Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 28 (BG 2.28) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

2.28 अव्यक्तादीनि unmanifested in the beginning? भूतानि beings? व्यक्तमध्यानि manifested in their middle state? भारत O Bharata? अव्यक्तनिधनानि unmanifested again in the end? एव also? तत्र there? का what? परिदेवना grief.Commentary 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.

Commentaries

Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.

This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.

Modern

From this verse onward, through several subsequent verses, the problem is presented before Arjuna with great elegance from the perspective of an ordinary person in the world. In these ten verses, Sri Krishna clarifies the problem according to the understanding and intellect of a common individual. In this material world, the law of causation operates unobstructed and is experienced continuously. Effect arises from cause. Generally, the effect appears in manifest form while the cause remains unmanifest. Therefore, creation means the transition of things from an unmanifest state to a manifest state. This process continues perpetually in an orderly manner. Thus, what is manifest today was unmanifest yesterday; in the present it exists in manifest form, but in the future it will again dissolve into the unmanifest state. This means that the present condition has emerged from the unknown and will again merge into the unknown. When understood in this way, there remains no cause for sorrow, for as a wheel continuously turns, it descends at times only to rise again afterward. For example, in a dream, a wife and child were first unmanifest and upon waking they disappear again. So what reason has a celibate to grieve for that wife and child with whom he was never married and that child who was never born? If, as Lord Sri Krishna has said, the cycle of creation and dissolution of this world continues perpetually as an eternal, unchanging truth, then why do we fail to understand even when this truth is repeatedly explained to us? According to Sri Shankara, Lord Sri Krishna considers that it is not proper to blame Arjuna for not understanding this truth. Sri Shankara says: Direct experience of this Self and knowing it in truth is difficult. Why should I blame you when the cause—ignorance—is the same for all? One may ask: What is the difficulty in Self-realization? The Lord replies: