A declaration · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“What seems like ending is only a return before another beginning.”
O son of Kunti, at the end of a cosmic cycle all beings enter my nature; at its beginning, I send them forth again.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallyall beings · O son of Kunti · nature · go to · my · at the end of a cosmic cycle · again · them · at the beginning of a cosmic cycle · I send forth · I
At the end of a vast cycle, every being dissolves back into Krishna's nature. When the next cycle begins, he brings them forth again.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga" (The Royal Knowledge).
Verse 7 sits in Chapter 9 of the Bhagavad Gita — Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga, "The Royal Knowledge". The chapter has 34 verses in total.
A project collapses, a relationship ends, a role disappears — and it feels final. This verse pulls the mind back from that panic and shows that endings belong to a larger cycle, not absolute loss.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from personal control to the larger rhythm that carries all change.
What this verse means
At the end of a vast cycle, every being dissolves back into Krishna's nature. When the next cycle begins, he brings them forth again.
Context & commentary
On the Kurukshetra battlefield, Arjuna is frozen by the scale of loss. Krishna widens the frame beyond one war: worlds themselves rise and dissolve in cycles, and every being is gathered back and sent out again. That cosmic rhythm steadies Arjuna's panic.
Why this verse still matters
A project collapses, a relationship ends, a role disappears — and it feels final. This verse pulls the mind back from that panic and shows that endings belong to a larger cycle, not absolute loss.
“You are held inside a larger order, even when everything seems to end.”
Explore related themes: prakriti (31 verses), manifestation (11 verses), omnipresence (11 verses)