Bhagwat Geeta; Chapter 8 and life management.
Attaining the supreme.
Arjuna inquired:O my Lord, O supreme person, what is Brahman? What is the self?What are fruitive activities? What is the material manifestations? And what are the demigods?
Please explain this to me.8:1
Who is the lord of sacrifice, how does He live in the body of O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know you at the time of death ? 8:2
The Lord 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. 8:3
O best of the embodied beings,the physical nature,which is constantly changing is called Adhibhuta(the material manifestations). The material 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 super soul in the heart of every embodied being, and called as Adhiyajna(the lord of sacrifice).8:4
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 that state he will attain without fail.8:5:6
Therefore, O 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. 8:7
He who meditates on Me as the supreme personality of godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering me,undeviated from the path is sure to reach me. 8:8
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 conceptions, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the Sun, and he is transcendental beyond this material nature. 8:9
One who at the time of death, fixed his life air between the eyebrows, by the strength of Yoga, with an undeviating mind, engaged himself in remembering the supreme lord in full devotion, will certainly attain to the supreme personality of Godhead. 8:10
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 explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation. 8:11
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 hea, one establishes himself in Yoga.8:12
After being situated in the Yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable Omm, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the supreme personality of the godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets.8:13
For one who always remembers me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, because of his constant engagement in devotional service. 8:14
After attaining me, the greatest souls who are yogis in devotion, never returned to the temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection. 8:15
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death takes place. But one who attains to my abode never takes birth again. 8:16
By human calculations a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahmas one day. And such also is the duration of his night.8:17
At the beginning of Brahmas day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls they have merged into unmanifest again. 8:18:19
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.8:20
O Arjuna,I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the Yogi does not come back. Those who knows the supreme Brahman attains that supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fairy god,at an ospicious moment of the day during the fortnight of the waxing moon, or during the six months when Sun travels in the north.8:24
The mystics who passed 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.8:25
According to the Vedic opinion there are two ways of passing from the world one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light he does not come back;but one passes in darkness, he returns.8:26
A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from the studying Vedas,performing 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. 8:27:28
