HOME PAGE BG001 BG002 BG003 BG004 BG005 BG006 BG007 BG008 BG009 BG010 BG011 BG012 BG013 BG014 BG015 BG016 BG017 BG018 CREATION POTPOURRI SUPPLEMENT
12/17/2003
Chapter Eight: Brahman The Imperishable
8.1: Arjuna said:
What is
Brahman? What is adhyātma or Self? What is karma? O Purusottama, What is
adhibhūta? What is adhidaivam?
Adhyātma is “Self”. Karma is action. Adhibhūta is the
material world. Adhidaivam is god. Purushottama is the Supreme Being. First,
there is the Absolute Self (Brahman); second, there is the controller Isvara;
third, there is the Blueprint, Hiranyagarbha; and last, there is the Prakara
(Cit and Acit or the sentient and the insentient). This is the scheme of
creation, according to Brahman. Isvara is the manifest form of the unmanifest
Brahman; Hiranyagarbha is the blueprint of Cit and Acit; it is also a name for
Brahma.
When you subtract the body from an object, sentient or insentient, you arrive at Brahman, which is Pure Consciousness and awareness, according Panchadasi (3.21). When you strip away all the sheaths, Matter (Anna), Life (Prāna), Mind (Manas), Intelligence (Jnāna) and Bliss (Ānanda), what is left is the Witness or the Self (Pure Consciousness)-- IBID, 3.22.
8.2: Who is the Adhiyajna in this body? O
Madhusudhana, at the time of departure (Prayāna-kale) from life, how can
the self-controlled know You?
8.3: Sri Bhagavan said:
Brahman
is supreme and imperishable; Its nature is (declared as that) of the Self; and
the creative force that makes visible all living material beings is called
karma.
Bhūta-bhāva-udbhavakarah: creating - living beings -
production/ becoming visible
Bhūta-bhāva: creating living being. Udbhava-karah:
productive, birth, becoming visible.
Without karma, there is no material body, because zero-sum karma leads
to liberation of the soul and the complete divestiture of the physical body
8.4: Adhibhūtam is perishable, Purusa is
Adhidaiva, and I am Adhiyajna in the body, O the Best of embodied beings
(Arjuna).
Adhibūtam, being matter, is a product of prakriti; and therefore,
it is liable to change and destruction. As opposed to Adhibhūtam, Purusa
or Adhidaivam is immutable, constant, cosmic, all controlling and Self itself.
It is Sat (Being or Real beyond change). Krishna declares that He is Adhiyajna
(sacrifice in the form of body on this earth); and this Self is seated in the
heart with the individual self as its controller, chronicler, and modes of
consciousness. (See supplement section on the modes of Self and levels of
consciousness.) Adhiyajna means that all the sacrifices made to the gods reach
Lord Krishna. The Lord is an embodiment of all the Yajnas performed by four
kinds of devotees: Relief seeker, Atman
Seeker, Wealth Seeker and Knowledge Seeker.
Garuda Purana (11.12.11-12) states that among all living beings
Brahmavadin (the propounder of Vedas) is the best followed by, in descending
order, Brahmin scholars, men, intelligent animals and animals. Arjuna is the
best of the embodied beings because he is a Vedic scholar.
8.5: At the time of death, he, who remembers Me
when leaving the body, goes to My being. Of this, there is no doubt.
There is story in the
Puranas and Narayaneeyam about a Brahmana Ajamila with evil ways. He left his
legally married wife and associated with another women and had ten children by
her. He named one of his sons, Narayana, after the Lord. As Death’s (Yama)
ruthless messengers came to grab him, Ajamila yelled out unknowingly (of its
effect) for his son, Narayana, which prompted the arrival of the messengers of
Narayana at his deathbed. Yama’s servants tied him up and were about to take
him to hell. But the emissaries of Lord Narayana stopped them, who read out
loud a long list of evil deeds perpetrated by Ajamila. The Lord’s emissaries
pointedly told the Yamas’s messengers of the utterance of the Lord’s name
Narayana by Ajamila at the time of death. That utterance has the expiatory
power, destroys all sins, and makes the utterer eligible for residence in
Vaikuntha, Lord’s abode and heaven. Yama’s servants went back to their master
and told him about the incident; subsequently, Yama ordered his servants to
leave the devotees of Narayana alone and never to approach them.
Gandhi, when he was shot by a Hindu fanatic, knew he was mortally
injured and uttered ‘Hey Ram.’
