OM
This page tells the eighth installment of an amazing story occurring in the midst of a battle field, long long ago. I am only re-writing (the translation of) this wonderful story on this blog. Originally written in Sanskrit, the Bhagavad Gita, even though conceived as a religious text, is an entire coded system in itself for any human being (irrespective of cast, creed, sex and religion) to become perfect. While the Bhagavad Gita has been been translated into English by many great authors, I have mostly referred to the version of Swami Chinmayanada Ji. This page - and the 17 others in this series/story - are dedicated, with great respect, to the author of the most amazing book (according to me) ever written, Sage Vyasa.
8. Yoga of Imperishable Brahman
1) ARJUNA:
What is that BRAHMAN? What is the ADHYATMA? What is action? O best among men, (Sri Krishna) what is declared to be the ADHIBHUTA? And what is ADHIDAIVA said to be?
2) Who and how is ADHIYAJNA here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? (Sri Krishna) And how, at the time of death, are you to be known by the self-controlled?
3) SRI KRISHNA:
BRAHMAN is Imperishable, the supreme; His essential nature is called Self-knowledge, the creative force that causes beings to spring forth into manifestation is called “work”.
4) ADHIBHUTA (or elements) constitutes My perishable nature, and the Indweller (or the essence) is the ADHIDAIVATA; I alone am the ADHIYAJNA here, in this body, O best of the embodied (Arjuna)
5) And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, at the time of death, he attains My being; there is no doubt about this.
6) Whosoever, at the end, leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only he goes, O Kaunteya (Arjuna) because of his constant thoughts of that being.
7) Therefore, at all times, remember Me, and fight with mind and intellect, fixed (or absorbed) in Me; You shall doubtless come to Me alone.
8) With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast by the method of habitual meditation, and constantly meditating on the Supreme PURUSHA, the resplendent, O Partha (Arjuna), he goes (to Him.)
9) Whosoever meditates on the omniscient, the ancient, the ruler (of the whole world), more minute than the atom, the Supporter of all, of form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun and beyond the darkness (of ignorance…)
10) At the time of death, with an unshaken mind full of devotion, by the power of ‘Yoga’ fixing the whole ‘Prana’ (breath) between the 2 eyebrows, he (the seeker) reaches the supreme Resplendent “Purusha.”
11) That which is declared Imperishable by the Veda-knowers; That into which, the self-controlled and desire freed enter; That desiring for which Bhramcharya is practiced – that goal, I will declare to thee in brief.
12) Having closed all gates, having confined the mind in the heart, having fixed the life-breath in the head, engage in the practice of concentration,
13) Uttering the one-syllabled ‘OM’ – the (symbol of) BRAHMAN – and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the supreme Goal.
14) I am easily attainable by that ever steadfast Yogi, who constantly remembers Me daily, not thinking of anything else, O Partha (Arjuna)
15) Having attained Me, these Mahatmas do not again take birth, which is the house of pain and is non-eternal, they having reached the highest Perfection, Moksha.
16) Worlds upto the ‘world-of-BRAHMAJI’ are subject to rebirth, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O Kaunteya, has no birth.
17) Those people who know (the length of) the day of Brahma which ends in a thousand Yugas (aeons), and the night which (also) ends in a thousand Yugas (aeons), they know day and night.
18) From the un-manifested all the manifested proceed at the coming of the ‘day’; at the coming of the ‘night’ they dissolve verily in that alone which is called un-manifest.
19) This same multitude of beings are being born again and again, and are dissolved (into the un-manifest); helplessly O Partha (Arjuna) at the coming of the ‘night’, and they come forth again at the coming of the ‘day’.
20) But verily there exists, higher than the un-manifest (Avyaka), another Un-manifested which is Eternal, which is not destroyed when all beings are destroyed.
21) That which is called the Un-manifest and Imperishable, that they say is the Highest Goal (path.) They who reach It, never again return. That is My highest Abode (state.)
22) That highest ‘PURUSHA’, O Partha, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within whom all beings dwell, by whom all this is pervaded.
23) Now at what time (path) departing, Yogis go, never to return, as also to return, that time (path), I will tell you, O chief of Bharatas (Arjuna.)
24) Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice; following this path, men who know Brahman go to Brahman.
25) Smoke, nighttime, the dark fortnight, also six months of the southern solstice, attaining by these to the Moon, the lunar light, the ‘Yogi’, returns.
26) The ‘Path-of-light’ and the ‘Path-of-darkness’ available for the world are verily thought to be both eternal; by the one, the ‘Path-of-Light’, a man goes to return not; by the other, the ‘Path of Darkness’, he returns again.
27) Knowing these paths, O Partha (Arjuna), no Yogin is deluded; therefore at all times, be steadfast in Yoga, O Arjuna.
28) Whether the fruit of merit is declared (in the scriptures) as springing up from study of the Vedas, from performance of Sacrifices, from practice of Austerities, and from Charity – beyond all these goes the Yogin, who having known this (the 2 paths) attains to the supreme, Primeval (Essence).
