Gita Satsangh; Chapter 8 Verses 23 to 28 - Jnaneshvara's Commentary

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advaitin, "Ram Chandran" <rchandran@c...> wrote:

> Namaste:

>

> Let us continue the Gita Satsangh with the remaining verses of

> Chapter 8.

 

Namaste,

 

[ http://www.bvbpune.org/chap08.html ]

 

Of that time wherein yogis depart to return again or never to return,

of that I shall speak, O best of Bharatas.

 

One can easily know where the yogis go after knowing the time when

they leave their bodies. Sometimes it so happens that a yogi leaves

at an improper time and then he has to become embodied again (201-

205). Therefore, if he dies at an auspicious time, he becomes one

with Brahman; but if he dies at an improper time, he returns to the

mortal world. So return and non-return are both dependent on time. I

shall now tell you incidentally the proper time for dying. Listen, O

great warrior, when a person is overtaken with the stupor of death,

the five great elements go their own way. Since he has put on the

armour of the experience of god, his intellect remains undeluded, his

memory strong and his mind active. This whole sentient group remains

fresh at the time of death (206-210). in order that this group

remains alert and continues to be so till the time of death, he must

receive the help of fire. O Partha, if the lamp is extinguished

either by wind or water , will one be able to see anything, even if

one's sight remains intact? When the body is overtaken by an excess

of wind and phlegm, the fire in the body loses its warmth at the time

of death. When the prana has no life, what can the intellect do them?

Therefore, consciousness does not remain in the body, without warmth.

If the warmth leaves the body, it is only a lump of wet clay; he will

then spend the rest of his life in darkness (211-215). Then how can

he keep the remembrance of his previous yogic practice at that time

and become one with the Brahman after death? At that time he loses

his consciousness and all his remembrance, past and present, in the

mire of phlegm. So all his yogic practice perishes even before death,

just as the lamp is extinguished even before the treasure in found.

In short, know that knowledge is dependent on heat of the body;

therefore, it is necessary to have the help of full warmth at the

time of departure.

 

 

Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the

(sun's) Northern course departing by this path, the Brahman-knower go

to Brahman.

 

When there is heat of fire in the body, the bright fortnight and the

day outside, and anyone of the six months of the (sun's) northern

course (216-220), the knowers of Brahman who leave their body at such

a propitious time, become one with Brahman. Know, O Arjuna, this

occasion has such power that it is the royal road to reach the

destination. Here the first step is fire, the second its flame, third

is the day-time, the fourth the bright fortnight, the last step the

six months in the northern course, going by which the yogis attain

the state of liberation. This is the best time to depart, called the

archira path. I shall now tell you the inauspicious time, listen (221-

225).

 

 

Smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the six months of the (sun's)

Southern course - (departing) then, having reached the lunar light,

the yogi retuns (to the mortal world.)

 

If at the time of departure wind and phlegm become excessive, then

the mind becomes enveloped in darkness. Then the senses become inert,

remembrance becomes confused, the mind becomes benumbed and the prana

becomes suffocated. The fire loses its blaze and remains as smoke

only, by which the consciousness of the body becomes engulfed. When

the moon is hidden by the could there is dim light and semi-darkness.

He is neither dead nor fully alive and his life, being arrested,

stands on the brink of death (226-230). Thus, when the senses, mind

and intellect become engulfed by smoke, the yoga achieved by life-

long effort is destroyed. When what is in hand is lost, then what

hope is there to achieve something new? This is his condition when he

departs from this world. while this is his internal condition,

externally there is the night, the dark fortnight and a day in the

six months of the sun's southern course. When there is a

concatenation of such things at the time of death, how will he get

the glimpse of self-realization? when a yogi leaves his body at this

time, he goes to the region of the moon, but returns from there to

this mortal world (231-235). This, O Arjuna, is what I call the

improper time. By taking the path of smoke one gets involved in the

recurrence of birth. The other one is the Archira path, which is

easy, naturally good and conducive to happiness and release.

