8.24 The bright path Krishna speaks
अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम्
तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः
agnir jyotir ahaḥ śhuklaḥ ṣhaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam
tatra prayātā gachchhanti brahma brahma-vido janāḥ
Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the sun's northern course: departing then, those who know Brahman go to Brahman.
Explanation
The bright path, listed.
- fire
- light
- day
- the bright fortnight
- the sun's northern six months — uttarāyaṇa
Five markers, and every one is drawn from the ordinary sky rather than from doctrine. Departing under them, those who know Brahman go to Brahman and do not come back.
Whatever technical sense this carried for its first readers, the structure survives without it: one way out is marked by the increase of light.
Going further
Word by word
- agniḥ
- fire
- jyotiḥ
- light
- ahaḥ
- day
- śhuklaḥ
- the bright fortnight of the moon
- ṣhaṭ-māsāḥ
- six months
- uttara-ayanam
- the sun’s northern course
- tatra
- there
- prayātāḥ
- departed
- gachchhanti
- go
- brahma
- Brahman
- brahma-vidaḥ
- those who know the Brahman
- janāḥ
- persons
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Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the northern course of the sun — and against it smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the southern course.
The two paths the chapter is named for, and the imagery is drawn entirely from the ordinary sky. Whatever these verses meant technically to their first readers, the structure is legible without the doctrine: one way marked by light and departure, one by smoke and return.