भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते । रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे ॥
bhūtagrāmaḥ sa evāyaṃ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate | rātryāgame'vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavatyaharāgame ||
Translation
This very same multitude of beings, O Partha, arising again and again, dissolves helplessly at the coming of night, and arises at the coming of day.
Interpretation
Avashah — helplessly. The word is striking. The vast multitude of beings (bhuta-gramah) goes through this endless cycle of arising and dissolving without choice, driven by the forces of cosmic time. This is not tragedy but fact: those caught in the cycle of prakriti and karma are subject to this universal rhythm. The liberation Krishna teaches is the freedom from this helpless cycling — not by escaping the cosmos, but by realizing one's identity with the consciousness that contains the cosmic rhythm without being subject to it.