Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8: Akshara Brahma Yoga, All 28 Verses with Meaning

किं तद्ब्रह्म किमध्यात्मं किं कर्म पुरुषोत्तम
अधिभूतं च किं प्रोक्तमधिदैवं किमुच्यते ॥ ८.१ ॥

Kim tad brahma kim adhyatmam kim karma purushottama
Adhibhutam cha kim proktam adhidaivam kim uchyate

MeaningArjuna says: What is that Brahman, what is adhyatma, and what is karma, Purushottama? What is meant by adhibhuta, and what is called adhidaiva?

NoteArjuna asks seven questions, picking up the terms with which chapter 7 ended. Krishna answers them in verses 3 and 4. The terms are Brahman, adhyatma, karma, adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhiyajna, and the last question is how the Lord is to be remembered at death.

अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन
प्रयाणकाले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽसि नियतात्मभिः ॥ ८.२ ॥

Adhiyajnah katham ko 'tra dehe 'smin madhusudana
Prayanakale cha katham jneyo 'si niyatatmabhih

MeaningWho or what is adhiyajna here in this body, Madhusudana? And how are you to be known, at the time of departing, by those who have mastered themselves?

अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते
भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥ ८.३ ॥

Aksharam brahma paramam svabhavo 'dhyatmam uchyate
Bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargah karmasanjnitah

MeaningThe Blessed Lord says: The imperishable is the highest Brahman. One's own inner nature is called adhyatma. The creative release that brings beings into being and makes them grow is called karma.

NoteBrahman is called the imperishable and the supreme. Adhyatma, read here as one's own inner nature, is the self as it lives in each being. Karma is the act of creative release by which beings come to be. The terms are short and compressed, and commentators explain them at length.

अधिभूतं क्षरो भावः पुरुषश्चाधिदैवतम्
अधियज्ञोऽहमेवात्र देहे देहभृतां वर ॥ ८.४ ॥

Adhibhutam ksharo bhavah purushash chadhidaivatam
Adhiyajno 'ham evatra dehe dehabhritam vara

MeaningAdhibhuta is the perishable state of things. The Purusha is adhidaiva. And I myself am adhiyajna here in the body, best of the embodied.

NoteThe three terms of the second line are the perishable realm of beings (adhibhuta), the divine principle (adhidaiva), and the Lord as the presence in the sacrifice and in each body (adhiyajna).

अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम्
यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः ॥ ८.५ ॥

Antakale cha mam eva smaran muktva kalevaram
Yah prayati sa madbhavam yati nasty atra samshayah

MeaningThe one who at the end of life, while leaving the body, goes forth remembering me alone, comes to my state of being. There is no doubt about this.

NoteVerses 5 to 7 are about the last thought of life, and the Gita turns them into practical advice for the living. In 8.7 the instruction is to remember the Lord at all times and to go on with one's duty, and this is how the last thought is prepared.

यं यं वापि स्मरन्भावं त्यजत्यन्ते कलेवरम्
तं तमेवैति कौन्तेय सदा तद्भावभावितः ॥ ८.६ ॥

Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajaty ante kalevaram
Tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tadbhavabhavitah

MeaningWhatever state of being a person remembers when giving up the body at the end, Kaunteya, that very state the person reaches, having been absorbed in it always.

NoteThe verse says that the state of mind with which a person leaves is the state reached. Read with the next verse, it is a reason for training the mind in life, not a source of fear at the end.

तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु मामनुस्मर युध्य च
मय्यर्पितमनोबुद्धिर्मामेवैष्यस्यसंशयः ॥ ८.७ ॥

Tasmat sarveshu kaleshu mam anusmara yudhya cha
Mayy arpitamanobuddhir mam evaishyasy asamshayah

MeaningTherefore remember me at all times, and fight. With mind and intellect given to me, you will come to me alone. There is no doubt.

अभ्यासयोगयुक्तेन चेतसा नान्यगामिना
परमं पुरुषं दिव्यं याति पार्थानुचिन्तयन् ॥ ८.८ ॥

Abhyasayogayuktena chetasa nanyagamina
Paramam purusham divyam yati parthanuchintayan

MeaningWith a mind joined by the practice of yoga and not wandering to anything else, a person who keeps meditating, Partha, reaches the supreme divine Purusha.

NoteFrom verse 8 the chapter describes how a practising yogi meditates at the time of departing, and what is meditated on.

