Gita 08.18 – Matter becomes unmanifest, but material form is destroyed

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avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ
prabhavanty ahar-āgame
rātry-āgame pralīyante
tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake (Bg 8.18)

Word-for-word:
avyaktāt — from the unmanifest; vyaktayaḥ — living entities; sarvāḥ — all; prabhavanti — become manifest; ahaḥ-āgame — at the beginning of the day; rātri-āgame — at the fall of night; pralīyante — are annihilated; tatra — into that; eva — certainly; avyakta — the unmanifest; saṁjñake — which is called.

Translation:
At the beginning of Brahmā’s day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged into the unmanifest again.

Explanation:
avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ: From the unmanifest state, all beings become manifest
prabhavanty ahar-āgame: When the day of Brahmā begins.
rātry-āgame pralīyante: When his night arrives, they are destroyed
tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake: back into that same unmanifest state.

Kṛṣṇa continues His comparative analysis of the material and spiritual worlds. In verses 17, 18, and 19, He describes the nature of the material world; in verses 20 to 22, He will contrast this with the eternal spiritual world. In the previous verse, He stated:
sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
rātriṁ yuga-sahasrāntāṁ
te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
In that verse, Kṛṣṇa outlined the staggering duration of Brahmā’s day and night. Having explained the immense length of Brahmā’s life, He now turns to what happens after each cycle ends. In this verse, Kṛṣṇa brings together two interconnected conceptions: the cycle of creation and destruction, and the cycle of manifestation and unmanifestation.

Normally, the idea of creation and destruction suggests that something comes into existence and later ceases to exist altogether. By contrast, manifestation and unmanifestation indicate that something continues to exist, but sometimes in a perceivable form and sometimes in a non-perceivable form.

At first glance, the ideas of creation and destruction on the one hand, and manifestation and unmanifestation on the other, seem to refer to entirely different processes. It appears that either there is creation and destruction, or there is manifestation and unmanifestation—but not both simultaneously. If something is truly destroyed, it does not merely become unmanifest; it ceases to exist.

Yet Kṛṣṇa uses the terminology of manifestation and unmanifestation very deliberately when He states avyaktād vyaktayaḥ and tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake—from the unmanifest, beings become manifest, and at dissolution they return to that same unmanifest state.

On one side, he uses that terminology, and on the other, he also uses the terms prabhavante and pralīyante, which are usually translated as ‘creation’ and ‘destruction’. This raises an important question: at the end of Brahmā’s day, is there actual destruction, or is there simply unmanifestation?

The answer again depends on our frame of reference. If we are deeply attached to material forms, then their disappearance appears to be destruction. But from another perspective, it is not destruction, because the object continues to exist in an unmanifest state. If we are infatuated with forms, it seems like destruction; but if we consider material energy itself, then what is happening is only manifestation and unmanifestation.

When we say that matter is temporary and therefore we should not be attached to it, that is not entirely precise, because matter itself is, in one sense, eternal. What is temporary are material forms. We are not drawn to matter in an abstract way; we are attracted to particular material forms. And it is this attraction that becomes problematic. This attachment to material forms entangles us. It is this attraction that effectively sentences us to illusion, to sinful actions, and to the resulting consequences that keep us caught in suffering, delusion, and prolonged material existence.

By understanding that manifestation and unmanifestation occur in a continual cycle, we can appreciate that this cyclical view of material nature is one of the defining features of the dharmic traditions. In contrast, the Abrahamic religions generally present a linear worldview, in which history moves in a straight line—first progressing toward the coming of Jesus and then continuing linearly toward His second coming, after which everything is expected to become perfectly harmonious.

But in our actual experience, nature is unmistakably cyclical. Days follow nights, which again give way to days. Seasons move in recurring patterns. Planetary motions are cyclic. Even the very units by which we measure time are cyclic, reflecting the cyclical nature of the world around us. Recognizing this, we can understand that there is truly nothing new under the sun—or even above the sun—because the sun itself is part of the material world. Whatever we observe here is simply the repeated manifestation and unmanifestation of material forms.

Sometimes, when we encounter a new and seemingly more attractive form, we indulge in that sense object and initially enjoy it. But after a short while, the novelty wears off and disappointment sets in. We begin to feel that perhaps another sense object will give us greater satisfaction. As we pursue that next object, it too eventually loses its taste, and again we start looking for something else—and then something else. This constant search continues because material enjoyment inevitably fades.

However, when we understand the cyclicity of material nature, we realize that there is truly nothing new under the sun. No matter how novel something appears, it is simply another variation within the same repeating cycle. If we genuinely want something new—something that does not become stale—we need to redirect our consciousness toward the spiritual level of reality. The method for making that shift in consciousness will be explained later in this chapter.

Thank you.