Path of the Eternal God

Arjuna said, "What is Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What is action, O best among men? What is Adhibhuta declared to be? And, what is Adhidaiva said to be?"

In the last two verses of the seventh chapter Lord Krishna had used certain philosophical and technical terms such as Adhyatma, Adhibhuta, Adhidaiva and Adhiyajna. Arjuna does not understand the meaning of these terms.…

Who and how is Adhiyajna here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? And how, at the time of death, are You to be known by the self-controlled?

Arjuna put seven questions to the Lord1. What is that Brahman Is it Brahman with the Upadhis (limiting adjuncts) or Brahman without them2. Is it the aggregate of the senses or individual consciousness (PratyakChaitanya)…

The Blessed Lord said, "Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme; its essential nature is called Self-knowledge; the offering (to the gods) that causes the existence and manifestation of beings and sustains them is called action."

Brahman is imperishable, immutable, eternal, selfexistent, selfluminous, unchanging and allpervading. It is the source, root and womb of everything. In It all beings that are manifested live, move and have their very…

Adhibhuta—knowledge of the elements—pertains to My perishable nature, and the Purusha, or the Soul, is the Adhidaiva; I alone am the Adhiyajna here in this body, O best among the embodied.

Adhibhuta the perishable nature the changing universe of the five elements with all its objects all the material objects everything that has birth the changing world of names and forms.Adhidaiva Purusha literally means…

And whoever, leaving their body, goes forth remembering Me alone at the time of death, they will attain My Being; there is no doubt about this.

In this verse the importance of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is stressed. Anyone who quits his body in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is at once transferred to the transcendental nature of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord is the purest of…

Whoever at the end leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only does he go, O son of Kunti (Arjuna), due to his constant thought of that being.

The last thoughts determine the next birth. The most prominent thought of ones life occupies the mind at the time of death. The predominant idea at the time of death is what in normal life has occupied his attention…

Therefore, at all times, remember Me only and fight. With your mind and intellect fixed on Me, you will undoubtedly come to Me alone.

The whole mental machinery should be dedicated to the Lord. You must work with the mind and intellect devoted to Him.Fight Perform your own Dharma, the duty of a Kshatriya. It will purify your heart and you will attain…

With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast through the practice of habitual meditation, and constantly meditating, one goes to the Supreme Person, the Resplendent, O Arjuna.

Abhyasa means practice. Practice is the constant repetition of one idea of God. In the practice of meditation Vijatiya Vrittis (worldly thoughts or thoughts of a type different from the object of meditation) are shut out…

Whosoever meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler of the whole world, minuter than an atom, the supporter of all, of inconceivable form, effulgent like the sun and beyond the darkness of ignorance.

Kavim The sage, seer or poet, the omniscient.The Lord dispenses the fruits of actions of the Jivas (individual souls). He is the Ruler of the world. It is very difficult to conceive the form of the Lord. He is…

At the time of death, with an unwavering mind, endowed with devotion, by the power of Yoga, fixing the whole life-breath in the middle of the two eyebrows, he reaches that resplendent Supreme Person.

The Yogi gets immense inner strength and power of concentration. His mind becomes ite steady through constant practice of concentration and meditation. He practises concentration first on the lower Chakras, viz.,…

That which is declared to be Imperishable by those who know the Vedas, that which the self-controlled (ascetics or Sannyasins) and passion-free enter, that goal, desiring which celibacy is practised, I will declare to thee in brief.

The Supreme Being which is symbolised by the sacred monosyllable Om or the Pranava is the highest step or the supreme goal of man.The same ideas are expressed in the Kathopanishad. Yama (the God of Death) said to…

Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart, and fixed the life-breath in the head, engage in the practice of concentration.

The gates are the senses of knowledge. Closing the gates means control of all senses by the practice of Pratyahara or withdrawal of the consciousness from them. Even if the senses are controlled, the mind will be…

Uttering the one-syllabled Om, the Brahman, and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the Supreme Goal.

Having controlled the thoughts the Yogi ascends by the Sushumna, the Nadi (subtle psychic nervechannel) which passes upwards from the heart. He fixes his whole Prana or lifreath in the crown of the head in the…

I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast yogi who constantly and daily remembers me for a long time, not thinking of anything else with a single-minded or one-pointed focus, O Partha.