कविं पुराणमनुशासितारमणोरणीयांसमनुस्मरेद्यः
सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूपमादित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ॥ ८.९ ॥

Kavim puranam anushasitaram anor aniyamsam anusmared yah
Sarvasya dhataram achintyarupam adityavarnam tamasah parastat

MeaningOne who remembers the seer, the ancient one, the ruler, smaller than the smallest, the supporter of all, of a form beyond thought, bright like the sun and beyond darkness,

प्रयाणकाले मनसाचलेन भक्त्या युक्तो योगबलेन चैव
भ्रुवोर्मध्ये प्राणमावेश्य सम्यक्स तं परं पुरुषमुपैति दिव्यम् ॥ ८.१० ॥

Prayanakale manasachalena bhaktya yukto yogabalena chaiva
Bhruvor madhye pranam aveshya samyak sa tam param purusham upaiti divyam

Meaningat the time of departing, with an unmoving mind, joined by devotion and by the strength of yoga, having rightly set the life-breath between the eyebrows, reaches that supreme divine Purusha.

NoteSetting the breath between the eyebrows is a yogic practice. The verses describe it as a discipline of the time, and do not ask the reader to attempt it.

यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति विशन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागाः
यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्यं चरन्ति तत्ते पदं संग्रहेण प्रवक्ष्ये ॥ ८.११ ॥

Yad aksharam vedavido vadanti vishanti yad yatayo vitaragah
Yad ichchhanto brahmacharyam charanti tat te padam sangrahena pravakshye

MeaningThat which the knowers of the Veda call the imperishable, which ascetics free from passion enter, and for which people live the life of a student of Brahman, that state I will tell you about in brief.

सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च
मूर्ध्न्याधायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ॥ ८.१२ ॥

Sarvadvarani samyamya mano hridi nirudhya cha
Murdhny adhayatmanah pranam asthito yogadharanam

MeaningClosing all the gates of the body, holding the mind in the heart, placing one's own life-breath in the head, and established in yogic concentration,

ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन्
यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ॥ ८.१३ ॥

Om ity ekaksharam brahma vyaharan mam anusmaran
Yah prayati tyajan deham sa yati paramam gatim

Meaningspeaking the single syllable Om, which is Brahman, and remembering me, the one who goes forth leaving the body reaches the highest goal.

NoteThis is one of the best known verses on the sacred syllable Om, which the Gita calls the single-syllable Brahman. Its place in meditation is dealt with at greater length in the Upanishads.

अनन्यचेताः सततं यो मां स्मरति नित्यशः
तस्याहं सुलभः पार्थ नित्ययुक्तस्य योगिनः ॥ ८.१४ ॥

Ananyachetah satatam yo mam smarati nityashah
Tasyaham sulabhah partha nityayuktasya yoginah

MeaningFor the person who thinks of me constantly, with a mind that goes nowhere else, and does so every day, I am easy to reach, Partha, for that ever-steady yogi.

मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम्
नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ॥ ८.१५ ॥

Mam upetya punarjanma duhkhalayam ashashvatam
Napnuvanti mahatmanah samsiddhim paramam gatah

MeaningHaving come to me, those great souls do not take birth again, which is a home of sorrow and does not last. They have reached the highest perfection.

NoteThe verse calls rebirth a home of sorrow that does not last. This is the traditional view that liberation means release from the round of birth and death.

आ ब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन
मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥ ८.१६ ॥

A brahmabhuvanal lokah punaravartino 'rjuna
Mam upetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate

MeaningAll the worlds, up to the world of Brahma, are subject to return, Arjuna. But having come to me, Kaunteya, there is no more birth.

सहस्रयुगपर्यन्तमहर्यद्ब्रह्मणो विदुः
रात्रिं युगसहस्रान्तां तेऽहोरात्रविदो जनाः ॥ ८.१७ ॥

Sahasrayugaparyantam ahar yad brahmano viduh
Ratrim yugasahasrantam te 'horatravido janah

MeaningThose who know that a day of Brahma lasts a thousand ages and that his night ends after a thousand ages are the people who truly know day and night.

NoteThe Gita itself gives no number of years. The Puranic tradition counts a cycle of four ages as 4,320,000 years, and a day of Brahma as a thousand such cycles. The verse uses this vast scale to place the manifest world inside a far greater rhythm.

अव्यक्ताद्व्यक्तयः सर्वाः प्रभवन्त्यहरागमे
रात्र्यागमे प्रलीयन्ते तत्रैवाव्यक्तसंज्ञके ॥ ८.१८ ॥

Avyaktad vyaktayah sarvah prabhavanty aharagame
Ratryagame praliyante tatraivavyaktasanjnake

MeaningFrom the unmanifest all the visible things come forth when the day begins. When the night begins they dissolve again into that same thing, called the unmanifest.

