Sanskrit
अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत । अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ॥
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyaktamadhyāni bhārata avyaktanidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā
Translation
Beings are unmanifest in their origin, manifest in their midmost state, O Bhârata, unmanifest likewise are they in dissolution. What room then for lamentation?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The argument widens one more time, from “the self” specifically to “beings” (bhūtāni) generally: unmanifest before birth, manifest for a visible stretch in between, unmanifest again after death. Only the middle segment is ever visible to us, so grief keyed to that middle segment is grief over something that was a temporary appearance to begin with, not the whole of what a being is.
Concepts