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Adhyāyas / Sāṅkhya Yogaḥ / verse 28

Mūla — the verse

Gita Press numbering
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत। अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata avyakta-nidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā
Anuṣṭubh

Translation

Swami Gambhīrānanda · follows Śaṅkara-bhāṣya

O descendant of Bharata, all beings remain unmanifested in the beginning; they become manifested in the middle. After death, they certainly become unmanifested. What lamentation can there be for them?

हिन्दी अनुवाद — Swami Tejomayānanda

हे भारत ! समस्त प्राणी जन्म से पूर्व और मृत्यु के बाद अव्यक्त अवस्था में रहते हैं और बीच में व्यक्त होते हैं। फिर उसमें चिन्ता या शोक की क्या बात है ?

Pronunciation — Vaamshii

from Vaamshii
अव्यक्ता दीनि भूतानि
व्यक्त मध्यानि भारत
अव्यक्त निध नान्येव
तत्र का परि देवना
॥ २८ ॥
Read each split group as one breath-unit; hyphens join pādas kept whole for the meter or a compound word. Symbols: # upadhmānīya (visarga before p/ph), % jihvāmūlīya (visarga before k/kh), ऽ avagraha (an elided a). Full method →

Word by word

padārtha
avyakta-ādīniunmanifest before birth
bhūtānicreated beings
vyaktamanifest
madhyāniin the middle
bhārataArjun, scion of Bharat
avyaktaunmanifest
nidhanānion death
evaindeed
tatratherefore
why
paridevanāgrieve

Themes

from The Thematic Companion to the Bhagavad Gītā

Meaning — Questions & Solutions

from Q&A with KnA
2.28Unmanifest, manifest?

This is one of the most cryptic verses of the BG, and the scientifically inclined may find it fascinating and even draw parallels to modern physics. “Unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle, unmanifest again in the end — why, then, should anyone lament?” The verse points to the very question of birth and death: whence did I come, and what happens after dissolution? The “beginning, middle and end” may be read spatially or temporally; the verse does not specify, and so remains general and abstract. The only sure way to answer the riddle, I think, is to delve deeper into oneself.