अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे | रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ||१८||
avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavanty ahar-āgame | rātry-āgame pralīyante tatraivāvyakta-saṃjñake || 18 ||
At Brahma's dawn, all beings emerge from the unmanifest; at his dusk, they merge back into that same unmanifest.
Word by word (3)
- avyaktāt vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavanty ahar-āgame
- — From the unmanifest, all manifested (beings) emerge at the approach of day · avyaktāt = from the unmanifest (avyakta = un-manifest, invisible, not-appeared; from a = not + vi + √añj = to appear; avyakta = that which has not yet appeared, the unmanifested ground; ablative — 'from the unmanifest'). vyaktayaḥ = the manifested beings (vyakta = manifested, appeared, visible; plural — all the manifested entities). sarvāḥ = all. prabhavanty = they come forth (pra + √bhū = to come forth, to arise — prabhavanty = they arise, emerge). ahar-āgame = at the approach/arrival of day (ahar = day; āgama = coming, arrival — ahar-āgame = when day arrives, at the dawn of Brahma's Day). The emergence: from the avyakta (unmanifest ground), ALL vyaktayaḥ (manifested beings) emerge when Brahma's Day arrives. This is the Vedāntic cosmogony: creation is not ex nihilo but the manifestation (vyakta) of what was unmanifest (avyakta). At the cosmic dawn, the dormant potential of all beings in the avyakta becomes actual.
- rātry-āgame pralīyante tatra eva avyakta-saṃjñake
- — At the approach of night they dissolve back into that same — called the unmanifest · rātry-āgame = at the approach/arrival of night (rātri = night; āgama = coming — rātry-āgame = at the coming of night, when Brahma's Night arrives). pralīyante = they dissolve (pra + √lī = to dissolve, melt away — pralīyante = they completely dissolve; pralaya = dissolution, the great dissolution). tatra = there, into that (into the same ground from which they emerged). eva = very, indeed (emphatic — the same avyakta from which they emerged). avyakta-saṃjñake = called/known as the unmanifest (avyakta = unmanifest; saṃjñā = designation, name — saṃjñaka = known as; avyakta-saṃjñake = what is called the unmanifest). The complete cycle: at cosmic dawn (ahar-āgame), all beings emerge from the avyakta; at cosmic dusk (rātry-āgame), all beings dissolve back into the avyakta. The avyakta here is Brahmā's own unmanifest ground — not the akṣara Brahman of V3 (which is beyond even this avyakta, as V20 will clarify) but the 'lower' unmanifest that is the potential-ground of Brahma's creation cycle.
- avyakta as the cycle's ground — the distinction between this avyakta and V20's eternal avyakta
- — V18's avyakta is the unmanifest potential of the cosmic cycle — distinct from V20's eternal Unmanifest beyond the cycle · V18 introduces a crucial distinction that V20 will complete: there are two avyaktas (unmanifests) in the Gita's cosmology. V18's avyakta is the unmanifest state within Brahma's cycle — it is the 'night-state' when all beings are dissolved but still potentially present, waiting to re-emerge at the next dawn. This avyakta is sometimes called prakṛti in Sāṃkhya philosophy — the unmanifest nature-ground from which the manifest world emerges. But V20 will introduce 'another unmanifest' (anya avyakta) — one that is beyond even this avyakta, that is eternal (sanātana) and does not dissolve even when all beings dissolve. This eternal avyakta is the akṣara Brahman of V3 — the Supreme which transcends the entire avyakta-vyakta cycle. V18's avyakta is WITHIN the cycle; V20's avyakta is BEYOND it. Understanding this distinction is essential for Ch.8's liberation teaching.
V18 describes the cosmic mechanism of Brahma's Day-Night cycle (set up in V17): at Brahma's dawn (ahar-āgame), all manifested beings emerge from the avyakta (unmanifest ground); at his dusk (rātry-āgame), all beings dissolve back into the same avyakta. This is the cosmic cycle of creation and dissolution that V16 said makes even Brahma's realm subject to return. V18 makes this concrete: the cycle IS the avyakta-to-vyakta-to-avyakta process.
A modern analogy
Earth has seasonal cycles: spring (day) when seeds germinate and life emerges; winter (night) when life retreats into dormancy. V18 describes Brahma's cosmic Day-Night as the universe-scale version of this: the cosmos 'germinates' (all beings emerge) at cosmic dawn and goes 'dormant' (all beings dissolve) at cosmic dusk. The seed-state in winter is V18's avyakta — the potential for the next emergence, but not yet active.
What it does NOT mean
V18's avyakta (unmanifest) is NOT the same as V20's eternal Unmanifest. V18's avyakta is the unmanifest WITHIN Brahma's cycle — the state of all beings between cosmic nights and days (like seeds in winter). V20 will describe a DIFFERENT eternal avyakta that is beyond even this cycling — the akṣara Brahman that does not dissolve. This distinction is crucial for understanding Ch.8.
