1 O Krishna, what is Brahman, and what is the nature of action?
What is the adhyatma, the adhibhuta, the adhidaiva?
2 What is the adhiyajna, the supreme sacrifice, and how is it to be offered?
How are the self-controlled united with you at the time of death?
KRISHNA
3 My highest nature, the imperishable Brahman,
gives every creature its existence and lives in every creature as the adhyatma.
My action is creation and the bringing forth of creatures.
4 The adhibhuta is the perishable body; the adhidaiva is Purusha,
eternal spirit. The adhiyajna, the supreme sacrifice,
is made to me as the Lord within you.
5 Those who remember me at the time of death
will come to me. Do not doubt this.
6 Whatever occupies the mind at the time of death determines
the destination of the dying; always they will tend toward that state of being.
7 Therefore, remember me at all times and fight on.
With your heart and mind intent on me, you will surely come to me.
8 When you make your mind one-pointed through regular practice of meditation, you will find the supreme glory of the Lord.
9 The Lord is the supreme poet, the first cause, the sovereign ruler,
subtler than the tiniest particle, the support of all, inconceivable,
bright as the sun,
beyond darkness.
10 Remembering him in this way at the time of death, through devotion
and the power of meditation, with your mind completely stilled
and your concentration fixed in the center of
spiritual awareness
between the eyebrows, you will realize the supreme Lord.
11 I will tell you briefly of the eternal state all scriptures affirm,
which can be entered only by those who are self-controlled and free from selfish passions. Those whose lives are dedicated to Brahman attain this supreme goal.
12 Remembering me at the time of death, close down the doors of the senses and place the mind in the heart. Then, while absorbed in meditation,
focus all energy upwards to the head.
13 Repeating in this state the divine name, the syllableOm that represents the changeless Brahman, you will go forth from the body
and attain the supreme goal.
14 I am easily attained by the person who always remembers me and is attached to nothing else. Such a person is a true yogi, Arjuna.
15 Great souls make their lives perfect and discover me; they are freed from mortality and the suffering of this separate existence.
16 Every creature in the universe is subject to rebirth,
Arjuna, except the one who is united with me.
17 Those who understand the cosmic laws know that the Day of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas and the Night of Brahma ends after a thousand yugas.
18 When the day of Brahma dawns, forms are brought forth from the Unmanifest; when the night of Brahma comes,
these forms merge in the Formless again.
19 This multitude of beings is created and destroyed again and again
in the succeeding days and nights of Brahma.
20 But beyond this formless state there is another, unmanifested reality,
which is eternal and is not dissolved when the cosmos is destroyed.
21 Those who realize life’s supreme goal know that I am unmanifested and unchanging. Having come home to me, they never return to separate existence.
22 This supreme Lord who pervades all existence,
the true Self of all creatures, may be realized through undivided love.
23 There are two paths, Arjuna, which the soul may follow at the time of death. One leads to rebirth and the other to liberation.
24 The six months of the northern path of the sun, the path of light, of fire, of day, of the bright fortnight, leads knowers of Brahman to the supreme goal.
25 The six months of the southern path of the sun, the path of smoke, of night, of the dark fortnight, leads other souls to the light of the moon and to rebirth.
26 These two paths, the light and the dark, are said to be eternal,
leading some to liberation and others to rebirth.
27 Once you have known these two paths, Arjuna,
you can never be deluded again.
Attain this knowledge through perseverance in yoga.
28 There is merit in studying the scriptures, in selfless service, austerity,
and giving, but the practice of meditation carries you beyond all these to the supreme abode of the highest Lord.
