Gita 02.28 – The mutability of everything materially magnifies the futility of grief

Because of the deaths that may happen in the battlefield.

Thank you. Then Krishna, while continuing to persuade Arjuna to persevere in his duty, not give up his duty out of fear of the death of his loved ones, is talking about the temporality, the temporariness of everything material as contrasted with the eternality of spirit. So, here he states, अव्यक्त अधीनी भूतानी अव्यक्त, unmanifest.

अधीनी, in the beginning, भूतानी So, all living beings are, in the beginning, अव्यक्त आधीनी They are unmanifested. व्यक्त मध्यानी भारत They become manifest in the middle. अव्यक्त निधनानेव निधना means destruction and they become unmanifested after destruction.

तत्रका परिदेवना So, now, therefore, what is the need for lamenting? What does this mean? When a person is born or we could say when crops grow in the field Initially, there are no crops. The seeds are there. Initially, the seeds are also not there.

They come from a previous harvest. So, the crops are initially unmanifested. अव्यक्त आधीनी And then the crops grow.

They are व्यक्त मध्यानी. They keep growing, growing, growing. They come to a particular size.

Then they are harvested. After that, then the grain is extracted. Then they are discarded.

They are either fed or recycled or fed to the fed as fodder or they are recycled or whatever. अव्यक्त निधनानेव They become unmanifested again. So, this is the inevitable cycle of nature.

तत्रका परिदेवना So, things being unmanifested originally, manifesting for some time and becoming unmanifested again. That is the reality at the material level. It is the inevitable, inescapable, intrinsic reality at the material level which just can't be changed.

And because of that, why should one get excited or agitated? Or one should lament? So, this is a build-up from the previous words. It said that for one who is born, death is certain. For one who is dead, birth again is certain.

So, do your duty. So, Krishna is continuing to talk about the inevitability of change at the material level. And here he is saying that अव्यक्त Things are unmanifested earlier and then they become manifested and then they become unmanifested again.

So, same happens with our bodies also. Usually the word भूतानी is used in connection with the embodied living entity. The soul usually is referred to as आत्मान that is generally as contrasted from the body as a spark of consciousness.

But the living entity which is usually referred to as भूतानी, भूत So, living entity is that refers to the embodied soul. So, the soul in a particular body. So, अव्यक्त आधी भूतानी It's amazing to contemplate how we all, our large bodies which can fill up a full bed now or which actually where was just a small seed but it was just one cell in our mother's womb at one time.

At that time it was practically like unmanifested and then grew to a full length and then eventually when we die it will again become reduced to the अत्रकापुरिवेवन it will get reduced to ashes. So, in the biblical tradition it is said from dust to ash, dust from ashes to ashes. Now, this does not refer to the fate of our eternal soul.

This is not said of the eternal soul, this is said of the body. So, actually the soul remains eternal and unchanging, the body changes. And, अव्यक्त, this is the inevitable cycle within material existence.

And if, now let's consider two possibilities, whether there is a soul or there is no soul. If it's just matter, then matter is just changing states. So, change of states of matter should not be a cause of heart-wrenching lamentation.

What reason is there for that? Actually, the chemicals were in a particular way, in a particular shape or format earlier and now they are in a different format and in the future they will be in a different format. So, all that happens through our growth and maintenance and deterioration in the production is basically just chemical change. So, chemicals have no consciousness, they certainly don't have a self-consciousness.

They don't have any emotions. Just the passing of chemicals from into one hole of the body or out of one hole of the body or from one organ within the body to another organ or from one neuronal cell synapse to another as an electrochemical signal. These don't have any ultimate meaning and therefore, there is no need to get unduly worked up about them, to get agitated about them.

Now, on the other hand, if there is a soul, then also at the level of empirical observed reality, what we see is that the soul is temporary. The soul's presence does not change the temporary nature of material existence. The soul itself is eternal but the soul gets entangled in the matter.

Then the embodied covering of the soul, the body in which the soul is present, that still undergoes more or less the changes which matter undergoes. So, it's a bit obvious earlier. Then it becomes beneficial and gets destroyed.

The soul, from the previous verse it is indicated that there is no more genital mutilature. That person who has died will also take birth again. So, the important thing for a wise person to do is find out how I can get a good destination in future.

And to do searching for that purpose rather than getting caught in emotions arising from the perception of sensory pleasures. Rather, we recognize the process of sensory gratification happens based on perception. Perception of the body and perception of the sense objects and the desire to contact the body and the senses with the sense objects.

But these don't bring any pleasure. So, instead if we focus on turning towards Krishna and cultivating our spiritual relationship with Krishna, then our emotions will rise to a spiritual level wherein we will relish lasting happiness. And that is the purpose and perfection of life.

Relish lasting happiness. So, the point of this verse is not to dismiss everything as pointless because of the inevitable transitions, but to fix our consciousness on the transitionless spiritual reality and then live in such a way as to move to, as to progress towards that transitionless reality. And that is what the Bhagavad Gita is pointing to by telling Arjuna, do not lament, do not grieve over Arjuna, but focus on pursuing the path of Dharma and attaining the eternal because at the material level changes are inevitable.

And there is nothing to lament about those changes.