Chapter 8 - Attaining the Supreme
Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman?
What is the self? What are fruitive activities?
What is this material manifestation?
And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me
Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body
O Madhusudana?
And how can those engaged in
Devotional service know you at the time of death?
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible
Transcendental living entity is called Brahman
And his eternal nature is called adhyatma, the self
Action pertaining to the development of the material bodies
Of the living entities is called karma, or fruitive activities
O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature
Which is constantly changing
Is called adhibhuta the material manifestation
The universal form of the Lord, which includes all the demigods
Like those of the sun and moon, is called adhidaiva. And I
The Supreme Lord
Represented as the Supersoul in the heart of every
Embodied being, am called adhiyajna the Lord of sacrifice
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body
Remembering Me alone
At once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt
Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his
Body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail
Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of
Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of
Fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind
And intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt
He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead
His mind constantly engaged in remembering Me
Undeviated from the path, he, O Partha, is sure to reach Me
One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows
Everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller
Who is smaller than the smallest
Who is the maintainer of everything
Who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable
And who is always a person
He is luminous like the sun
And He is transcendental, beyond this material nature
One who, at the time of death
Fixes his life air between the eyebrows and, by the strength of yoga
With an undeviating mind
Engages himself in remembering the Supreme Lord in full
Devotion, will certainly attain to
The Supreme Personality of Godhead
Persons who are learned in the Vedas
Who utter omkara and who are great sages in the renounced order enter
Into Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices celibacy
I shall now briefly explain to you this
Process by which one may attain salvation
The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual
Engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind
On the heart and the life air at the top
Of the head, one establishes himself in yoga
After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred
Syllable om, the supreme combination of letters
If one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and
Quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets
For one who always remembers Me without deviation
I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha
Because of his constant engagement in devotional service
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion
Never return to this temporary world
Which is full of miseries
Because they have attained the highest perfection
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest
All are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place
But one who attains to My abode
O son of Kunti, never takes birth again
By human calculation
A thousand ages taken together form the duration of
Brahma's one day. And such also is the duration of his night
At the beginning of Brahma's day
All living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state
And thereafter, when the night falls
They are merged into the unmanifest again
Again and again, when Brahma's day arrives
All living entities come into being
And with the arrival of Brahma's
Night they are helplessly annihilated
Yet there is another unmanifest nature
Which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and
Unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated
When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is
That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible
That which is known as the supreme destination
That place from which, having attained it
One never returns -- that is My supreme abode
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all
Is attainable by unalloyed devotion
Although He is present in His abode
He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him
O best of the Bharatas
I shall now explain to you the different times at which
Passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back
Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain that Supreme by passing
Away from the world during the influence of the fiery god
In the light, at an auspicious moment of the day
During the fortnight of the waxing moon
Or during the six months when the sun travels in the north
The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke
The night, the fortnight of the waning moon
Or the six months when the sun passes to the
South reaches the moon planet but again comes back
According to Vedic opinion
There are two ways of passing from this world -- one in light and one
In darkness. When one passes in light
He does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns
Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna
They are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion
A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of
The results derived from studying the Vedas
Performing austere sacrifices
Giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities
Simply by performing devotional service
He attains all these
And at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode