The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman

अर्जुन उवाच |...

Arjuna said: O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is Adhyatma (the individual self)? What is karma? What is declared to be Adhibhuta (the realm of matter)? And what is Adhidaiva (the realm of the divine) said to be?

अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन |...

O Madhusudana, who and how is the Lord of sacrifice (Adhiyajna) present in this body? And how are You to be known at the time of death by the self-controlled?

श्रीभगवानुवाच |...

The Supreme Lord said: The Imperishable (Aksara) is the supreme Brahman. The individual nature is called Adhyatma. The creative force that causes the manifestation of living beings is called karma (action).

अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम् |...

O best of the embodied, the perishable physical nature is Adhibhuta; the cosmic Purusha (Hiranyagarbha) is Adhidaiva; and I Myself, dwelling in the body, am Adhiyajna (the Lord of sacrifice).

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् |...

And whoever, at the time of death, departs from the body remembering Me alone, attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् |...

O son of Kunti, whatever state of being one remembers when leaving the body, that state one attains, having always been absorbed in its thought.

तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च |...

Therefore, at all times remember Me and fight. With your mind and intellect surrendered to Me, you will doubtless come to Me.

अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना |...

O son of Pritha, one who meditates upon the Supreme Divine Person with a mind engaged in the practice of yoga and not deviating toward anything else, attains that Supreme Person.

कविं पुराणमनुशासितारमणोरणीयांसमनुस्मरेद्यः |...

One who meditates upon the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler, smaller than the smallest, the Sustainer of all, of inconceivable form, luminous like the sun, beyond all darkness—

प्रयाणकाले मनसाचलेन भक्त्या युक्तो योगबलेन चैव |...

At the time of death, with an unmoving mind, endowed with devotion and the power of yoga, fixing the life air (prana) between the eyebrows, one attains that Supreme Divine Person.

यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति विशन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागाः |...

That which the knowers of the Vedas declare as the Imperishable, into which the great ascetics, freed from passion, enter, and for the sake of which they practise celibacy—that goal I will explain to you briefly.

सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च |...

Having controlled all the gates of the body, confined the mind in the heart, and placed the life air at the top of the head, established in yogic concentration—

ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् |...

Uttering the single syllable Om, which is Brahman, and remembering Me, whoever thus departs from the body attains the supreme destination.

अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः |...

O son of Pritha, I am easily attained by that yogi who always remembers Me without deviation and is constantly engaged.

मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् |...

The great souls, having attained the highest perfection, never return to this temporary world of suffering; they have come to Me.

आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन |...

All worlds up to the realm of Brahma are subject to return, O Arjuna. But for one who attains Me, O son of Kunti, there is no more rebirth.

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः |...

Those who know that Brahma's day spans a thousand yugas and his night ends after a thousand yugas—they truly understand day and night.

अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे |...

At the coming of Brahma's day, all manifested beings emerge from the unmanifest. At the coming of Brahma's night, they all dissolve back into that which is called the unmanifest.

भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते |...

This same multitude of beings, arising again and again, is helplessly dissolved at the coming of night, O son of Pritha, and comes forth again at the coming of day.

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः |...

But there is another unmanifest nature, eternal and beyond the cosmic unmanifest, which does not perish even when all beings perish.

अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम् |...

That which is called the Unmanifest and the Imperishable—that, they declare, is the supreme destination. Those who attain it do not return. That is My supreme abode.

पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया |...

O son of Pritha, that Supreme Person, within whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded, is attainable by undivided devotion.

यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः |...

O chief of the Bharatas, I shall now explain the times of departure at which the yogi departs and does not return, and the times at which he departs and returns.

अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् |...

Fire, light, daytime, the bright lunar fortnight, the six months of the northern course of the sun—departing through these, knowers of Brahman go to Brahman.

धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् |...

Smoke, night, the dark lunar fortnight, the six months of the southern course of the sun—departing through these, the yogi attains the lunar light and returns.

शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते |...

These two paths of the bright and the dark are considered eternal in this world. By one, a person goes and does not return; by the other, he returns again.

नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन |...

Knowing these two paths, O son of Pritha, no yogi is deluded. Therefore, at all times be established in yoga, O Arjuna.

वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम् |...

Having known all this, the yogi surpasses all the meritorious fruits declared for the study of the Vedas, sacrifice, austerity, and charity, and attains the Supreme, Primeval State.