Bhagavad Gita 2.28अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत।अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni
bhārata avyakta-nidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā
Sanskrit recitation
You are more than this body · 2.11–2.30 · Teaching
Translation
Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and unmanifest again in their end. What is there to grieve about?
Hindi translation
हे भारत ! सभी प्राणी जन्मसे पहले अप्रकट थे और मरनेके बाद अप्रकट हो जायँगे, केवल बीचमें ही प्रकट दीखते हैं। अतः इसमें शोक करनेकी बात ही क्या है?
Meaning
The physical body is a combination of the five elements. It is seen by the physical eyes only after the five elements have entered into such combination. After death, the body disintegrates and the five elements go back to their source it cannot be seen. Therefore, the body can be seen only in the middle state. The relationship as son, friend, teacher, father, mother, wife, brother and sister is formed through the body on account of attachment and Moha (delusion). Just as planks unite and separate in a river, just as pilgrims unite and separate in a public inn, so also fathers, mothers, sons and brothers unite and separate in this world. This world is a very big public inn. People unite and separate.There is no pot in the beginning and in the end. Even if you see the pot in the middle, you should think and feel that it is illusory and does not really exist. So also there is no body in the beginning and in the end. That which does not exist in the beginning and in the end must be illusory in the middle also. You must think and feel that the body does not really exist in the middle as well.He who thus understands the nature of the body and all human relationships based on it, will not grieve.
After Swami Sivananda
You are more than this body· 2.11–2.30→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 2.11The Blessed Lord said, "You have grieved for those who should not be grieved for; yet, you…
- 2.12Nor, at any time, was I not, nor thou, nor these rulers of men; nor, verily, shall we ever…
- 2.13Just as the embodied soul passes through childhood, youth, and old age in this body, so…
- 2.14The contact of the senses with the objects, O son of Kunti, which causes heat and cold,…
- 2.15That firm man, whom surely these afflictions do not, O chief among men, to whom pleasure…
- 2.16The unreal has no being; there is no non-being of the real; the truth about both has been…
- 2.17Know that to be indestructible, by which all this is pervaded. No one can cause the…
- 2.18These bodies of the embodied Self, which are eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable,…
- 2.19He who takes the Self to be the slayer and he who thinks it is slain, neither of them…
- 2.20It is not born, nor does it ever die; after having been, it again does not cease to be;…
- 2.21Whoever knows it to be indestructible, eternal, unborn, and inexhaustible, how can that…
- 2.22Just as a man casts off worn-out clothes and puts on new ones, so too the embodied Self…
- 2.23Weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it, water cannot wet it, wind cannot dry it.
- 2.24This Self cannot be cut, burned, wetted, nor dried up; it is eternal, all-pervasive,…
- 2.25This Self is said to be unmanifested, unthinkable, and unchangeable. Therefore, knowing…
- 2.26But even if thou thinkest of It as constantly being born and constantly dying, even then,…
- 2.27For the born, death is certain, and for the dead, birth is certain; therefore, you should…
2.28Beings are unmanifest in their beginning, manifest in their middle state, O Arjuna, and…
- 2.29One sees this (the Self) as a wonder; another speaks of it as a wonder; another hears of…
- 2.30This indweller in the body of everyone is ever indestructible, O Arjuna; therefore, you…
Word-by-word→
- eva
- indeed
- kā
- why
- tatra
- therefore
- vyakta
- manifest
- avyakta
- unmanifest
- bhārata
- Arjun, scion of Bharat
- bhūtāni
- created beings
- madhyāni
- in the middle
- nidhanāni
- on death
- paridevanā
- grieve
- avyakta-ādīni
- unmanifest before birth
Read this when you feel
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