Chapter 8

(Revision 01 Feb 01 09)

BHAGAVAD GITA


CHAPTER 08



8. 1 Arjuna asks, what is that Brahma, Adhyatma, Karma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva

8. 2 What is Adhiyajna, how you are to be realized at the time of death by those of steadfast mind

8. 3 Lord says, Supreme Indestructible is Brahma, One’s own self is Adhyatma, the discharge of spirits which brings forth beings is Karma

8. 4 All perishable objects are Adhibhuta; The (shining) Purusha is Adhidaiva. I, Myself

dwelling as the inner witness is Adhiyajna



PURPORT:

6 terms are defined.



1. The terms Brahma or Brahman, Adhidaiva, Adhiyajna, Purusha are all signifying that great Indestructible whom we call God.

2. Adhubhuta is the sum total of all that changes forms and hence called perishable or Matter one aspect of Prakrati

3. Adhyatma is the self which is associated with Jiva; or Self identifying with body. It is called the ignorant
4. Karma is that which brings forth beings based on their actions in earlier life.




8. 5 He who departs from the body, thinking of Me alone even at the time of death, attains my state. There is no doubt about it.

8. 6 Thinking of whatever entity one leaves the body at the time of death, that and that alone one attains, being ever absorbed in its thought

8. 7 Therefore think of Me at all times and fight. With mind and reason set on Me, you will doubtless come to Me



PURPORT:

Constantly think of Him, so that one remembers Him (to the exclusion of everything else) at the time of death. Naturally, what we always think comes to the mind at the time of death

.

1. Think of Him before sleep, so you remain with Him in sleep; in death while at sleep

2. Think of Him in hospital, or while ill, so that you think of Him while going into coma.

3. Think of Him while driving, so that if a serious accident takes place, you will have thought of Him prior to death.

4. Think of Him in all probable dangers like fire, floods, swimming, in dangerous sports

5. Think of Him while yawning, while coughing, sneezing,

6. While handling dangerous weapons, climbing heights,

7. Think of Him before you leave the house, while you board the plane, while you get down from the plane, before we eat and when you get up after eating. Before and after mating.

8. Learn to thank Him every night and every morning while waking up

9. When all festivities take place, on happy occasions, on visiting departed souls, on shraaddha days, on all sankrantis, samkashtis, all days of the week

10. All this will get HIM into you and get you into HIM

11. Look at Arabs, and other devout Muslims ya Allah, subhaanallah, maashaa-alla, al-hamdullillah,Khuda-hafiz at every juncture. All religions advocate this, Jai Sri Krishna, Hare Krishna, Hari Bol. Wahe Guru, Sat-Sri-akal, Ram-ram, jai Sri Ram





8. 8 With mind disciplined though yoga in the form of practice of meditation and thinking of nothing else, who is constantly engaged in contemplation of God, attains the supremely effulgent Divine Purusha.



8. 9 He who contemplates on the all Wise, ageless Being, the Ruler of all, Subtler than the Subtle, the Universal Sustain-er, possessing a form beyond human conception, refulgent like the sun and far beyond the darkness of ignorance.


8. 10 Having by the power of Yoga firmly held the life breath in the space between the two eyebrows even at the time of death, and then contemplating on God, with a steadfast mind, full of devotion, he reaches verily that supreme divine Purusha (God)

PURPORT:

Prerequisites for meditation on the Lord. Mental discipline, meditation, constant contemplation,
Lord is described in a way we comprehend that HE is different from us all
Partly described here what to do at the time of death.(described fully in the next Purport)
(Not meeting all relatives, friends and saying ta-ta, bye bye, forgive me for faults, where is my will, where is my purse or Rolax watch - all such thoughts and acts are for materialists and atheists)


8. 11 I shall tell you briefly about that Supreme goal, which the knowers of Veda term as Indestructible, which striving recluses free from passion enter, and desiring which the celibates practice Brahmacharya(continence)



8. 12-13 Having closed all the doors of the senses, and firmly holding the mind in the cavity of the heart, and then fixing the life breath in the head, and thus remaining steadfast in Yogic concentration on God, he who leaves the body and departs from uttering the one Indestructible Brahma, OM, and dwelling on Me in My absolute aspect, reaches the supreme goal.

