Chapter 8 · Verse 19

Path of the Eternal God

भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते। रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate rātryāgame ’vaśhaḥ pārtha prabhavatyahar-āgame

Word Meanings

bhūta-grāmaḥ — the multitude of beings; saḥ — these; eva — certainly; ayam — this; bhūtvā bhūtvā — repeatedly taking birth; pralīyate — dissolves; rātri-āgame — with the advent of night; avaśhaḥ — helpless; pārtha — Arjun, the son of Pritha; prabhavati — become manifest; ahaḥ-āgame — with the advent of day

Language:

Translation

That same multitude of beings, coming into existence again and again, helplessly dissolves at the fall of night, O Arjuna, and comes forth again at the dawn of day.

Commentary

भूतग्रामः multitude of beings? सः that? एव verily? अयम् this? भूत्वा भूत्वा being born again and again? प्रलीयते dissolves? रात्र्यागमे at the coming of night? अवशः helpless? पार्थ O Partha? प्रभवति comes forth? अहरागमे at the coming of day.Commentary 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).