अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे ।
रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ।। ८.१८ ।।
भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते ।
रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे ।। ८.१९ ।।

avyaktād-vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavanty-ahar-āgame |
rātry-āgame pralīyante tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake || 8.18 ||
bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate |
rātry-āgame’vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavaty-ahar-āgame || 8.19 ||

‘Day and night’ – their spiritual connotation

The next verses refer to the concept of spiritual day and night, a proper knowledge of which, he says, will lead one to the supreme Truth:

As the day dawns, all beings emerge from the unmanifest. And at night they glide back into the same unmanifest. All beings, O Arjuna, born again and again, get dissolved as night sets, and then again irresistibly come forth when the day dawns.

Krishna’s statement that the beings get born at day, to merge back into the unmanifest when night befalls, and that this process of getting born and getting extinct takes place repetitively, clearly compels the seeker to think of the whole phenomenon in a deeper note.

These physical, visual days and nights do not obviously become a subject for spiritual study or evaluation. In fact, only those lying beyond the senses, need become a subject for the scriptures to discuss and reveal.

How the gross world has come to be and is going to dissolve is not alone a scientific question. In so far as the question involves our life, experience and interaction, the spiritual seeker also is obliged to take it up and see what answer he is able to arrive at, fulfilling his own needs and aspirations.

From a spiritual angle, Krishna says that every distinct form of existence arises from the indistinct, and it recedes into the same indistinctness in the end. The indistinctness of the source is the first factor to be recognized and dealt with. From that being alone will anything else come to be. This Source, the original Presence, is called avyakta. Krishna referred to It in the 2nd chapter, when he stated that all beings have their origin as well as end in the avyakta (indistinctness) alone. What is there so much then to grieve about, was the proposition he had set forth (2.28).

The process or cycle by which the visible emergence and subsidence – appearance and disappearance – take place is the spiritual or metaphysical ‘day and night’. The seeker has to look deeper to understand these with greater meaning and relevance that will enrich his spiritual wisdom.

Daily, the dawning of jagrat (wakefulness) ending our susupti (deep sleep state) marks the beginning of the active day for us. But because the occurrence is so common and repetitive, none is led to probe into how the phenomenon takes place. But in spiritual enquiry, jagrat and susupti are extremely revealing, holding the key to know the supreme Reality, the cause and source of the entire visible world.

Wakefulness (jagrat) sets in, bringing the sleep state (susupti) to an end every day, manifesting suddenly the visible existence. Similarly when the wakefulness itself slips into sleep, which lasts for a few hours, the whole manifest world also goes into extinction. The emergence and extinction thus of the manifest existence inhere in the dawning and setting of our own individual day, namely wakefulness, and night, susupti (deep sleep). Even the rising of sun and the consequent dawning of visible world around are sensed only when we wake up first. This fundamental ‘subject’ cause is, however, missed by all. It is a powerful delusion, overtaking one and all.

The cyclic emergence of wakefulness and its subsidence take place individually on a short-term basis, within twenty-four hours, by the time the earth on which we live rotates fully once. The constant effortless prevalence of these makes every one miss their place and importance. More than treating them as great revealers to the mystery of creation and dissolution, people dispose them of as a simple fact, giving no room for thought or enquiry.

But, when the wakeful and sleep states are taken up for deep study, as Mandukyopanishad has done, then the visva and prajna (two aspects of our nature corresponding to wakeful and sleep states) will come into full focus, unveiling the whole spiritual wisdom, making the seeker a full heir to Imperishability and the resultant freedom.

Manifestation of the Universe – the source is inner

The source and power that brings about waking and sleep states is, no doubt, reigning right within jagrat and susupti. That is why a person wakes up, all by himself, leaving his slumber, without being occasioned by any external factor. Equally so, he also readily courts sleep from wakefulness. Only when the cause of both the states remains co-existential, he can terminate each, without any external help or support. Even in the worst din and bustle, does not one at times slip into dense sleep? What does it indicate?

This inner source transcends both waking and sleep states. Its transcendental presence is quite evident, unchallengeable. It gives the clue to the greater phenomenon – the emergence and subsidence of the visible creation itself. The srshti (evolution or creation) as also laya (dissolution) are due to the same source reigning within the individual. It has the power, supremacy and absoluteness to cause as well as withdraw any manifestation. But we find it has chosen to preserve some order, sequence and cycle in the process, to give it the necessary vyavastha (stability, dependable status).

On slipping into sleep, time suddenly ceases. With that, objectivity also vanishes, thereby dispensing with even space, its ground. It is thus evident that the inner source alone brings about time, space as well as objects, the three constituents of manifest existence.

The reverse too takes place when susupti is terminated to bring in wakefulness again. Then all the lost triad of time, space and objects suddenly comes into full display. To thus enfold the manifest existence and again unfold it, without any exterior help or support whatever, how sovereign must be the potential and magnitude of the inner source! But does anyone ever think of such a supreme source reigning within?