Take with you
- V18 teaches the impermanence of all manifested existence at the deepest level. Even the 'seeds' of karma that carry individual beings through rebirths — their very potential — is dissolved at cosmic night into the avyakta. This is the most radical impermanence teaching: not just that individual things change, but that even the cosmic ground of manifestation cycles into dissolution. Only the akṣara (V20) is not dissolved.
- V18 + V19's teaching on bhūta-grāma (multitude of beings) involuntarily returning: the word 'bhūta-saṃgha' in V19 will say the multitude returns 'without their will' (avasaḥ). This cosmic involuntariness makes liberation (V16's mām upetya) even more precious: it is the only escape from a process that operates automatically, without the individual's consent.
- V18's ahar-āgame (at dawn's approach) + rātry-āgame (at night's approach) is a template for meditation: awareness of the great cycles of manifestation and dissolution that operate at every scale, from cosmic to personal. What emerges and dissolves in your own consciousness, day by day? V18 applied to inner life: at the dawn of attention (meditation), what emerges from your unmanifest depths? At sleep, what dissolves back?
V18 is the Gita's most direct cosmogonic statement — the description of how the universe emerges and dissolves. The avyakta-vyakta-avyakta cycle is the Sāṃkhya philosophical framework applied to cosmic scale: avyakta = prakṛti (unmanifest nature) → vyakti (manifestation, the world of appearances) → avyakta (return to unmanifest at cosmic dissolution). The term pralīyante (they dissolve) is significant — pra + √lī = to completely dissolve; pralaya = the great dissolution. Indian cosmological tradition has three scales of pralaya: naimittika (occasional, at the end of Brahma's Day), prākṛtika (natural, at the end of Brahma's lifetime), and ātyantika (absolute, the final liberation from all cosmic cycles). V18 describes the naimittika pralaya — the dissolution at each cosmic night. V18's 'from the avyakta they emerge / into the avyakta they dissolve' is a direct echo of the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 3.8 (Gārgī's conversation with Yājñavalkya): 'That in which space itself is woven is akṣara — that I call the Brahman.' V18 is establishing the LOWER avyakta (the cycle-ground) as the preparation for V20's revelation of the HIGHER akṣara that is beyond even this.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: V18's avyakta is the avyakta-māyā — the unmanifest aspect of māyā (cosmic illusion) that serves as the 'seed-state' of manifestation. When all manifested beings dissolve into this avyakta at cosmic night, they are not liberated — they are in seed-form, waiting to re-emerge at the next cosmic dawn. True liberation (V16's mām upetya) is not dissolution into this avyakta but recognition of the akṣara that is BEYOND even this avyakta (V20).
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, V18 establishes the cosmic scale of Krishna's creative and dissolving activity: it is through Me that all manifest (emerge) and through Me that all dissolve (into the avyakta). V9.7-V9.8 will make this explicit: 'at the end of a kalpa, all beings dissolve into My nature; at the beginning, I send them forth again.' V18's impersonal cosmic mechanism is V9's personal divine action.
Karma-Yoga lens
V18's cosmic cycle of emergence and dissolution is the ultimate context for karma yoga's non-attachment to results. All results — individual and cosmic — participate in the vyakta-avyakta cycle. Even the greatest achievement dissolves at Brahma's Night. The karma yogi's non-attachment is therefore cosmically grounded: to be attached to results that are within V18's cycle is to be attached to what is guaranteed to dissolve.
Modern parallels
V18's avyakta-vyakta-avyakta cycle is paralleled in modern cosmology's understanding of cosmic cycles: Big Bang → expansion → possible Big Crunch, or alternatively, the quantum vacuum (avyakta) → quantum fluctuations → the observable universe (vyakta) → possible return to quantum vacuum state. The Gita's model is metaphysically richer but cosmologically resonant with modern understanding of the universe's emergence from and return to a ground state.
Practice
V18 emergence-dissolution meditation: in meditation, watch thoughts, feelings, and perceptions arise (emerge, ahar-āgame) and pass (dissolve, rātry-āgame). Notice: the awareness within which this emergence and dissolution happens — does IT emerge and dissolve? Or does it remain as the ground? That persistent ground-awareness is V20's eternal avyakta — the akṣara that V18's cycle cannot touch.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
At the approach of (Brahma's) day, all manifestations proceed from the unmanifested state; at the approach of night, they merge verily into that alone, which is called the unmanifested. [4]
From the Unmanifested, all the manifested stream forth at the coming of day; at the coming of night they dissolve even into that, called the Unmanifested. [5]
At the coming of the day of Brahma all things go forth from the unmanifest; at the coming of the night they dissolve in that which is called the unmanifest. [6]
When that vast Dawn doth break, th' Invisible Is brought anew into the Visible; When that deep Night doth darken, all which is Fades back again to Him Who sent it forth. [7]
On the advent of day, all perceptible things are produced from the unperceived; and on the advent of night they merge in that same thing, called the unperceived. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Those who know Brahma's Day as a thousand yugas and his Night as a thousand yugas — they know day and night truly.
Beyond that unmanifest is another Unmanifest — eternal, not dissolved when all beings dissolve: My supreme abode.
At the end of each cosmic age, all beings return to My prakriti — at the next dawn, I send them forth again.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.