अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत |
अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना || 28||
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata
avyakta-nidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā
avyakta-ādīni—unmanifest before birth; bhūtāni—created beings; vyakta—manifest; madhyāni—in the middle; bhārata—Arjun, scion of Bharat; avyakta—unmanifest; nidhanāni—on death; eva—indeed; tatra—therefore; kā—why; paridevanā—grieve
Translation:
All beings are unmanifest in their beginning, O Bhārata, manifest in their middle state, and unmanifest again in their end. Why, then, lament for them?
Commentary:
This is a true estimate of all beings in the universe. Their state before their birth is not known. They appear to exist for a period after they are born. And again, they disappear after death. One does not see them before birth and after death. Why do men feel so much when they pass away?
People have no connection with the body before it is born. And they cease all contact with the body after death. Only for a brief interval in the middle period, there is a kind of link. What has not existed in the beginning and what does not exist after the end, though it appears in between the two points, cannot be real. It is non-existence.
The whole universe is thus an illusion. This is the drumbeat of Vedanta.
The dream world did not exist before the dream. It does not exist after one wakes up from the dream. It exists only while the dream lasts. He knows it to be a tremendous illusion after he wakes up. In the same way, the whole universe and all the pleasures and pains that one experiences are all illusions for the man who has awakened from the dream. They are like the water in the mirage, which to the eye appears clear and beautiful, and which when one investigates disappears at once. Why then all this fear and sorrow, weeping and wailing when the whole thing is an illusion?
In this manner, the Lord argues out the issue, and the succession of thoughts so far may be summarised thus.
1. Atma is eternal. All living beings, the so-called relations and friends are different manifestations of the same indestructible Atma, and so Arjuna should not grieve for them.
2. Atma is unchanging; one wears and throws away different bodies, as old clothes are discarded and new garments are worn.
3. Even if it is accepted for the sake of argument, that Atma itself is born and dies, again and again, Arjuna should not grieve for the dead, because they should take birth again.
4. These bodies did not exist before birth, and so do not exist after death. They appear in between for a brief interval of time only. Therefore they are unreal and illusory. Why then grieve for them?
Swami Vivekananda Says —
Beings are unknown to our human senses before birth and after death. It is only in the interim that they are manifest. What is there to grieve about?[Source]
