Bhagavad Gita 8.19भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते।रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे ॥
bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātryāgame ’vaśhaḥ pārtha prabhavatyahar-āgame
Sanskrit recitation
The path of light · 8.14–8.22 · Teaching
Translation
This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna, into the Unmanifested at the coming of the night and comes forth at the coming of the day.
Hindi translation
हे पार्थ ! वही यह प्राणिसमुदाय उत्पन्न हो-होकर प्रकृतिके परवश हुआ ब्रह्माके दिनके समय उत्पन्न होता है और ब्रह्माकी रात्रिके समय लीन होता है।
Meaning
Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) are the three knots that bind the individual to Samsara. Desire is born of Avidya. Man exerts to attain and enjoy the objects of his desires. During this activity he favours some and injures others through the force of RagaDvesha (love and hatred or attraction and repulsion). Therefore he is caught in the wheel of Samsara or transmigration. He has to take birth again and again to reap the fruits of his own actions. He repeatedly comes forths and dissolves through the force of his own Karma.The individual souls have lost their independence as they are bound by ignorance, desire and activity. Therefore they are subject to the sorrows, miseries and pains of this Samsara. In order to create dispassion in their minds and a longing for liberation in their hearts, and to remove the fallacious belief that a man reaps the fruits of what he has not done or that he does not reap the fruits of what he has done, the Lord has said that all creatures involuntarily come into being again and again at the coming of the day and dissolve at the coming of the night (on account of the actions or Karmas caused by desire born of ignorance).
After Swami Sivananda
The path of light· 8.14–8.22→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 8.14I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast yogi who constantly and daily remembers me…
- 8.15Having attained Me, these great souls do not take birth again here—a place of pain and…
- 8.16All the worlds, including the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but…
- 8.17Those who know the day of Brahma, which lasts a thousand Yugas, and the night, which also…
- 8.18From the Unmanifested, all the manifested worlds proceed upon the arrival of the 'day';…
8.19This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna,…
- 8.20But verily, there exists higher than this Unmanifested, another Unmanifested Eternal,…
- 8.21What is known as the Unmanifested and the Imperishable, That is said to be the highest…
- 8.22That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within…
Word-by-word→
- eva
- certainly
- ayam
- this
- saḥ
- these
- pārtha
- Arjun, the son of Pritha
- avaśhaḥ
- helpless
- prabhavati
- become manifest
- pralīyate
- dissolves
- ahaḥ-āgame
- with the advent of day
- rātri-āgame
- with the advent of night
- bhūta-grāmaḥ
- the multitude of beings
- bhūtvā bhūtvā
- repeatedly taking birth
Read this when you feel
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