Again and Again

The word that hits hardest here is “avasah” — helplessly. Without choice.

Krishna says beings come forth again and again, dissolved at night, manifested at dawn, and they have no say in it. The cycle runs on autopilot. You didn’t choose to be born. You won’t choose the terms of your death. And unless something fundamental changes, the loop continues.

This sounds bleak until you realize it’s actually a diagnosis, not a sentence. Krishna is describing the default mode — what happens when you’re unconscious, when you’re just riding the wave without awareness. The cycle catches everyone who doesn’t wake up.

Modern life mirrors this perfectly. Think about the patterns you repeat without choosing them. The same type of relationship. The same work burnout cycle. The same Sunday night anxiety. You emerge into each week, get dissolved by Friday, and the whole thing starts again on Monday. Helplessly.

“Again and again” — bhutva bhutva. The repetition in the Sanskrit is deliberate. It sounds like a heartbeat. Or a clock. Or waves on a shore. Relentless, automatic, impersonal.

But embedded in this grim description is a hidden invitation. If the default is unconscious repetition, then the exit is conscious awareness. The cycle only has power over those who don’t see it. The moment you recognize the pattern — really see it, not just intellectually but viscerally — you’ve already begun to step outside it.

Krishna doesn’t describe this helpless cycle to depress Arjuna. He describes it so Arjuna can say: “I see the loop. Now how do I get off?”

Reflect

What pattern in your life feels like it runs on autopilot — something you keep doing “helplessly” without consciously choosing it? What would it look like to break that cycle?