अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत | अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ||२-२८||
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyaktamadhyāni bhārata . avyaktanidhanānyeva tatra kā paridevanā ||2-28||
Chapter 2 · Verse 28
Sankhya Yoga
सांख्ययोग
In plain words
You are being encouraged to stop grieving over temporary physical forms. Before birth and after death, beings are invisible to your eyes; they only appear in the middle. This passing show is just maya, the illusion that temporary things are permanent. Since these relationships and bodies are fleeting by nature, you should remain peaceful and undisturbed.
Translation
2.28 O Arjuna, beings have an unknown beginning, a known middle and an unknown end. What is there to grieve over in all this?
Meaning
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.
Word by word
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.