Chapter 8. Attaining
the Supreme
Chapter 8, Verse
1.
 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.
Chapter 8, Verse
2.
How does
this Lord of sacrifice live in the body, and in which part does He live,
O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You
at the time of death?
Chapter 8, Verse
3.
The Supreme
Lord said, The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman,
and his eternal nature is called the self. Action pertaining to the development
of these material bodies is called karma, or fruitive activities.
Chapter 8, Verse
4.
Physical
nature is known to be endlessly mutable. The universe is the cosmic form
of the Supreme Lord, and I am that Lord represented as the Supersoul, dwelling
in the heart of every embodied being.
Chapter 8, Verse
5.
And whoever,
at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains
My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
Chapter 8, Verse
6.
Whatever
state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will
attain without fail.
Chapter 8, Verse
7.
Therefore,
Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krsna 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.
Chapter 8, Verse
8.
He who
meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged
in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha [Arjuna], is
sure to reach Me.
Chapter 8, Verse
9.
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, being transcendental, is beyond this material nature.
Chapter 8, Verse
10.
One who,
at the time of death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and in full
devotion engages himself in remembering the Supreme Lord, will certainly
attain to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Chapter 8, Verse
11.
Persons
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 explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation.
Chapter 8, Verse
12.
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.
Chapter 8, Verse
13.
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.
Chapter 8, Verse
14.
For one
who remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Prtha,
because of his constant engagement in devotional service.
Chapter 8, Verse
15.
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.
Chapter 8, Verse
16.
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.
Chapter 8, Verse
17.
By human
calculation, a thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma's
one day. And such also is the duration of his night.
Chapter 8, Verse
18.
When
Brahma's day is manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into
being, and at the arrival of Brahma's night they are all annihilated.
Chapter 8, Verse
19.
Again
and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the
night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.
Chapter 8, Verse
20.
Yet there
is another 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.
Chapter 8, Verse
21.
That
supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme
destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme
abode.
Chapter 8, Verse
22.
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.
Chapter 8, Verse
23.
O best
of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which,
passing away from this world, one does or does not come back.
Chapter 8, Verse
24.
Those
who know the Supreme Brahman pass away from the world during the influence
of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight
of the moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north.
Chapter 8, Verse
25.
The mystic
who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the moonless
fortnight, or in the six months when the sun passes to the south, or who
reaches the moon planet, again comes back.
Chapter 8, Verse
26.
According
to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world--one in the
light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back;
but when one passes in darkness, he returns.
Chapter 8, Verse
27.
The devotees
who know these two paths, O Arjuna, are never bewildered. Therefore be
always fixed in devotion.
Chapter 8, Verse
28.
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. At the end he
reaches the supreme abode.
  
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