Human life unfolds as a continuous dance of beginnings and endings. The seasons change, the moon waxes and wanes, empires rise and fall, relationships are born and fade, and every breath we take is both an ending and a beginning. Yet, when we experience loss, failure, or death, we tend to perceive them as final. We mourn what has ceased to be, rarely realising that what seems like an end is often the seed of a new dawn.

The timeless wisdom of Sanātana Dharma—the eternal law—invites us to examine this more deeply. Within its philosophy, cosmology, and spiritual practice lies a profound truth: there is no absolute end; every ending conceals a beginning, and every beginning arises from what has passed away.

The Eternal Rhythm

The eternal cyclical rhythm permeates all existence, from the universe’s vast cycles to the subtleties of human life.

1. The Cosmic Cycle

At the heart of Sanātana Dharma stand three dimensions of a single cosmic process— Sṛṣṭi (creation), Sthiti (preservation), and Pralaya (dissolution). Time is envisioned as cyclical, not linear.  The universe expands and contracts rhythmically,  with no ultimate ‘end of the world’, only endless renewal.

Revering the Supreme Power that controls and sustains the cosmic process, its three forces are personified as the Trimūrti—Brahmā the creator, Viṣṇu the sustainer, and Śiva the dissolver. These are not three separate gods in conflict but facets of the same Supreme Power.

Śiva’s Tāṇḍava (dance of dissolution) is not destruction for its own sake—it is a purification, a clearing of the old to make space for the new. Without dissolution, preservation becomes decay and creation stagnates. Thus, what we call an ‘ending’ is merely the necessary completion of one cycle before another can emerge. As the scriptures say, after dissolution, the universe rests in the divine consciousness until creation stirs again.

This understanding extends far beyond cosmology—it mirrors the human journey. Every phase of life is governed by this triadic process. Childhood gives way to youth, youth to maturity, and maturity to old age, each phase ending only to make room for the next. Even death, the great dissolver, is not the end but the threshold to renewal.

2. The Cycles Of Nature

Anityatā (impermanence) is one of the most consistent teachings of Sanātana Dharma. The world of Nāma-Rūpa (name and form) is constantly changing. To resist change is to suffer; to flow with it is to find peace.

The Upaniṣad reveal the ultimate reality as the infinite, eternal field of consciousness that permeates and sustains the whole of existence. This purely spiritual singular field is called Brahman. From it arises this world of Nāma-Rūpa—all forms of matter and energy, every particle and wave, every microcosmic and macrocosmic entity of the universe.

The Upaniṣad remind us that all phenomena are transient, but the underlying reality, Brahman, is eternal.

When a caterpillar dies, a butterfly is born. When a flower wilts, it returns to the soil that nourishes the next bloom. When waves crash on the shore, they do not vanish; they merge back into the ocean, from which new waves arise. Similarly, when something in our life ends, the energy and meaning of that experience are not lost; they merge into the greater current of being, from which new experiences arise.

While endings may feel devastating, the wise learn to bow to impermanence, seeing in every ending the signal of a new beginning.

3. The Cycle Of The Soul

Ātman is the essence of Brahman within us—our eternal True Self, untouched by birth or death.

“The Self is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The Self is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed.” (Bhagavad Gītā 2.20)

Ātman, being pure consciousness, witnesses every experience through the transient body-mind complex. The apparent ‘end’ is simply a transition—a doorway between experiences. The Bhagavad Gītā articulates this truth with clarity:

“Just as a person puts on new garments, giving up old ones, so does the soul accept  new bodies, giving up the old and useless.” (Bhagavad Gītā 2.22)

The Gītā thus transforms our understanding of death. What appears to be an end is merely the dissolution of the body; from the soul’s perspective, it is a change of attire, the beginning of a new experience in another form.

The idea of Saṃsāra—the continuous cycle of birth, death, and rebirth— captures the union of endings and beginnings powerfully. It teaches that nothing truly perishes; everything transforms. This cyclical understanding removes the sting of finality. Even our grief becomes bearable when we recognise that what we have lost continues in another form.

Living With The Wisdom Of Cycles

To see endings as beginnings, we must adopt a vision that sees through the lens of eternity. From that vantage, we can view that the end of one story in life is the preparation for another.

1. The Thread Linking Endings And Beginnings

Sanātana Dharma posits the law of Karma, the subtle thread connecting all actions and consequences. Every experience is a consequence of past Karma (action).

Thus, what appears as an ending in our lives may be the fruition of a past Karma, closing one chapter so that another Kārmika thread can unfold. Losing a job, a relationship, or even one’s health may, from a limited view, seem like misfortune. Yet from the Kārmika outlook, it is a rebalancing—a transformation of the soul’s journey towards greater wisdom and freedom. A verse from the Upaniṣad scriptures describes this succinctly:

“As a man acts, so does he become. As he desires, so is his will; as he wills, so he does; and whatever he does, that he attains.”

Each ending, therefore, is not random—it is woven by the law of cause and effect, steering us towards our next beginning. Understanding the law Karma can help transform one’s destiny from something fatalistic into something that can be purposefully directed.

