Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2, Verse 28

अव्यक्तादीनि भूतानि व्यक्तमध्यानि भारत | अव्यक्तनिधनान्येव तत्र का परिदेवना ||

avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyāni bhārata avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā

Beings are unmanifest in the beginning, manifest in the middle, and unmanifest again at the end, O Bharata. What is there to lament in this?

Krishna flips your perspective: manifestation is the anomaly, not death. Before birth, where were you? 'Avyakta-ādīni' (unmanifest in the beginning). Then briefly—'vyakta-madhyāni' (manifest in the middle)—a body appears, a personality emerges. Then 'avyakta-nidhanāni' (unmanifest at the end)—it dissolves back. The word 'eva' emphasizes this isn't theory; it's observable pattern. Then the challenge: 'tatra kā paridevanā' (what is there to lament?). It's like grieving that a wave became water again—the wave was always water, temporarily expressing as form. You're not the brief wave desperately trying to remain. You're the ocean, experiencing itself as wave for a while. The wave will dissolve; that's its nature. But the ocean remains.