PURPORT:

Lord as Indestructible and favourite of the recluses and Celibates
Yogic concentration at the time of death. This need to be done while living or today and now.
Closing eyes and shutting other sense organs by focusing on each of them for a few seconds and tell each of them that you are now withdrawing your mind from each of them,
feel the mind going deep with in your (spiritual) heart
Life breath or prana visualize has been brought to the moordhani(top of the head)
Chanting OM slowly and steadily, thinking of Brahman(the absolute and formless aspect)
leaves the body. Such a soul reaches the Supreme



8. 14 Whosoever always and constantly thinks of Me with undivided mind, to that Yogi ever absorbed in Me I am easily attainable


PURPORT:

See Purport above for shloka 8-7


8. 15 Great souls, who have attained the highest perfection, having come to Me, are no more subjected to rebirth, which is the abode of sorrow and transient by nature.

PURPORT:

World is abode of sorrow(dhukhaalayam) and fleeting, temporary,(ashaashwatam). Alas! If we keep chanting these two words for one week to implant them strongly in our subconscious, we can start looking at all our anxieties and worries calmly and without any BP, adrenaline gushing.

Thereafter, it becomes easy for us to see through our worthless desires and concentrate on Lord for longer.


8. 16 All the worlds from Brahmaloka downwards are liable to appear and reappear. But attaining Me there is no rebirth
8. 17 Those yogis who know from realization Brahma’s day as covering a thousand Mahayugas, and so his night another thousand Mahayugas, know the reality about Time


8. 18 All embodied beings emanate from the Unmanifest(Brahma’s subtle body) at the coming of the cosmic day. At the cosmic night, they merge into the same subtle body of Brahma known as the unmanifest

8. 19 The multitude of beings , born again and again, is dissolved under compulsion of its nature at the coming of the cosmic night, and rise again at the commencement of the cosmic day


PURPORT:
One mahayuga is equal to four yugas (Krita, Treta, Dwapara and Kali )= 4.320,000= 4.32Mn humanyrs
Brahmas 24 hrs = 2000 Mahayugas= 8,640,000,000= 8.640 B.yrs Brahma's one year=365x8.640B = 3153.60billion human yrs
For every 4.320B human years(Brahma's one day of 12hrs) beings are born and live.
At the end of Brahman this day, all go into Brahma's unmanifest and remain there for 4,320B human yrs.
At the end of which the beings are again born according to their Karma(shloka 3 Purport item 4)
With 6 billion people in the world, in one life time of Brahma(3153.6Billion human yrs), each person living a maximum of 100yrs, you find each of us have had blood relation with every human being and creature on earth.
We have been mother, father, child, grandchild, grandparent, pet dog, cat, servant, maid,,grave digger, king queen, male female, plants, pig, fish(which we eat and being eaten :).
All this suggests till we liberate ourselves, we remain a fertilizer or eating matter, cannibals(after properly canned by earth as fertilizer and then plant....) for each other.
Is this this the cup that you take to your lip which was he cup sometime ago and the cup will be lip for someone else later years.
The neck that is proud to wear 'My' gold
Laughs the necklace, which adorned
thousands of necks in centuries past
Oh! my friend, wake up,
muffled drums beat too the grave!
Necklace is busy looking at the next fool!


8. 20 Far beyond this unmanifest there is yet another unmanifest Existence, that Supreme Divine Person, who does not perish even though all beings perish
8. 21 The same unmanifest which has been spoken of as the Indestructible is also called supreme Goal; that again is my Supreme Abode, attaining which they return not to this mortal world.

8. 22 The eternal unmanifest supreme Purusha in whom all beings reside and by whom all this is pervaded, is attainable only through exclusive devotion.



PURPORT:

Akshara(imperishable) paramam(Supreme) Brahman( which is nameless) is described here.
To reach this is the goal of human life.
There is no rebirth reaching here
(This great unmenifest is not outside anywhere, it is in you deep within you, yet ! outside the world of objects where your focus, desire filled activity, attachment to, is now,)
(Once we go outside the World, by seeing the falsity of it, its irrationality, and go within to that unspoken, where words do not reach;subtler than subtle, so near yet so far.....obtained thru exclusive devotion like the beautiful princess you seek with single minded aim.. pine and seek that beloved of yours - and the HE says I am easily attained by devotees who have surrendered their mind and intellect to ME, which is possible when we see the world as dream and wake up widely.

