Chapter 8 of 18
अक्षरब्रह्मयोग Akṣara Brahma Yoga The Two Paths
28 verses
Everything that appears is temporary; the work of yoga is to train attention toward the one thing that is not.
Chapter 7 ended by naming a cluster of terms at speed — Brahman, the self, action, the ground of matter, the ground of the gods — and Arjuna does not pretend to have followed. Chapter 8 opens with him asking for definitions.
He also asks something else, and it is what the chapter is really built on: how the divine is known at the moment of death. Krishna answers that early and simply — you go to whatever you were holding — and then spends twenty verses showing how much has to be true for so simple an answer to matter.
What arrives in between is the largest scale in the book: days of Brahma a thousand ages long, worlds that dissolve and return, two standing paths out of the world. And at the end the instruction is the one already given before any of it appeared. Be joined, at all times.
किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम
अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते
kiṁ tad brahma kim adhyātmaṁ kiṁ karma puruṣhottama
adhibhūtaṁ cha kiṁ proktam adhidaivaṁ kim uchyate
What is that Brahman? What is the self? What is action? What is called the ground of matter, and what the ground of the gods?
Arjuna stops the teaching to ask what the words mean.
Chapter 7 ended by naming several things at speed, and he does not pretend to have followed. His question is a list:
- What is Brahman?
- What is the self?
- What is action?
- What are the grounds of matter and of the gods?
Worth noticing that he asks for definitions, not for reassurance. The despair of chapter 1 has turned into something closer to study.
Word by wordarjunaḥ uvācha — Arjun said · kim — what · tat — that · brahma — Brahman · kim — what · adhyātmam — the individual soul · kim — what · karma — the principle of karma · puruṣha-uttama — Shree Krishna, the Supreme Divine Personality · adhibhūtam — the material manifestation · cha — and · kim — what · proktam — is called · adhidaivam — the Lord of the celestial gods · kim — what · uchyate — is called
Chapter 8 · The Two Paths · ← → to move, d for depth
All 28 verses
The Blessed One said
- 8.3 अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते Three of the answers
- 8.4 अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम् The rest, and one surprise
- 8.5 अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् What the last hour carries
- 8.6 यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम् You go where you already are
- 8.7 तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च Remember, and fight
- 8.8 अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना Practice is the mechanism
- 8.9 कविं पुराणमनुशासितार मणोरणीयांसमनुस्मरेद्यः Six names that disagree
- 8.10 प्रयाणकाले मनसाऽचलेन भक्त्या युक्तो योगबलेन चैव Prepared for, not improvised
- 8.11 यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति विशन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागाः One thing under three names
- 8.12 सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च Closing the gates
- 8.13 ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् One syllable
- 8.14 अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः Easy to reach
- 8.15 मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् A dwelling of pain that does not last
- 8.16 आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन Even heaven sends you back
- 8.17 सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः A day of Brahma
- 8.18 अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे The universe breathes
- 8.19 भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते Helplessly, again and again
- 8.20 परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः What the night does not reach
- 8.21 अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम् The destination named
- 8.22 पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया Devotion with no rival
- 8.23 यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः A change of subject, announced
- 8.24 अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् The bright path
- 8.25 धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् The dark path
- 8.26 शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते Both paths are permanent
- 8.27 नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन Clarity, then the instruction
- 8.28 वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम् The final conclusion
Where this sits
Chapter 8 against the whole of it: who is speaking, verse by verse, and how much of the book this chapter is.
The argument so far
- Chapter 1 Arjuna's nerve fails on the field, and the question that opens the book is not a spiritual one but a practical one he cannot answer.
- Chapter 2 The first answer is that Arjuna is not the body he is afraid of losing, and that grief for what cannot die is grief misplaced.
- Chapter 3 Withdrawing from action is not available to anyone alive; what is available is acting without gripping the result.
- Chapter 4 Action, knowledge and Krishna himself all have a deeper structure than they appear to, and knowing it is what makes action free.
- Chapter 5 What has to be renounced is attachment rather than activity — the leaf in water, unwetted.
- Chapter 6 The mind is trained the way anything is trained, by returning to the practice on the days it does not work.
- Chapter 7 Behind both matter and awareness there is one reality, and everything else is a thread strung on it.