Mat Bhāvam: My being
The body of the Lord is made of the universe and beings. Puranas
consider the human body as the microcosm of the body of the Lord. Human body
parts and the cosmos in its parts (Garuda Purana, 11.32.105-119).
|
Soul of
the foot = Atala |
Dorsum
of the foot = Vitala |
Knee =
Satala |
Calf =
Talatala |
|
Thigh =
Rasatala |
Genitalia
= Mahatala |
Hips =
Patala |
Navel =Bhur |
|
Pit of the
stomach = Bhuvar |
Heart =
Svar |
Throat = Mahar |
Mouth = Janas |
|
Forehead
= Tapas |
Anterior
fontanel = Satya |
Shoulder
Blade = The Mount Meru |
Lower
angle of hips = Mount Mandara |
|
Right
angle of hips = Mount Kailasa |
Left angle
of hips = Himalaya |
Upper
surface of hips = Mount Nisada |
Right
side of hips = Ghanda-madana |
|
Left
side of the hips = Ramana |
Bones =
Jambu Dvipa |
Marrow
= Saka dvipa |
Flesh =
Kusa dvipa |
|
Head =
Kusa dvipa |
Skin =
Salmali dvipa |
Hair =
Gomeda |
Nail =
Puskar dvipa |
|
Urine =
Salt ocean |
Milky
exudates/ secretions = Milky ocean |
Phlegm
= Wine ocean |
Marrow
= Butter ocean |
|
Lymphatic
fluid = Rasa ocean |
Blood =
Curd ocean |
Excreta
= Water ocean |
Vital fluid
= Sugar cane juice ocean |
|
Sound
area = sun |
Spot = Moon |
Eyes = Mars |
Heart =
Mercury |
|
Navel =
Jupiter |
Vital
fluid = Venus |
Navel
area = Saturn |
Mouth =
Rahu |
|
Feet –
Ketu |
|
|
|
8.6: Whatever one remembers of being at the time
of giving up the body, similar being he becomes O Kauteya, having always
remembered that being.
8.7:
Therefore, always remember Me and fight (yudhya). You will reach Me
without doubt, if your mind and intellect intent on (arpita) Me.
Krishna says that everyone should always
think of Him, as one performs his duty. This thought will come to the fore at
the time death and help the individual soul attain the feet of Krishna. Here
“yudhya” means that Arjuna should fight the enemy according to his dharma.
8.8:
He, who is steady in constant practice of meditation on the Supreme
Person with the mind not distracted otherwise and always thinking of Me,
reaches the Divine Me.
8.9:
He, who meditates on the Kavi (sage, seer, or poet), the ancient, the
(inner) controller, the one smaller than the smallest, and the supporter of
everything, and whose form is inconceivable (acintya rūpam), is
sun-colored (Āditya-varnam) beyond darkness.
One should meditate on the Lord. He is the
sage, the most ancient and the timeless, the ultimate inner controller of the
soul, the one smaller than the smallest, the supporter, and the sustainer of
this universe. He is of an inconceivable form, sun-colored and beyond darkness
of this material world.
There is no person who can describe the Lord
better than the Lord Himself. He is as luminous and self-effulgent as the sun
itself and transcends the darkness of this material world. Vishnu is
sun-colored according to this verse. The sun, the moon, and the fire receive
light from the Lord. The sun-color (Āditya varnam) connotes three aspects
of the Lord: the physical light of the sun, the light of the individual soul
(or jiva or monad or ātman), and the Light (Jyoti) of the Self or the
Lord.
8.10:
At the time of departure, with the mind fixed (on the Lord) in devotion,
by the strength of yoga, with his prāna fixed between the eyebrows, he
attains to Purusam and Divyam.
Prāna is life and breath; Purusum is the
Supreme Person; Divyam is divine. This particular moment in the life and times
of a yogi is penultimate. He is in full control of himself and concentrates his
attention and life-breath on the glabellar locus. According to the
Kundalini
yoga, the glabellar plane is the Ajna Chakra, which is the seat of the mind.
The yogi who rises to this level of attainment resolves (burns) all previous
prārabda karmas, receives Vijnāna or the intuitional wisdom and
knowledge, and earns liberation in this life: This is jivan mukti (liberation
while alive); and he becomes one with the divine. Such a person is Ramana
Maharishi.
Go to Kundalini Power for details. Glabella = spot in the forehead between the eyebrows.
8.11:
I shall briefly explain to you the path, which the Veda Vidahs call
Imperishable (Aksaram), desiring which the ascetics practice bramacharya. They
enter Aksaram by freeing themselves from passion.
Veda Vidhas are those proficient in Vedas.
Aksara is the imperishable word AUM.
Brahmacharya or celibacy is one of the angas, limbs, or steps that an
ascetic has to climb, before he can be called an ascetic.
