Saturday, January 13, 2007

Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8
THE ETERNAL SPIRIT

Verse 8.01-02

Arjuna said:

O Krishna, Who is Brahman, the Eternal being or the spirit?
Who are Demi gods or the Temporal Beings?
How can You, the Supreme Being, be remembered at the time of death?

Verse 8.03-04

Lord Krishna said:

The Supreme Being is referred to as Brahman, Eternal Being or the Spirit. It is indestructible.
Various expansions of the Supreme Being like those of the sun and moon are called Temporal Beings or Divine Beings or demi Gods.
The Supreme Being also resides inside the physical bodies as the divine Controller.
I, the Supreme being am there as the soul in the heart of every embodied being.

Verse 8.05-06

Whatever object one remembers when one leaves the body at the end of life, one attains that object.
Thought of whatever object prevails during one's lifetime, one remembers only that object at the end of life and achieves it.
The one who remembers Me while leaving the body at the time of death, attains the Supreme Abode; there is no doubt about it.

Verse 8.07-11

By contemplating on Me with an unwavering mind, one attains the Supreme Being, O Arjuna. Therefore, always remember Me and do your duty. You shall certainly attain Me if your mind and intellect are ever focused on Me.

Now I shall briefly explain the process to attain salvation, the Supreme Abode

Verse 8.12-16

I am easily attainable, O Arjuna, by that ever steadfast devotee who always thinks of Me and whose mind, fixed in the heart, does not go elsewhere. They attain Me. After attaining Me, the souls do not incur rebirth in this miserable transitory world, because they have attained the highest perfection.

The others are subject to the miseries of repeated birth and death.

Verse 8.17-21

By human calculation, a thousand Yugas taken together form the duration of Brahma's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.

At the beginning of Brahma's day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged into the unmanifest again.

Again and again, when Brahma's day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahma's night they are helplessly annihilated.

But those who reach the Supreme Being remain unaffected even when all is this world is annihilated That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns--that is My supreme abode.

Verse 8.22-26

This Supreme Abode, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Me. O Arjuna, , I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back.

The path of light of spiritual practice and Self-knowledge and the path of darkness of materialism and ignorance are thought to be the world's two eternal paths. The former leads to salvation and the latter leads to rebirth as human beings.

Fire, daytime, Full moon phase, and during the six months when the sun travels in the north - departing by the path of these celestial controllers, yogis attain the Supreme. Yogis passing away in the other periods come back.

Verse 8.27-28

Knowing these two paths, O Arjuna, a yogi is not bewildered at all. Therefore, one should be resolute in attaining salvation - the goal of human birth - at all times. (8.27)
The one who knows all this knowledge goes beyond getting the benefits of the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, austerities, and charities; and attains salvation. (8.28)

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