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Saarthi

Chapter 8 · 28 verses

Akshara Brahma Yoga: The Imperishable

अध्याय 8 — अक्षरब्रह्मयोग

What happens at the time of death, why one should remember God at all times, and the path that does not return.

मृत्यु के समय क्या होता है, हर समय भगवान का स्मरण क्यों करना चाहिए, और वह मार्ग जिससे लौटना नहीं पड़ता।

  1. Verse 8.1किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम …Arjuna asks Krishna: What is Brahman, the Absolute? What is the self, and what is action? What is meant by the material world, and what by the divine?
  2. Verse 8.2अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन …Arjuna continues: Who is the Lord of sacrifice in this body, and how does He dwell here? And how can those with a disciplined mind know You at the time of death?
  3. Verse 8.3अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते …Krishna answers: Brahman is the supreme, imperishable reality. One's own inner nature is called the self. The creative force that brings beings into existence is called action (karma).
  4. Verse 8.4अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम् …The material world is what keeps changing and perishing. The cosmic spirit is the ruler of the divine powers. And Krishna Himself, living within the body, is the Lord of sacrifice.
  5. Verse 8.5अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् …Whoever leaves the body at the time of death while remembering Krishna alone reaches His nature. There is no doubt about this.
  6. Verse 8.6यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् …Whatever a person thinks about when leaving the body, they go to that very state, because they have been absorbed in it all through life.
  7. Verse 8.7तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च …So remember Krishna at all times and also do your duty — fight. With your mind and intellect given to Him, you will surely come to Him.
  8. Verse 8.8अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना …With a mind trained by steady practice that does not wander elsewhere, constantly meditating on the Supreme, a person reaches that divine Supreme Being.
  9. Verse 8.9कविं पुराणमनुशासितार …One should meditate on the Supreme as all-knowing, ancient, the ruler of all, subtler than the subtlest, the support of everything, beyond imagination, shining like the sun and beyond all darkness.
  10. Verse 8.10प्रयाणकाले मनसाऽचलेन …At the time of departure, one who with an unmoving mind, full of devotion and the strength of yoga, fixes the life-breath between the eyebrows reaches that supreme divine Being.
  11. Verse 8.11यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति …Krishna briefly describes the goal that knowers of the Vedas call imperishable, which disciplined seekers free from passion enter, and for which people live a life of self-control.
  12. Verse 8.12सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च …Controlling all the doors of the senses, holding the mind in the heart, drawing the life-breath up to the head, and staying firm in yoga...
  13. Verse 8.13ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् …...one who chants Om, the single sacred syllable, while remembering Krishna and leaves the body, reaches the highest goal.
  14. Verse 8.14अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः …For the devotee who remembers Krishna constantly, every day, with a mind that goes nowhere else, He is easy to reach.
  15. Verse 8.15मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् …Having reached Krishna, great souls do not take birth again in this temporary world full of sorrow, for they have attained the highest perfection.
  16. Verse 8.16आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन …All worlds, even up to the realm of Brahma the creator, are places from which beings return to rebirth. But one who reaches Krishna is not born again.
  17. Verse 8.17सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः …Those who understand time know that a single day of Brahma lasts a thousand ages, and his night lasts just as long.
  18. Verse 8.18अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे …When Brahma's day begins, all visible things come out of the unmanifest; when his night falls, they dissolve back into it.
  19. Verse 8.19भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते …This same multitude of beings comes into existence again and again, and helplessly dissolves when night falls, and arises again when day comes.
  20. Verse 8.20परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः …But beyond this unmanifest there is another eternal, unseen reality, which does not perish even when all beings perish.
  21. Verse 8.21अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम् …That unseen, imperishable reality is called the highest goal. Those who reach it do not return. That is Krishna's supreme abode.
  22. Verse 8.22पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया …That Supreme Being, in whom all beings live and by whom all this is pervaded, can be reached through undivided devotion.
  23. Verse 8.23यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः …Krishna now explains the times at which yogis who leave this world either do not return or do return.
  24. Verse 8.24अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् …Fire, light, daytime, the bright half of the moon, the six months of the sun's northern path — those who know Brahman and leave at such a time go to Brahman.
  25. Verse 8.25धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् …Smoke, night, the dark half of the moon, the six months of the sun's southern path — a yogi who leaves by this path reaches the lunar light and then returns.
  26. Verse 8.26शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते …These two paths of the world, the bright and the dark, are considered eternal. By one a person does not return; by the other they come back again.
  27. Verse 8.27नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन …A yogi who understands these two paths is never confused. So, Arjuna, stay connected in yoga at all times.
  28. Verse 8.28वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव …The yogi who knows this goes beyond all the merit promised for studying the Vedas, performing sacrifices, austerity and charity, and reaches the supreme, original abode.