Bhagavad Gita 8.3श्री भगवानुवाच अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते।भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥
śhrī bhagavān uvācha akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo
’dhyātmam uchyate bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
What you remember at the end · 8.1–8.13 · Teaching
Translation
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."
Hindi translation
श्रीभगवान् बोले -- परम अक्षर ब्रह्म है और जीवका अपना जो होनापन है, उसको अध्यात्म कहते हैं। प्राणियों का उद्भव (सत्ता को प्रकट) करनेवाला जो त्याग है उसको कर्म कहा जाता है।
Meaning
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 being. Hence, It is Paramam, the Supreme and Akshara.Its essential nature or Svabhava is Adhyatma. Brahmans dwelling in each individual body as the innermost Self (the Pratyagatma) is called Adhyatma. Yajnavalkya (a great sage of the Upanishadic period) said O Gargi Heaven and earth stand upheld in their places. The Brahmanas call this (Brahman) the Akshara (the imperishable). It is neither red nor white It is not shadow, not darkness, nor air, not ehter, without adhesion, without smell, without eyes, without ears, without speech, without mind, without light, without breath, without a mouth or door, without measures, having nothing within and nothing outside It. It does not consume anything, nor does anyone consume It. Akshara is the Supreme Brahman only.Akshara here does not mean the holy word Om, or the Avyakta (the unmanifested source of all that is in Nature). There is Laya (absorption) for Om. There is destruction for the unmanifested Nature also
After Swami Sivananda
What you remember at the end· 8.1–8.13→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 8.1Arjuna said, "What is Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What is action, O best among men? What is…
- 8.2Who and how is Adhiyajna here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? And how, at the time of…
8.3The Blessed Lord said, "Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme; its essential nature is…
- 8.4Adhibhuta—knowledge of the elements—pertains to My perishable nature, and the Purusha, or…
- 8.5And whoever, leaving their body, goes forth remembering Me alone at the time of death,…
- 8.6Whoever at the end leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only does he go,…
- 8.7Therefore, at all times, remember Me only and fight. With your mind and intellect fixed on…
- 8.8With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast through the practice of…
- 8.9Whosoever meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler of the whole world, minuter…
- 8.10At the time of death, with an unwavering mind, endowed with devotion, by the power of…
- 8.11That which is declared to be Imperishable by those who know the Vedas, that which the…
- 8.12Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart, and fixed the life-breath in…
- 8.13Uttering the one-syllabled Om, the Brahman, and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving…
Word-by-word→
- karma
- fruitive activities
- brahma
- Brahman
- paramam
- the Supreme
- uchyate
- is called
- adhyātmam
- one’s own self
- akṣharam
- indestructible
- visargaḥ
- creation
- sanjñitaḥ
- are called
- svabhāvaḥ
- nature
- śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
- the Blessed Lord said
- bhūta-bhāva-udbhava-karaḥ
- Actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings, and its development
Read this when you feel
Related verses
- 8.24Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern path of the sun…
- 11.18You are the Imperishable, the Supreme Being, worthy of being known. You are the great…
- 10.12Arjuna said, "You are the Supreme Brahman, the supreme abode, the supreme purifier,…
- 12.20They who follow this immortal Dharma, endowed with faith and regarding Me as their supreme…