Bhagavad Gita

भगवद् गीता

Text & Audio

with paraphrase

Chapter 8

1. Audio

By Swami Brahmananda
Duet
By Jagannath Vedalankar

अर्जुन उवाच:

किं तद् ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम ।

अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते ॥

arjuna uvāca:

kiṃ tad brahma kimadhyātmaṃ kiṃ karma puruṣottama,

adhibhūtaṃ ca kiṃ proktamadhidaivaṃ kimucyate.

Arjuna said: What is tad brahma, what adhyatma, what karma, O Purushottaina? And what is declared to be adhibhuta, what is called adhidaiva?

अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन ।

प्रयाणकाले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽसि नियतात्मभिः ॥

adhiyajñaḥ kathaṃ ko’tra dehe’sminmadhusūdana,

prayāṇakāle ca kathaṃ jñeyo’si niyatātmabhiḥ.

What is adhiyajna in this body, O Madhusudana? And how, in the critical moment of departure from physical existence, art Thou to be known by the self-controlled?

श्रीभगवानुवाच:

अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते ।

भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥

śrībhagavānuvāca:

akṣaraṃ brahma paramaṃ svabhāvo’dhyātmamucyate,

bhūtabhāvodbhavakaro visargaḥ karmasaṃjñitaḥ.

The Blessed Lord said: The Akshara is the supreme Brahman; swabhava is called adhyatma; Karma is the name given to the creative movement, visarga, which brings into existence all beings and their subjective and objective states.

अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम् ।

अधियज्ञोऽहमेवात्र देहे देहभृतां वर ॥

adhibhūtaṃ kṣaro bhāvaḥ puruṣaścādhidaivatam,

adhiyajño’hamevātra dehe dehabhṛtāṃ vara.

Adhibhuta is ksharobhava, adhidaiva is the Purusha; I myself am the Lord of sacrifice, adhiyajna here in the body, O best of embodied beings.

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् ।

यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः ॥

antakāle ca māmeva smaranmuktvā kalevaram,

yaḥ prayāti sa madbhāvaṃ yāti nāstyatra saṃśayaḥ.

Whoever leaves his body and departs remembering Me at his time of end. comes to my bhava (that of the Purushottama, my status of being); there is no doubt of that.

यं यं वाऽपि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् ।

तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावितः ॥

yaṃ yaṃ vā’pi smaranbhāvaṃ tyajatyante kalevaram,

taṃ tamevaiti kaunteya sadā tadbhāvabhāvitaḥ.

Whosoever at the end abandons the body, thinking upon any form of being, to that form he attains, O Kaunteya, into which the soul was at each moment growing inwardly during the physical life.

तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च ।

मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्मामेवैष्यस्यसंशयः ॥

tasmātsarveṣu kāleṣu māmanusmara yudhya ca,

mayyarpitamanobuddhirmāmevaiṣyasyasaṃśayaḥ.

Therefore at all times remember me and fight; for if thy mind and thy understanding are always fixed on and given up to Me, to Me thou shall surely come.

अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना ।

परमं पुरुषं दिव्यं याति पार्थानुचिन्तयन् ॥

abhyāsayogayuktena cetasā nānyagāminā,

paramaṃ puruṣaṃ divyaṃ yāti pārthānucintayan.

For it is by thinking always of him with a consciousness united with him in an undeviating Yoga of constant practice that one comes to the divine and supreme Purusha, O Partha.

कविं पुराणमनुशासितारं

अणोरणीयंसमनुस्मरेद्यः ।

सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूपं

आदित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ॥

kaviṃ purāṇamanuśāsitāraṃ

aṇoraṇīyaṃsamanusmaredyaḥ,

sarvasya dhātāramacintyarūpaṃ

ādityavarṇaṃ tamasaḥ parastāt.

प्रयाणकाले मनसाऽचलेन

भक्त्या युक्तो योगबलेन चैव ।

भ्रुवोर्मध्ये प्राणमावेश्य सम्यक्

स तं परं पुरुषमुपैति दिव्यम् ॥

prayāṇakāle manasā’calena

bhaktyā yukto yogabalena caiva,

bhruvormadhye prāṇamāveśya samyak

sa taṃ paraṃ puruṣamupaiti divyam.

This supreme Self is the Seer, the Ancient of Days, subtler than the subtle and (in his eternal self-vision and wisdom) the Master and Ruler of all existence who sets in their place in his being all things that are; his form is unthinkable, he is refulgent as the sun beyond the darkness; he who thinketh upon this Purusha in the time of departure, with motionless mind, a soul armed with the strength of Yoga, a union with God in bhakti and the life-force entirely drawn up and set between the brows in the seat of mystic vision, he attains to this supreme divine Purusha.

यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति

विशन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागाः ।

यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्यं चरन्ति

तत्ते पदं संग्रहेण प्रवक्ष्ये ॥

yadakṣaraṃ vedavido vadanti

viśanti yadyatayo vītarāgāḥ,

yadicchanto brahmacaryaṃ caranti

tatte padaṃ saṃgraheṇa pravakṣye.

This supreme Soul is the immutable self-existent Brahman of whom the Veda-knowers speak, and this is that into which the doers of askesis enter when they have passed beyond the affections of the mind of mortality and for the desire of which they practise the control of the bodily passions; that status I will declare to thee with brevity.

सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च ।

मूध्न्यार्धायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ॥

sarvadvārāṇi saṃyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca,

mūdhnyārdhāyātmanaḥ prāṇamāsthito yogadhāraṇām.

ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् ।

यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ॥

omityekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharanmāmanusmaran,

yaḥ prayāti tyajandehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatim.

All the doors of the senses closed, the mind shut in into the heart, the life-force taken up out of its diffused movement into the head, the intelligence concentrated in the utterance of the sacred syllable OM and its conceptive thought in the remembrance of the supreme Godhead, he who goes forth, abandoning the body, he attains to the highest status.

अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः ।

तस्याहं सुलभः पार्थ नित्ययुक्तस्य योगिनः ॥

ananyacetāḥ satataṃ yo māṃ smarati nityaśaḥ,

tasyāhaṃ sulabhaḥ pārtha nityayuktasya yoginaḥ.

He who continually remembers Me, thinking of none else, the Yogin, O Partha, who is in constant union with Me, finds Me easy to attain.

मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् ।

नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ॥

māmupetya punarjanma duḥkhālayamaśāśvatam,

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ.

Having come to me, these great souls come not again to birth, this transient and painful condition of our mortal being; they reach the highest perfection.

आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन ।

मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥

ābrahmabhuvanāllokāḥ punarāvartino’rjuna,

māmupetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate.

The highest heavens of the cosmic plan are subject to a return to rebirth, but, O Kaunteya, there is no rebirth imposed on the soul that comes to Me (the Purushottama).

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद् ब्रह्मणो विदुः ।

रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः ॥

sahasrayugaparyantamaharyad brahmaṇo viduḥ,

rātriṃ yugasahasrāntāṃ te’horātravido janāḥ.

Those who know the day of Brahma, a thousand ages (Yugas) in duration, and the night, a thousand ages in ending, they are the knowers of day and night.

अव्यक्ताद् व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे ।

रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ॥

avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavantyaharāgame,

rātryāgame pralīyante tatraivāvyaktasaṃjñake.

At the coming of the Day all manifestations are born into being out of the unmanifest, at the coming of the Night all vanish or are dissolved into it.

भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते ।

रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे ॥

bhūtagrāmaḥ sa evāyaṃ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate,

rātryāgame’vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavatyaharāgame.

This multitude of existences helplessly comes into the becoming again and again, is dissolved at the coming of the Night, O Partha, and is born into being at the coming of the Day.

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः ।

यः स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति ॥

parastasmāttu bhāvo’nyo’vyakto’vyaktātsanātanaḥ,

yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati.

But this unmanifest is not the original divinity of the Being; there is another status of his existence, a supracosmic unmanifest beyond this cosmic non-manifestation (which is eternally self-seated, is not an opposite of this cosmic status of manifestation but far above and unlike it, changeless, eternal), not forced to perish with the perishing of all these existences.

अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम् ।

यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ॥

avyakto’kṣara ityuktastamāhuḥ paramāṃ gatim,

yaṃ prāpya na nivartante taddhāma paramaṃ mama.

He is called the unmanifest immutable, him they speak of as the supreme soul and status, and those who attain to him return not; that is my supreme place of being.

पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया ।

यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥

puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyastvananyayā,

yasyāntaḥsthāni bhūtāni yena sarvamidaṃ tatam.

But that supreme Purusha has to be won by a bhakti which turns to him alone in whom all beings exist and by whom all this world has been extended in space.

यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः ।

प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्यामि भरतर्षभ ॥

yatra kāle tvanāvṛttimāvṛttiṃ caiva yoginaḥ,

prayātā yānti taṃ kālaṃ vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha.

That time wherein departing Yogins do not return, and also that wherein departing they return, that time shall I declare to thee, O foremost of the Bharatas.

अग्निर्जोतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् ।

तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः ॥

agnirjotirahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇmāsā uttarāyaṇam,

tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahmavido janāḥ.

धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् ।

तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते ॥

dhūmo rātristathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanam,

tatra cāndramasaṃ jyotiryogī prāpya nivartate.

Fire and light and smoke or mist, the day and the night, the bright fortnight of the lunar month and the dark. the northern solstice and the southern, these are the opposites. By the first in each pair the knowers of the Brahman go to the Brahman; but by the second the Yogin reaches the “lunar light” and returns subsequently to human birth.

शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते ।

एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययावर्तते पुनः ॥

śuklakṛṣṇe gatī hyete jagataḥ śāśvate mate,

ekayā yātyanāvṛttimanyayāvartate punaḥ.

These are the bright and the dark paths (called the path of the gods and the path of the fathers in the Upanishads); by the one he departs who does not return, by the other he who returns again.

नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन ।

तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु योगयुक्तो भवार्जुन ॥

naite sṛtī pārtha jānanyogī muhyati kaścana,

tasmātsarveṣu kāleṣu yogayukto bhavārjuna.

The Yogin who knows them is not misled into any error, therefore at all times be in Yoga, O Arjuna.

वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव

दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम् ।

अत्येति तत्सर्वमिदं विदित्वा

योगी परं स्थानमुपैति चाद्यम् ॥

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva

dāneṣu yatpuṇyaphalaṃ pradiṣṭam,

atyeti tatsarvamidaṃ viditvā

yogī paraṃ sthānamupaiti cādyam.

The fruit of meritorious deeds declared in the Vedas, sacrifices, austerities and charitable gifts, the Yogin passes all these by having known this and attains to the supreme and sempiternal status.