Chapter 8: The Imperishable
अक्षरब्रह्मयोग · 28 verses. Arjuna asked: O Lord of Lords! What is that which people call the Supreme Spirit, what is humanity's spiritual nature, and what is the law? What is matter and what is divinity?
- 8.1 Arjuna asked: O Lord of Lords! What is that which people call the Supreme Spirit, what is humanity's spiritual nature, and what is the law? What is matter and what is div…
- 8.2 Who rules the spirit sacrifice in many, and how may those who have learned self-control come to the knowledge of Thee at the time of death?
- 8.3 The Lord Shri Krishna replied: The Supreme Spirit is the Highest Imperishable Self, and Its nature is spiritual consciousness.
- 8.4 Matter consists of forms that perish; Divinity is the Supreme Self; and He who inspires the spirit of sacrifice in man, O noblest of their race, is I Myself, Who now stan…
- 8.5 Whosoever, at the time of death, thinks only of Me and, thinking thus, leaves the body and goes forth, will assuredly know Me.
- 8.6 Whatever sphere of being the mind of a man is intent on at the time of death, to that he will go.
- 8.7 Therefore, always meditate on Me and fight; if your mind and reason are fixed on Me, you will surely come to Me.
- 8.8 He whose mind does not wander, and who is engaged in constant meditation, attains the Supreme Spirit.
- 8.9 Whoso meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient, more minute than an atom, yet the Ruler and Upholder of all, Unimaginable, Brilliant like the Sun, Beyond the reach of dar…
- 8.10 He who leaves the body with an unmoved mind, filled with devotion, and by the power of his meditation gathers his whole vital energy between his eyebrows, attains the Sup…
- 8.11 Now, I will briefly speak of the imperishable goal, proclaimed by those who are versed in the scriptures, which the mystic attains when free from passion, and for which t…
- 8.12 Closing the gates of the body, drawing the forces of his mind into the heart, and, by the power of meditation, concentrating his vital energy in the brain;
- 8.13 Repeating Om, the symbol of eternity, and holding Me always in remembrance, he who thus leaves his body and goes forth reaches the Supreme Spirit.
- 8.14 To him who constantly thinks of Me and nothing else, to such an ever-faithful devotee, O Arjuna, I am ever accessible.
- 8.15 Coming to Me in this way, these great souls no longer go to the misery and death of earthly life, for they have achieved perfection.
- 8.16 The worlds, along with the entire realm of creation, come and go; but, O Arjuna, whoever comes to Me, for them there is no rebirth.
- 8.17 Those who understand the cosmic day and night know that one day of creation is a thousand cycles, and that the night is of equal length.
- 8.18 At the dawn of that day, all objects in manifestation stream forth from the Unmanifest, and when evening falls, they are dissolved back into it again.
- 8.19 The same multitude of beings, which have lived on earth so often, all are dissolved as the night of the universe approaches, to issue forth anew when morning breaks.
- 8.20 In truth, therefore, there is the eternal, unmanifest, which is beyond and above the unmanifest spirit of creation, and which is never destroyed when all these beings per…
- 8.21 The wise say that the Unmanifest and Indestructible is the highest goal of all; when once that is reached, there is no returning. That is my blessed home.
- 8.22 O Arjuna! That Highest God, in Whom all beings abide, and Who pervades the entire universe, is reached only by wholehearted devotion.
- 8.23 Now, I will tell you, O Arjuna, the times at which, if the mystics go forth, they do not return, and at which they go forth only to return.
- 8.24 If the sage, knowing the Supreme Spirit, goes forth with fire and light during the day, in the fortnight of the waxing moon, and in the six months before the Northern sum…
- 8.25 But if he departs in gloom, at night, during the fortnight of the waning moon and in the six months before the winter solstice, then he reaches only lunar light and he wi…
- 8.26 These bright and dark paths out of the world have always existed. Whoever takes the former, does not return; he who chooses the latter, returns.
- 8.27 O Arjuna! The saint, knowing these paths, is not confused; therefore, meditate perpetually.
- 8.28 The sage who knows this passes beyond all merit that comes from the study of the scriptures, from sacrifice, from austerities, and from charity, and reaches the Supreme P…