Easy this very day, Difficult for 100 lives too


8. 23 I shall now tell you the time departing when yogis do not return, and also the time departing when they do return


8. 24 The one is that in which all are stationed the effulgent fire-god and the deities over daylight, the bright fortnight, and the six months of the northward course of the sun. Proceeding along that after death Yogis, who have known Brahma, being successively led by the above gods, finally reach Brahma



8. 25 The other path is that wherein are stationed the gods presiding over smoke, night, the dark fortnight, and the six months of the southward course of the sun; the Yogi (devoted to action with an interested motive) taking to this path after death, is led by the above gods, one after the other, and attaining the lustre of the moon(and enjoying the fruits of the meritorious deeds in heaven, returns to this mortal world.


8. 26 For these two paths of the world, the bright and the dark, are considered to be eternal. Proceeding by one of them, one reaches the supreme state from which there is no return; proceeding by the other, one returns to the mortal world; that is becomes subject to birth and death once more.

PURPORT:

These two paths have meaning to some and no meaning to others. They become true if you have total faith in them. If you start reasoning, and doubting then the next shloka explains what you need to do
The next



8. 27 Knowing thus the secret of these tow paths, no Yogi gets deluded. Therefore, at all times be established in yoga in the form of equanimity (strive constantly for my realization.)


PURPORT"

The secret is in faith or in your reason; Both are correct. HE says just go ahead and get established in yoga as described earlier and do not worry about the results( like whether I am dying in Uttarayana or night time or day time) Once you realize you transcend.

On the other hand if you have total faith, and death takes place in Uttarayana(Jan 15 through June 14) your faith gives you the result(shloka 8.5-7)

And if the death takes place in dakshinayana, if you are a jivanmukta shloka 8.27 becomes applicable, if you are not a jivanmukta you will anyway get a better life next time as a yoga brishta and trusting the shlokas 8.25 you will enjoy the heavenly pleasures for all the merits you acquired.

Thus you find seeming archaic shlokas(against a so called scientific background), acquire a powerful meaning.


8. 28 The Yogi realizing this profound truth, doubtless transcends all the rewards, ascribed in the scriptures, to the study of the Vedas, as well as to the performance of sacrifices, austerities and charities, and attains the beginning-less supreme state



PURPORT:

Transcending rewards means the aim is not acquiring merit,(which automatically gets credited to your account without your wanting also, more so-bonus points), the aim is liberation from cycle of birth and death.
Vedas mention various sacrifices, austerities, charities the purpose of all of which is fix us in the realm of God and secondly to purify our minds, these are in the realm of Apara Vidya;
However, Vedas also mention Upanishads which tell us The Truth of Reality, The Great Knowledge or Para Vidya. Humans have a resistance to break traditions, rituals and customs. this resistance is found even in using intelligence. Lord has come up with Lateral thinking and thinking outside he box or ZEN meditation, or conversation, or the sound of one hand to break our thinking patterns
All paths are true. all systems , all religions, all systems of thought are all meaningful, useful and are true at different levels.
Again these levels need not be up and down, superior and inferior. Lord is most merciful, and yet mercurial, most adjustable and yet hard nut to crack.
HE is a puzzle for which answers are given on the same page, right in front of us. but does not allow our adrenaline to ooze, gives lot of distractions of Menaka and Crowns and Thrones. HE smilingly brings in front of us kanakadhara Stotram, asking you to chant, Aditya Hridayam so that you can go after health....
HE is one chess player against whom we have to play. Saint begs to HIM, but his wife who has not time for the Lord, encounters HIM all the time. He makes me poor so that I ineed to yearn for wealth. He likes the chastising of Yashoda, the beaten rice of Sudhamas of this world, and not my Silver Tray full of best fruits, HE likes the Kannapa's bilva torn bilva leaves thrown without respect, not all our dress-purity has any impact on HIM.
You find HE is the Maya, inexplicable, unfathomable, unattainable, un-understandble, most merciless, never follows any rules of conduct, professional cheater, gambler you name.... it is these words of chastisement HE loves for rarely anyone other than Gopis of Vrindavan could say those.

DEDICATION: Commentaries are dedicated to Singapore Satsanghis and others.