BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:16

[Guest guest]

BHAGAVAD-GITA 8:16

 

a-brahma-bhuvanal lokah

punar avartino 'rjuna

mam upetya tu kaunteya

punar janma na vidyate

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

a-brahma-bhuvanat--up to the Brahmaloka planet; lokah--the planetary

systems; punah--again; avartinah--returning; arjuna--O Arjuna;

mam--unto Me; upetya--arriving; tu--but; kaunteya--O son of Kunti;

punah janma--rebirth; na--never; vidyate--takes place.

 

TRANSLATION

 

>From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all

are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But

one who attains to My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.

 

PURPORT

 

All kinds of yogis--karma, jnana, hatha, etc.--eventually have to

attain devotional perfection in bhakti-yoga, or Krsna consciousness,

before they can go to Krsna's transcendental abode and never return.

Those who attain the highest material planets, the planets of the

demigods, are again subjected to repeated birth and death. As persons

on earth are elevated to higher planets, people on higher planets such

as Brahmaloka, Candraloka and Indraloka fall down to earth. The

practice of sacrifice called pancagni-vidya, recommended in the

Chandogya Upanisad, enables one to achieve Brahmaloka, but if, on

Brahmaloka, one does not cultivate Krsna consciousness, then he must

return to earth. Those who progress in Krsna consciousness on the

higher planets are gradually elevated to higher and higher planets and

at the time of universal devastation are transferred to the eternal

spiritual kingdom. Sridhara Svami, in his commentary on Bhagavad-gita,

quotes this verse:

 

brahmana saha te sarve

samprapte pratisancare

parasyante krtatmanah

pravisanti param padam

 

"When there is devastation of this material universe, Brahma and his

devotees, who are constantly engaged in Krsna consciousness, are all

transferred to the spiritual universe and to specific spiritual

planets according to their desires."

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.