Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 8, Verse 19
भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते।
रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे।।
रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे।।
bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātryāgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavatyahar-āgame
also searched as "bhutagramah sa evayam bhutva bhutva praliyate"
Translation
O son of Prtha, after being born again and again, that very multitude of beings disappears of its own accord at the approach of night. It comes to life again at the approach of day.
Vāṇi's rendering
Again and again this host of beings rises, dissolves helplessly at nightfall, and rises again at dawn.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| भूतग्रामःbhūta-grāmaḥ | the whole crowd of living beings, gathered like a village |
| सःsaḥ | that |
| एवeva | the very same (sandhi: eva + ayam becomes evāyaṁ) |
| अयम्ayam | this |
| भूत्वाbhūtvā | having come into being |
| भूत्वाbhūtvā | and having come into being again — the word repeats |
| प्रलीयतेpralīyate | dissolves, melts back |
| रात्र्यागमेrātri-āgame | at the coming of night |
| अवशःavaśaḥ | helpless, with no say in it (sandhi: the avagraha marks the lost initial a) |
| पार्थpārtha | Arjuna, son of Pṛthā |
| प्रभवतिprabhavati | streams forth, appears again |
| अहरागमेahaḥ-āgame | at the coming of day (sandhi: prabhavati + ahaḥ joins as prabhavatyahar) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Verse 19 mean?
It means the same host of beings appears and dissolves over and over, pulled by a rhythm none of them set. Night comes and they melt back; day comes and they stream forth. Krishna is placing Arjuna's grief inside a scale so vast that the deaths he dreads are already part of the breathing.
What does bhutagramah sa evayam bhutva bhutva praliyate teach?
That becoming is not a single event. Bhūtvā is spoken twice — having become, having become — as though the verse itself is counting rounds. Whatever rises here has risen before. The teaching is not to be impressed by your own appearance, nor terrified by its ending.
Why does Krishna call beings avasah, helpless?
Because no one signs a consent form for birth or for death. Avaśaḥ says the movement is not yours to authorise. This is not an insult; it is a relief. The thing you cannot control was never your assignment. What remains yours is attention, conduct, and where you turn in the meantime.
Is this verse about cosmic cycles or about my own life?
Both, and the larger frame is there to loosen the smaller one. Days of creation and nights of dissolution are the same shape as your waking and sleeping, your gathering and losing. Watch how easily you go under each night. Something in you already knows how to be dissolved.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Twice Krishna says bhūtvā — having become, having become. The repetition is the teaching. This is not one birth and one death but a rhythm, a tide that has gone out and come in more times than anyone can count. And avaśaḥ: helpless. Nobody consents to the dissolving. Arjuna is being shown that the beings he fears to kill are already inside a motion far older and larger than his arrow. You did not choose to arrive, and will not choose to leave. What you can choose is how you stand in the hours between — awake in a day you did not schedule.