who see the truth have understood both.
What it means
Krishna draws a line between two kinds of things. Asat, what doesn't truly last, has no real existence. Sat, what is truly real, can never stop being. Bodies, moods, situations belong to the first. The Self belongs to the second. The wise, he says, can tell the difference.
The story
Arjuna sees kinsmen who will die and feels that everything real is about to be destroyed. Krishna asks him to look again. What can actually be destroyed? And what, in those he loves, never can be?
In your life
Picture someone after a house fire, standing outside with their family safe. The house was real, but it wasn't the most real thing. In any loss, ask what is still here. Hold on to that.
Hold on to what cannot be lost.