We are mourning for what is not worthy of grief. Germs? Seriously? THAT is my biggest concern? It sounds silly even to me. The body is not as important as the soul. Why then do I spend so much time cleaning and protecting my body obsessively instead of nourishing my soul?
The next few verses explain the nature of the soul. The soul is permanent but the body keeps changing. The body changes with lives, with age, and with states - clean and dirty. 2.14 is a great verse about the nature of duality of this world. And it is this duality that often leaves us bewildered. Krishna says that all of this happiness and distress arise due to sense perception. Wow. Krishna said this thousands of years ago whereas modern science declared it in the recent past! But doesn't it make sense? We perceive things to be clean, dirty, good, bad, etc. and accordingly we feel happiness or distress. The Lord says that we should tolerate them without being disturbed. Steadiness. Gopinath says that those who are steady as such are "certainly eligible for liberation." What is important is that our souls cannot be harmed in any way, be it water, fire, weapons or even germs. Our souls are protected by Krishna.
So this is what we must understand. The body is not worth lamenting for. Our souls are far more important. This is a world of duality and we must rise above it, and not be affected by it.