This page tells the eighth installment of an amazing story occurring in the midst of a battle field, long long ago. I am only re-writing (the translation of) this wonderful story on this blog. Originally written in Sanskrit, the Bhagavad Gita, even though conceived as a religious text, is an entire coded system in itself for any human being (irrespective of cast, creed, sex and religion) to become perfect. While the Bhagavad Gita has been been translated into English by many great authors, I have mostly referred to the version of Swami Chinmayanada Ji. This page - and the 17 others in this series/story - are dedicated, with great respect, to the author of the most amazing book (according to me) ever written, Sage Vyasa.
8. Yoga of Imperishable Brahman
1) ARJUNA:
What is that BRAHMAN? What is the ADHYATMA? What is action? O best among men, (Sri Krishna) what is declared to be the ADHIBHUTA? And what is ADHIDAIVA said to be?
2) Who and how is ADHIYAJNA here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? (Sri Krishna) And how, at the time of death, are you to be known by the self-controlled?
3) SRI KRISHNA:
BRAHMAN is Imperishable, the supreme; His essential nature is called Self-knowledge, the creative force that causes beings to spring forth into manifestation is called “work”.
4) ADHIBHUTA (or elements) constitutes My perishable nature, and the Indweller (or the essence) is the ADHIDAIVATA; I alone am the ADHIYAJNA here, in this body, O best of the embodied (Arjuna)
5) And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, at the time of death, he attains My being; there is no doubt about this.
6) Whosoever, at the end, leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only he goes, O Kaunteya (Arjuna) because of his constant thoughts of that being.
7) Therefore, at all times, remember Me, and fight with mind and intellect, fixed (or absorbed) in Me; You shall doubtless come to Me alone.
8) With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast by the method of habitual meditation, and constantly meditating on the Supreme PURUSHA, the resplendent, O Partha (Arjuna), he goes (to Him.)
9) Whosoever meditates on the omniscient, the ancient, the ruler (of the whole world), more minute than the atom, the Supporter of all, of form inconceivable, Effulgent like the Sun and beyond the darkness (of ignorance…)
10) At the time of death, with an unshaken mind full of devotion, by the power of ‘Yoga’ fixing the whole ‘Prana’ (breath) between the 2 eyebrows, he (the seeker) reaches the supreme Resplendent “Purusha.”
11) That which is declared Imperishable by the Veda-knowers; That into which, the self-controlled and desire freed enter; That desiring for which Bhramcharya is practiced – that goal, I will declare to thee in brief.
12) Having closed all gates, having confined the mind in the heart, having fixed the life-breath in the head, engage in the practice of concentration,
13) Uttering the one-syllabled ‘OM’ – the (symbol of) BRAHMAN – and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the supreme Goal.
14) I am easily attainable by that ever steadfast Yogi, who constantly remembers Me daily, not thinking of anything else, O Partha (Arjuna)
15) Having attained Me, these Mahatmas do not again take birth, which is the house of pain and is non-eternal, they having reached the highest Perfection, Moksha.
16) Worlds upto the ‘world-of-BRAHMAJI’ are subject to rebirth, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O Kaunteya, has no birth.
17) Those people who know (the length of) the day of Brahma which ends in a thousand Yugas (aeons), and the night which (also) ends in a thousand Yugas (aeons), they know day and night.
18) From the un-manifested all the manifested proceed at the coming of the ‘day’; at the coming of the ‘night’ they dissolve verily in that alone which is called un-manifest.
19) This same multitude of beings are being born again and again, and are dissolved (into the un-manifest); helplessly O Partha (Arjuna) at the coming of the ‘night’, and they come forth again at the coming of the ‘day’.
20) But verily there exists, higher than the un-manifest (Avyaka), another Un-manifested which is Eternal, which is not destroyed when all beings are destroyed.
21) That which is called the Un-manifest and Imperishable, that they say is the Highest Goal (path.) They who reach It, never again return. That is My highest Abode (state.)
22) That highest ‘PURUSHA’, O Partha, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within whom all beings dwell, by whom all this is pervaded.
23) Now at what time (path) departing, Yogis go, never to return, as also to return, that time (path), I will tell you, O chief of Bharatas (Arjuna.)
24) Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice; following this path, men who know Brahman go to Brahman.
25) Smoke, nighttime, the dark fortnight, also six months of the southern solstice, attaining by these to the Moon, the lunar light, the ‘Yogi’, returns.
26) The ‘Path-of-light’ and the ‘Path-of-darkness’ available for the world are verily thought to be both eternal; by the one, the ‘Path-of-Light’, a man goes to return not; by the other, the ‘Path of Darkness’, he returns again.
27) Knowing these paths, O Partha (Arjuna), no Yogin is deluded; therefore at all times, be steadfast in Yoga, O Arjuna.
28) Whether the fruit of merit is declared (in the scriptures) as springing up from study of the Vedas, from performance of Sacrifices, from practice of Austerities, and from Charity – beyond all these goes the Yogin, who having known this (the 2 paths) attains to the supreme, Primeval (Essence).
Thus ends the eighth chapter on Bhagavad Gita.
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