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Chapter 8

In Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8, Lord Krishna answers how one attains Ishwara after death. It depends on what we think at the time of death. If we think of Him at that time, then we attain Him. Since no one knows when death occurs, it’s better to meditate on Him always. Here, he discusses about three types of mediation, first, on the cosmic form of Ishwara, second type in his name or Om, the third type and simplest is to remember Him in any form throughout our life. So what happens after death? Krishna explains that the universe is like an infinite cycle of creation and dissolution that symbolically represents day and night, at the end of each day all living and non living things, they become unobvious and when night ends they are manifest again. Hence we are caught in the endless cycle of creation and dissolution. Only those who take an effort come out of this cycle and attain the Lord. He urges us to take steps to attain liberation. Finally, he enumerates the two paths the soul takes after death. The first the dark one is for those who performed good actions, the reach heaven exhaust the results of their actions and return to the world are reborn.  The second is the bright one attained by those who practice faithful meditation on Ishwara in addition to performing good actions. They reach the dwelling of Lord Brahma and remain there until dissolution and they are eventually liberated. The Lord encourages us to take this path.

Slogam 1:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.1

arjuna uvāca

kiḿ tad brahma kim adhyātmaḿ

kiḿ karma puruṣottama

adhibhūtaḿ ca kiḿ proktam

adhidaivaḿ kim ucyate



Translation 


Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities? What is this material man...View More

Slogam 2:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.2

adhiyajñaḥ kathaḿ ko ’tra

dehe ’smin madhusūdana

prayāṇa-kāle ca kathaḿ

jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ



Translation 


Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body, O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You at the tim...View More

Slogam 3:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.3

śrī-bhagavān uvāca

akṣaraḿ brahma paramaḿ

svabhāvo ’dhyātmam ucyate

bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo

visargaḥ karma-saḿjñitaḥ



Translation 


The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal n...View More

Slogam 4:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.4

adhibhūtaḿ kṣaro bhāvaḥ

puruṣaś cādhidaivatam

adhiyajño ’ham evātra

dehe deha-bhṛtāḿ vara



Translation 


O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature, which is constantly changing, is called adhibhuta [the material manifestation]. The universal form of...View More

Slogam 5:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.5

anta-kāle ca mām eva

smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaḿ

yāti nāsty atra saḿśayaḥ



Translation 


And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

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Slogam 6:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.6

yaḿ yaḿ vāpi smaran bhāvaḿ

tyajaty ante kalevaram

taḿ tam evaiti kaunteya

sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ



Translation 


Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail.

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Slogam 7:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.7

tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu

mām anusmara yudhya ca

mayy arpita-mano-buddhir

mām evaiṣyasy asaḿśayaḥ



Translation 


Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activiti...View More

Slogam 8:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.8

abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena

cetasā nānya-gāminā

paramaḿ puruṣaḿ divyaḿ

yāti pārthānucintayan



Translation 


He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha, is sure to re...View More

Slogam 9:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.9

kaviḿ purāṇam anuśāsitāram

aṇor aṇīyāḿsam anusmared yaḥ

sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam

āditya-varṇaḿ tamasaḥ parastāt



Translation 


One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the con...View More

Slogam 10:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.10

prayāṇa-kāle manasācalena

bhaktyā yukto yoga-balena caiva

bhruvor madhye prāṇam āveśya samyak

sa taḿ paraḿ puruṣam upaiti divyam



Translation 


One who, at the time of death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and, by the strength of yoga, with an undeviat...View More

Slogam 11:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.11

yad akṣaraḿ veda-vido vadanti

viśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ

yad icchanto brahma-caryaḿ caranti

tat te padaḿ sańgraheṇa pravakṣye



Translation 


Persons who are learned in the Vedas, who utter omkara and who are great sages in the renounced order enter into Br...View More

Slogam 12:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.12

sarva-dvārāṇi saḿyamya

mano hṛdi nirudhya ca

mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam

āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām



Translation 


The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and t...View More

Slogam 13:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.13

oḿ ity ekākṣaraḿ brahma

vyāharan mām anusmaran

yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaḿ

sa yāti paramāḿ gatim



Translation 


After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Perso...View More

Slogam 14:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.14

ananya-cetāḥ satataḿ

yo māḿ smarati nityaśaḥ

tasyāhaḿ su-labhaḥ pārtha

nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ



Translation 


For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.

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Slogam 15:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.15

mām upetya punar janma

duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam

nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ

saḿsiddhiḿ paramāḿ gatāḥ



Translation 


After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have at...View More

Slogam 16:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.16

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ

punar āvartino ’rjuna

mām upetya tu kaunteya

punar janma na vidyate



Translation 


From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My ...View More

Slogam 17:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.17

sahasra-yuga-paryantam

ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ

rātriḿ yuga-sahasrāntāḿ

te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ



Translation 


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

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Slogam 18:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.18

avyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ

prabhavanty ahar-āgame

rātry-āgame pralīyante

tatraivāvyakta-saḿjñake



Translation 


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 ...View More

Slogam 19:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.19

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaḿ

bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate

rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha

prabhavaty ahar-āgame



Translation 


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 ann...View More

Slogam 20:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.20

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo

’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ

yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu

naśyatsu na vinaśyati



Translation 


Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is...View More

Slogam 21:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.21

avyakto ’kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāḿ gatim

yaḿ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaḿ mama



Translation 


That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained...View More

Slogam 22:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.22

puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha

bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā

yasyāntaḥ-sthāni bhūtāni

yena sarvam idaḿ tatam



Translation 


The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-p...View More

Slogam 23:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.23

yatra kāle tv anāvṛttim

āvṛttiḿ caiva yoginaḥ

prayātā yānti taḿ kālaḿ

vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha



Translation 


O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back...View More

Slogam 24:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.24

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ

ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam

tatra prayātā gacchanti

brahma brahma-vido janāḥ



Translation 


Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain that Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an ausp...View More

Slogam 25:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.25

dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ

ṣaṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam

tatra cāndramasaḿ jyotir

yogī prāpya nivartate



Translation 


The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun pass...View More

Slogam 26:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.26

śukla-kṛṣṇe gatī hy ete

jagataḥ śāśvate mate

ekayā yāty anāvṛttim

anyayāvartate punaḥ



Translation 


Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.

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Slogam 27:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.27

naite sṛtī pārtha jānan

yogī muhyati kaścana

tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu

yoga-yukto bhavārjuna



Translation 


Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.

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Slogam 28:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8.28

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva

dāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaḿ pradiṣṭam

atyeti tat sarvam idaḿ viditvā

yogī paraḿ sthānam upaiti cādyam



Translation 


A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Ved...View More