भूतग्रामः स एवायं भूत्वा भूत्वा प्रलीयते
रात्र्यागमेऽवशः पार्थ प्रभवत्यहरागमे ॥ ८.१९ ॥

Bhutagramah sa evayam bhutva bhutva praliyate
Ratryagame 'vashah partha prabhavaty aharagame

MeaningThis same crowd of beings, coming into being again and again, dissolves when night comes, and comes forth again, not by its own choice, Partha, when day comes.

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातनः
यः स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति ॥ ८.२० ॥

Paras tasmat tu bhavo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktat sanatanah
Yah sa sarveshu bhuteshu nashyatsu na vinashyati

MeaningBut beyond that unmanifest there is another state of being that is also unmanifest and eternal. It does not perish when all beings perish.

NoteThe verse speaks of a higher unmanifest beyond the unmanifest from which beings arise and into which they dissolve. It is the Gita's pointer to what lies beyond even the cycle of creation.

अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहुः परमां गतिम्
यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ॥ ८.२१ ॥

Avyakto 'kshara ity uktas tam ahuh paramam gatim
Yam prapya na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama

MeaningThat unmanifest is called the imperishable, and it is said to be the highest goal. Those who reach it do not return. That is my supreme abode.

पुरुषः स परः पार्थ भक्त्या लभ्यस्त्वनन्यया
यस्यान्तःस्थानि भूतानि येन सर्वमिदं ततम् ॥ ८.२२ ॥

Purushah sa parah partha bhaktya labhyas tv ananyaya
Yasyantahsthani bhutani yena sarvam idam tatam

MeaningThat highest Purusha, Partha, is reached by devotion that is directed to no one else. All beings are within him, and by him all this is spread through.

यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिनः
प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्यामि भरतर्षभ ॥ ८.२३ ॥

Yatra kale tv anavrittim avrittim chaiva yoginah
Prayata yanti tam kalam vakshyami bharatarshabha

MeaningI will tell you, best of the Bharatas, the time at which yogis who depart go to non-return, and the time at which they go to return.

अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम्
तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः ॥ ८.२४ ॥

Agnir jyotir ahah shuklah shanmasa uttarayanam
Tatra prayata gachchhanti brahma brahmavido janah

MeaningFire, light, day, the bright half of the month, the six months when the sun goes north: departing in these, people who know Brahman go to Brahman.

NoteVerses 24 to 26 speak of two paths after death, one of light and one of smoke, linked to the sun's northward and southward course. The Mahabharata tells how Bhishma waited on his bed of arrows for the northward course. Commentators differ on whether the verses refer to actual times or to two paths and their guardians. Verse 27 says the person who knows both is not confused, and tells Arjuna to be steady in yoga at all times, so the verse does not make calendar worry a part of practice.

धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम्
तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते ॥ ८.२५ ॥

Dhumo ratris tatha krishnah shanmasa dakshinayanam
Tatra chandramasam jyotir yogi prapya nivartate

MeaningSmoke, night, the dark half of the month, the six months when the sun goes south: departing in these, the yogi reaches the light of the moon and returns.

शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते
एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययावर्तते पुनः ॥ ८.२६ ॥

Shuklakrishne gati hy ete jagatah shashvate mate
Ekaya yaty anavrittim anyayavartate punah

MeaningThese two paths, the bright and the dark, are held to be the eternal paths of the world. By one a person goes to non-return, and by the other returns again.

नैते सृती पार्थ जानन्योगी मुह्यति कश्चन
तस्मात्सर्वेषु कालेषु योगयुक्तो भवार्जुन ॥ ८.२७ ॥

Naite sriti partha janan yogi muhyati kash chana
Tasmat sarveshu kaleshu yogayukto bhavarjuna

MeaningThe yogi who knows these two paths is not confused, Partha. So at all times be steady in yoga, Arjuna.

NoteThe chapter ends with a plain instruction: be joined in yoga at all times. The instruction is what carries over from the teaching on death.

वेदेषु यज्ञेषु तपःसु चैव दानेषु यत्पुण्यफलं प्रदिष्टम्
अत्येति तत्सर्वमिदं विदित्वा योगी परं स्थानमुपैति चाद्यम् ॥ ८.२८ ॥

Vedeshu yajneshu tapahsu chaiva daneshu yat punyaphalam pradishtam
Atyeti tat sarvam idam viditva yogi param sthanam upaiti chadyam

MeaningWhatever fruit of merit is laid down for the Vedas, for sacrifices, for austerities and for gifts, the yogi who knows this goes beyond all of it and reaches the supreme and original place.

NoteThe last verse says that the fruit of every good act named in the Vedas is surpassed by the one who understands this teaching. It does not make light of those acts, and puts them in perspective.