Kṛṣṇa emphasizes the helplessness of the conditioned soul. He says that this same multitude of living beings is born again and again, and then ‘helplessly’ annihilated at the arrival of the cosmic night. We have no choice in this matter as long as we remain in the material system. ‘Avaśaḥ’—helplessly—is the key word. We are like passengers on a train that keeps looping back to the start. We didn’t choose when the universe began, and we can’t stop it when it ends. This lack of control is a fundamental feature of material life. We are being moved by forces much larger than ourselves. Arjuna’s struggle to control the outcome of the war is revealed to be a small part of this larger helplessness. Kṛṣṇa is showing him that the only way to gain true agency and freedom is to stop trying to control the material machine and instead connect with the Person who created it. The only choice we truly have is whether to stay in the loop or step out of it.