 

 

For these two, the bright and the dark, are the eternal paths of the

world. By one a person does not return, by the other he returns.

 

I have shown you these two eternal paths intentionally; one is a

straight path, the other is a bypath. You should then know which is

the right and which is the wrong path, what will do you good and what

will cause you harm, so that you will adopt the good. If a person

sees a boat, will he jump into deep water or knowing the straight

road, will anyone take to a bypath (236-240)? As a person who knows

poison and nectar, will not give up nectar, so a person who knows the

straight path will not choose the bypath. One should carefully

examine what in true and what is false, so that one does not come to

harm when the occasion arises. otherwise, if there is confusion

between the paths, one may come to evil, and then all the life-long

spiritual practices will come to nought. If a person, missing the

path of light, goes by the path of smoke, he will be bound to the

worldly existence and roam from birth to birth. In order to enable a

person to escape these travails of life, I had to disclose to you

these two paths of yoga (241-245). One of them leads to God-

realization, the other to transmigration. But either of these two

paths falls to one's lot at the time of death.

 

 

Knowing these two paths, O Partha, the yogi in not deluded,

therefore, at all times, O Arjuna, remain engrossed in yoga.

 

But how can one be sure by which path one will go after death? why

should one depend upon the right path for god-realization? Whether

one remains in body or departs, one is of the nature of Brahman.

Because even if a rope appears like a serpent, it is really a rope.

Is the rope ever aware of a serpent, it is really a rope? Is the

water ever aware of the ripples, which come and go? it ever remains

at any time with or without ripples as water only. Therefore, those

who have become Brahman while living are known as disembodied (246-

250).

 

There does not remain now even a trace of body-consciousness in him;

then how can he die at any time? Why, then, should he search for any

path and where can he go, when space and time have become his very

self? Look, when the jar breaks, has the space outside? Will it

otherwise miss it? The truth is that when the jar breaks, only its

form is lost; but the space inside it has always been part of the

space outside. With this knowledge. The yogi who has attained to

oneness with Brahman, does not bother which path he should take (151-

155). For this reason, O Arjuna, I urge you to become possessed of

yoga, by which you will acquire equanimity at all times. Whether his

bondage to the body remains or goes, his free and eternal unity with

Brahman remains unaffected. He is not born at the beginning of the

epoch nor dies at the end of it, nor is he tempted by the pleasures

of heaven or earth. He who has attained to this knowledge properly

becomes a yogi who, discarding the pleasures of life, has attained

his self, he abandons, O Arjuna, as worthless the lordship of Indra

and other gods, which receives acclaim everywhere (256-260).

 

 

Whatever reward the Vedas assign to ritual, austerities and

almsgiving, the yogi knowingly transcends them all and attains the

supreme primal state.

 

Whatever fruit is attained by studying the Vedas or by performing

yoga or by practicing austerities, or by giving in charity, even if

it is done in abundance, it does not bear comparison with the pure

bliss, it does not seem less. Since it does not wilt or come to an

end and gives full satisfaction, it appears to the ignorant to have

kinship with the supreme bliss. Even though this joy of heaven is

sensual, it depends on providence and so cannot be acquired by

performing even hundred sacrifices (261-265). When the great yogi, by

his keen and extraordinary insight, weighs it against bliss, he finds

it trifling. Then, O Arjuna, by making this heavenly joy his

footstep, he mounts the seat of the supreme Brahman. Thus, spoke to

Arjuna, Lord Krishna, the glory of the yadu race, who is the destiny

of moving and non-moving beings, the object of worship of Shankara

and Brahma, the treasure enjoyed by the yogis, the promoter of all

arts, the supreme will in human form, the sap of the universe and the

source of all knowledge (266-270) So Sanjaya gave to king

Dhritarashtra the news of kurukshetra. Shri Jnanadeva says, listen to

the events that followed (271).

 

 

 

 

Regards,

 

Sunder