I am easily attainable by that eversteadfast Yogi who constantly and daily remembers Me (for a long time), not thinking of anything else (with a single mind or onepointed mind), O Partha (Arjuna).Commentary Constantly…

Having attained Me, these great souls do not take birth again here—a place of pain and impermanence—but have reached the highest perfection of liberation.

Birth is the home of pain or seat of sorrow arising from the body. Study the Garbhopanishad. There the nature of pain, i.e., how the child is confined in the womb, and how it is pressed during its passage along the…

All the worlds, including the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O son of Kunti, has no rebirth.

Those devotees who practise Daharopasana (a kind of meditation on the mystic space in the heart) and other devotees who reach Brahmaloka through the path of the gods (Devayana) and attain gradual liberation (KramaMukti)…

Those who know the day of Brahma, which lasts a thousand Yugas, and the night, which also lasts a thousand Yugas, know day and night.

Day means evolution or projection or manifestation of the universe. Night means involution of the universe or Pralaya. The worlds are limited or conditioned in time. Therefore they return again. The world of Brahma…

From the Unmanifested, all the manifested worlds proceed upon the arrival of the 'day'; upon the arrival of the 'night', they dissolve indeed into that which is known as the Unmanifested.

When Brahma awakes, all manifestations, moving and unmoving (animate and inanimate) stream forth at the coming of the day from the Avyakta or the Unmanifested. When Brahma goes to sleep, all the manifestations merge in…

This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna, into the Unmanifested at the coming of the night and comes forth at the coming of the day.

Avidya (ignorance), Kama (desire) and Karma (action) are the three knots that bind the individual to Samsara. Desire is born of Avidya. Man exerts to attain and enjoy the objects of his desires. During this activity he…

But verily, there exists higher than this Unmanifested, another Unmanifested Eternal, which is not destroyed even when all beings are destroyed.

What is known as the Unmanifested and the Imperishable, That is said to be the highest goal. Those who reach It do not return (to this Samsara). That is My supreme abode (place or state).

Para Brahman is called the Unmanifested because It cannot be perceived by the senses. It is called the Imperishable also. It is allpervading, allpermeating and interpenetrating. Para Brahman is the highest Goal. There is…

That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within Whom all beings dwell and by Whom all this is pervaded.

All the beings (effects) dwell within the Purusha (the Supreme Person, the cause) because every effect rests within its cause. Just as the effect, pot, rests within its cause, the clay, so also all beings and the worlds…

Now I will tell you, O chief of the Bharatas, the times of departure at which the Yogis will return or not return.

I shall declare to you, O Prince of the Bharatas, the time at which if the Yogis leave their body they will not be born again and also when if they die they will be born again.To return means to be born again.

Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern path of the sun (the northern solstice) departing, then men who know Brahman go to Brahman.

This is the UttaraMarga or Devayana, the northern path or the path of light, by which the Yogis go to Brahman. This path leads to salvation. It takes the devotee to Brahmaloka. The six months of the northern solstice is…

Attaining the lunar light through smoke, night time, the dark fortnight, and the six months of the southern path of the sun (the southern solstice), the yogi returns.

This is the Pitriyana or the path of darkness or the path of the ancestors which leads to rirth. Those who do sacrifices to the gods and other charitable works with expectation of reward go to the Chandraloka through…

The bright and dark paths of the world are thought to be eternal; one leads to no return, and the other leads to return.

The bright path is the path to the gods taken by the devotees. The dark path is of the manes taken by those who perform sacrifices or charitable acts with the expectation of rewards. These two paths are not open to the…

Knowing these paths, O Arjuna, no yogi is deluded; therefore, at all times, be steadfast in yoga.

Knowing the nature of the two paths and the conseences they lead to, a Yogi never loses his discrimination. The Yogi who knows that the path of the gods or the path of light leads to Moksha (gradual liberation), and the…

Whatever fruit of merit is declared (in the scriptures) to accrue from (the study of) the Vedas, (the performance of) sacrifices, (the practice of) austerities, and gifts, beyond all this goes the Yogi, having known this; and he attains to the Supreme, Primeval (first or ancient) Abode.

The glory of Yoga is described in this verse. Whatever meritorious effect is declared in the scriptures to accrue from the proper study of the Vedas, from the performance of sacrifices properly, from the practice of…