Sanskrit
सर्वभूतानि कौन्तेय प्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकाम् । कल्पक्षये पुनस्तानि कल्पादौ विसृजाम्यहम् ॥
sarvabhūtāni kaunteya prakṛtiṃ yānti māmikām kalpakṣaye punas tāni kalpādau visṛjāmy aham
Translation
All beings, O Kaunteya, enter my lower nature at the end of a world-age; at the beginning of a world-age again I emanate them.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The scale shifts from static metaphysics to cyclical cosmology: beings dissolve into Krishna’s “lower nature” (prakṛti) at the end of a kalpa and are re-emanated when the next one begins. This introduces prakṛti as a technical term the chapter leans on through verse 10 — nature as the instrument of manifestation, distinct from Krishna himself, who is named its “supervisor” (adhyakṣa) at verse 10. Kalpa-kṣaye… kalpādau — dissolution and re-emanation at the turn of a cosmic age — is the same cycle as BG 8.18–BG 8.19, now with Krishna’s prakṛti as the medium that beings fold into and out of.
Study deeper
Word by word
- sarvabhūtāni kaunteyaसर्वभूतानि कौन्तेय
- all beings, O son of Kuntī (sarva-bhūtāni + kaunteya)
- prakṛtiṃ yānti māmikāmप्रकृतिं यान्ति मामिकां
- go into My nature (prakṛtim + yānti + māmikām)
- kalpakṣaye punas tāniकल्पक्षये पुनस् तानि
- at the end of a kalpa; again them (kalpa-kṣaye + punaḥ + tāni)
- kalpādau visṛjāmy ahamकल्पादौ विसृजांय् अहं
- at the start of a kalpa I send forth (kalpa-ādau + visṛjāmi + aham)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Total cosmic dissolution and total cosmic re-creation are described here in the same flat, unhurried grammar Krishna uses for anything else in this chapter — no crescendo, no drama, just “at the end… again I emanate.” The scale of the event and the emotional register of the language describing it don’t move together at all, which is itself part of the teaching: magnitude doesn’t require alarm, even at the largest possible scale.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When something in your life feels like an ending of cosmic proportions, remember that the size of an event doesn't obligate a matching size of alarm — you can hold a very large change in a level, unhurried tone rather than a dramatic one.
Professional
- When announcing a major restructuring or system-wide change, match your delivery to the facts rather than to the scale — a calm, matter-of-fact tone for big news often lands better and causes less unnecessary panic than a dramatic one would.
Family & Social
- When delivering big news to family, the emotional weight you attach to your delivery often becomes their emotional experience of the news — you can be honest about scale without inflating the register you deliver it in.
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