BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:8

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:8

 

abhyasa-yoga-yuktena

cetasa nanya-gamina

paramam purusam divyam

yati parthanucintayan

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

abhyasa-yoga--by practice; yuktena--being engaged in meditation;

cetasa--by the mind and intelligence; na anya-gamina--without their

being deviated; paramam--the Supreme; purusam--Personality of Godhead;

divyam--transcendental; yati--one achieves; partha--O son of Prtha;

anucintayan--constantly thinking of.

 

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 reach Me.

 

PURPORT

 

In this verse Lord Krsna stresses the importance of remembering Him.

One's memory of Krsna is revived by chanting the maha-mantra, Hare

Krsna. By this practice of chanting and hearing the sound vibration of

the Supreme Lord, one's ear, tongue and mind are engaged. This mystic

meditation is very easy to practice, and it helps one attain the

Supreme Lord. Purusam means enjoyer. Although living entities belong

to the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord, they are in material

contamination. They think themselves enjoyers, but they are not the

supreme enjoyer. Here it is clearly stated that the supreme enjoyer is

the Supreme Personality of Godhead in His different manifestations and

plenary expansions as Narayana, Vasudeva, etc.

 

The devotee can constantly think of the object of worship, the Supreme

Lord, in any of His features--Narayana, Krsna, Rama, etc.--by chanting

Hare Krsna. This practice will purify him, and at the end of his life,

due to his constant chanting, he will be transferred to the kingdom of

God. Yoga practice is meditation on the Supersoul within; similarly,

by chanting Hare Krsna one fixes his mind always on the Supreme Lord.

The mind is fickle, and therefore it is necessary to engage the mind

by force to think of Krsna. One example often given is that of the

caterpillar that thinks of becoming a butterfly and so is transformed

into a butterfly in the same life. Similarly, if we constantly think

of Krsna, it is certain that at the end of our lives we shall have the

same bodily constitution as Krsna.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.