2. The Death Of Ignorance And The Birth Of Wisdom

While Ātman is the True Self, the ego falsely identifies the self with the body-mind complex. It creates an illusory self-image based on roles, status, or possessions. When these are lost, even momentarily, we are devastated. Yet we must realise that what is lost is not our essence. Knowing this empowers us to initiate a new beginning and transform our situation.

When we are in the midst of loss or uncertainty, this cosmic wisdom can feel distant. Pain blinds us to possibility. The Gītā acknowledges this human vulnerability when Arjuna trembles before the war, unable to see beyond the end of his world. Śrī Kṛṣṇa does not dismiss his grief; instead, he expands Arjuna’s vision, revealing that the Self is eternal, and that the roles we assume—parent, friend, warrior, king—are transient garments we don in the divine play.

The spiritual quest is itself a sequence of dissolutions. In the inner journey, every stage of awakening involves the ending of illusion, the death of ignorance, and the rebirth of insight. Every time we release an attachment, transcend a fear, or surrender a false belief, something in us dies. Yet with that ending comes liberation, the birth of a clearer awareness.

In this light, spiritual practice itself is a series of sacred endings—the gradual dissolution of ignorance into wisdom, confusion into clarity, and individuality into universality.

3. Detachment And Trust In The Flow

How then do we live this truth—not just as a philosophy, but as a daily practice?

The answer lies in cultivating Vairāgya (detachment) and Śaraṇāgati (surrender). Detachment is not indifference; it is clarity—the wisdom to see that nothing we possess, not even our identities, is permanent. Surrender is trust in the cosmic flow—that life’s unfolding serves a higher order.

The Gītā offers this guidance:

“You have the right to action, but not to the fruits thereof. Let not the fruits of action be your motive, nor let your attachment be to inaction.” (Bhagavad Gītā 2.47)

When we act without clinging to outcomes, we align ourselves with the cosmic rhythm. Endings no longer terrify us; they become part of the sacred flow. We discover peace in change itself—a faith that every door that closes reveals another that will open in time.

4.  Spiritual Evolution

Underlying all human cycles of beginning and endings is one unchanging reality—Ātman, the eternal Self—untouched by time, unaltered by birth or death. It is the silent witness of all transitions.

To realise this Self is to transcend fear. The seeker no longer mourns endings or celebrates beginnings; both are seen as waves upon the same ocean. In meditation, one glimpses this truth directly: thoughts arise and fade, emotions come and go, yet the awareness that observes them remains unbroken.

That awareness is our true identity. It neither begins nor ends. When we awaken to it, we see that all endings and beginnings are simply movements within the serene stillness of infinite and eternal being.

When we integrate this vision into daily life, even ordinary experiences become luminous. The end of a friendship may teach compassion; the loss of a job may awaken hidden creativity; the passing of a loved one may deepen our understanding of love itself. Just as a seed must crack and die to sprout, so too must our certainties dissolve for growth to occur. The soil of endings is fertile ground for spiritual evolution.

With the patient faith that divine order works even when unseen, the wise learn to accept every ending as a teacher in disguise.

Lessons From The Epics

The Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata  are the two great Itihāsa (epics) of Sanātana Dharma. Through their narratives, they steadfastly echo the philosophy, “All endings are also beginnings”.

In the Rāmāyaṇa, Śrī Rāma’s exile appears as a tragic ending to his princely life. Yet it becomes the crucible through which Dharma is tested, evil is vanquished, and righteousness restored. His exile is not an end, but the beginning of his divine mission.

Similarly, the Mahābhārata culminates in the cataclysmic Kurukṣetra war—an ending filled with death and devastation. Yet from that destruction arises a new moral order. The war, though tragic, clears the field for Dharma to be reestablished. As Śrī Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna, destruction itself can serve the cause of renewal:

“For the protection of the good, for the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of righteousness, I am born from age to age.” (Bhagavad Gītā 4.8)

These epics remind us that endings often disguise the workings of divine purpose. What seems like loss leads to renewal. The dissolution of one world prepares the soil for another.

Conclusion

“All endings are also beginnings.” This simple truth, reflected in the eternal philosophy of Sanātana Dharma, invites us to live with deeper awareness and faith.

Human life follows the pattern of rest and renewal just the same as the cosmic cycle does. Understanding this perspective teaches us to see endings not as failures but as pauses in the greater rhythm of existence.

We begin to trust the unfolding of life when we realise that:

• Creation, preservation, and dissolution are one continuous cycle.
• Ātman, the True Self is deathless.
• Karma guides each turning of the wheel of life.
• The Divine pervades all change.

In every ending, something eternal is at work. The visible form may fade, but the essence remains, preparing to reveal itself anew. As a verse from theUpaniṣad scriptures proclaims:

“That is whole; this is whole. From the whole, the whole becomes manifest.
When the whole is taken from the whole, the whole remains.”

Thus, nothing is ever lost. All that ends, begins again. And in the eternal play of Brahman lies the assurance that existence and consciousness never truly cease; they simply transform, forever finding new ways to express themselves.

---

© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.

Sujata Khanna’s book, ‘The Eternal Law’, explores Sanātana Philosophy in its elemental form. Available on Amazon worldwide: India, USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherland, Poland, Sweden, Japan

#Endings #Beginnings #CosmicCycle #Brahman #Atman #SanātanaDharma #AncientWisdom #TheEternalLaw #MustReadBook