Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 28

Chapter 2 – Sankhya Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत ।
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥

Transliteration

avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyaktamadhyāni bhārata .
avyaktanidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā ॥

Meaning

O Bharata, beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again at their end. What is there to lament in this?

Word meanings

अव्यक्तादीनि – unmanifest in the beginning
भूतानि – beings
व्यक्तमध्यानि – manifest in the middle
भारत – O Bharata
अव्यक्तनिधनानि – unmanifest at the end
एव – indeed
तत्र – in that
का – what
परिदेवना – lamentation

Anvaya (word order)

भारत, भूतानि अव्यक्तादीनि व्यक्तमध्यानि अव्यक्तनिधनानि एव (सन्ति); तत्र परिदेवना का ?

Explanation

This verse invites us to see life in a wider frame. Every being's story, Krishna says, has three parts: at the beginning it was unmanifest — it had no existence for our senses; in the middle it is manifest — it is seen, it speaks, it forms relationships; and at the end it becomes unmanifest once more.

We do not grieve that a person was ‘invisible’ before birth. Why then lament so bitterly that they become ‘invisible’ after death? As scenes appear in a dream and vanish on waking, or as clouds arise from the sky and dissolve back into it, so beings come from the unmanifest and return to it. The manifest state is only a brief interval in between.

Shankara observes that what does not exist at the beginning and at the end has no lasting existence in the middle either; it is like an appearance, a magician's show. Ramanuja explains that bodies emerge from a subtle state into a gross one and return again to the subtle; this is the natural course of prakriti, leaving no room for grief.

‘Tatra ka paridevana’ — what lament can there be in this? The question compels Arjuna, and us, to reflect. Life is a flow; clinging excessively to any one scene of it is what causes sorrow.

Context

In 2.27 Krishna said that birth and death are inevitable. Here He points to the sequence unmanifest–manifest–unmanifest to show the futility of grief. In the next verse (2.29) He speaks of how wondrous and rare the knowledge of the Self is.

Life lesson

Life is a stream that comes from the unseen and returns to it. Live the manifest moments with loved ones and opportunities with gratitude, but do not lament excessively when they change.

Key terms

Avyakta: unmanifest, imperceptible state
Vyakta: manifest, visible state
Paridevana: lamentation, wailing