Bhagavad-gītā 8.18

Explain simply

Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa

अव्यक्ताद् व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे ।
रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ॥१८॥

avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ
prabhavanty ahar-āgame
rātry-āgame pralīyante
tatraivāvyakta-saṁjñake

Word for word (synonyms)

avyaktāt
from the unmanifest
vyaktayaḥ
living entities
sarvāḥ
all
prabhavanti
come into being
ahaḥ-āgame
at the beginning of the day
rātri-āgame
at the fall of night
pralīyante
are annihilated
tatra
there
eva
certainly
avyakta
the unmanifest
saṁjñake
called

Translation

When Brahmā's day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the arrival of Brahmā's night they are all annihilated.

Purport

The less intelligent jīvas try to remain within this material world and are accordingly elevated and degraded in the various planetary systems. During the daytime of Brahmā they exhibit their activities, and at the coming of Brahmā's night they are annihilated. In the day they receive various bodies for material activities, and at night these bodies perish. The jīvas (individual souls) remain compact in the body of Viṣṇu and again and again are manifest at the arrival of Brahmā's day. When Brahmā's life is finally finished, they are all annihilated and remain unmanifest for millions and millions of years. Finally, when Brahmā is born again in another millennium, they are again manifest. In this way the jīvas are captivated by the material world. However, those intelligent beings who take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma in devotional service transfer themselves, even in this life, to the spiritual planet of Kṛṣṇa and become eternally blissful there, not being subject to such rebirths.

What this verse teaches

Manifest and unmanifest states of material world

Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 1

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.