8.23 A change of subject, announced Krishna speaks
यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः
प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्यामि भरतर्षभ
yatra kāle tvanāvṛittim āvṛittiṁ chaiva yoginaḥ
prayātā yānti taṁ kālaṁ vakṣhyāmi bharatarṣhabha
Now I will tell you the time at which those who practise depart and do not return, and the time at which they return.
Explanation
A change of subject, announced in advance.
Krishna says he will now describe the times of departure — when those who leave do not come back, and when they do.
This is the chapter's last section and its strangest. What follows reads as calendar and astronomy, and the verses after it are almost entirely imagery. Read what it says before deciding what it means; the chapter hands back a much simpler instruction at the end.
Word by word
- yatra
- where
- kāle
- time
- tu
- certainly
- anāvṛittim
- no return
- āvṛittim
- return
- cha
- and
- eva
- certainly
- yoginaḥ
- a yogi
- prayātāḥ
- having departed
- yānti
- attain
- tam
- that
- kālam
- time
- vakṣhyāmi
- I shall describe
- bharata-ṛiṣhabha
- Arjun, the best of the Bharatas
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