The angas are eight in all:
(1) Yama, Abstinence
(2) Niyama, Restraint (Dos)
(3) Asana, Body Postures
(4) Prānayama, Breath Control
(5) Pratyahara, Abrogation of contact with
sense objects
(6) Dharana, Concentration
(7) Dyana, meditation
(8) Samādhi, Union or Absorption
8.12:
Controlling all the gates of the body, holding the mind in the heart,
fixing the life-breath in the head, and established in yogic concentration,
(continued)
The body, a nine-gated city, has two ears,
two eyes, two nostrils, one mouth and one excretory or evacuative and one
generative organ.
8.13: Anyone, who utters the monosyllable OM of (Sabda-) Brahman and leaves the body, remembering Me, attains the Supreme goal.
Sabda-Brahman is OM. Param Brahman is Supreme Brahman. AUM also represents the Hindu Holy Trinity, A: Brahma, U: Vishnu, and M: Siva. AUM knows neither fear nor death because of which men, gods, and asuras take refuge in it; they sing it sotto voce and have no fear of anything. In Sanskrit A and U combine to form O sound and M gives that resonance. OM is the syllable, the utterance of which helps a soul to penetrate Brahman proportionate to the degree of belief in it, detachment, abrogation of desires and contact with sense objects, and awareness. Its power diminishes with exegesis (critical evaluations). Upanishads (Mundaka 2.2.4) mention that OM is the bow, the jivātman is the arrow, and the Brahman is the target. (A bow must be strong and tensile in that the faith is strong, one has depth, and breadth in Vedic wisdom and life is lived by Sattva. One should sharpen the arrow with devotion; the mind is the tip of the arrow; the goal (target) is silence and stillness.) When the arrow hits the target, it becomes one with the target; the atman becomes one with Brahman when it merges with It.
8.14:
He, who remembers Me constantly lacking extraneous thoughts and is
absorbed in Me constantly, O Partha, is a Yogin to whom I am easily accessible.
There is no God like Lord Krishna or Narāyana according to Alvars,
for the following reasons:
(1) Removes all obstacles for refuge-seekers
(2) Saulabhya or Sulabha. Easily accessible to his devotees
(3) Paternal tenderness (Vatsalya)
(4) Good disposition towards His devotees
(5) Favoritism towards devotees
(6) Special ties with devotees
Note: Vatsalya is a two-way relationship between man and God. God can
act like the tender loving cow (parent) towards its newborn by licking the calf
clean (forgiveness of sins). Alternatively, the devotee can be the tender
loving mother: Yasoda’s love for Baby Krishna.
8.15: The highly perfected great souls, after
coming to Me, do not go back to rebirth, which is impermanent and an abode of
miseries.
8.16: O Arjuna, from the abode of Brahma down, all
worlds (beings) are subject to return (to rebirth), but for the one who comes
to Me, rebirth does not exist, O Kaunteya.
8.17: Those, who know that a Brahma’s day is one
thousand yugas and a Brahma’s night is one thousand yugas, understand (the
meaning of) day and night.
One Brahma's day is one Kalpa made up of one thousand yugas or periods.
One night of Brahma is one Kalpa made up of one thousand yugas or periods.
Therefore, there are two thousand yugas in one Brahma's day and night. In
earthly terms, these two thousand yugas are 8,640,000,000 years long (8.64
billion person-years). There are four yugas:
Krta or Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvāpara Yuga and Kali Yuga.
According to Srimad Bhgavatam Book three, Krita Yuga had the highest Dharma,
which diminished progressively by a quarter in the following Yugas with
proportional increase in Adharma. Dharma, compared to a cow, has four legs:
Severe penance, Internal, and external purity, Compassion and Truthfulness.
Four legs of Adharma are the opposite of Dharma: falsehood, violence,
discontent, and discord
Table:
The Four Yugas
|
Krita |
Dharma
was dominant. No Varna system. Long life span, 100,000 yrs. Golden age-
Krishna of white color. No sexual reproduction. A mere mental wish is the
begetter. One Veda. |
|
Treta |
Life
span, 10K yrs. Silver age– Krishna of red color. Knowledge more than Dharma
is the working principle. Reproduction by palpation or touch. One Veda became
four Vedas. |
|
Dvāpara |
Life
span 1K yrs. Krishna of yellow color. Human miseries abound. Varna system
active. Sexual reproduction is the norm. Puranas are popular. |
|
Kali |
Life
span 100 yrs, Krishna of black color 1/4th Dharma and 3/4th Adharma. Perversion
in all fields common. |
In Kali
age, the Dharma-cow has short stubby legs, only one-fourth its original length
in Krita Yuga.
Table:
The Yugas
|
Yugas |
Duration |
Standards |
Color |
Disposition |
|
Krita |
1,728,000
Years |
Age of
Perfection |
White |
Over |
|
Treta |
1,296,000
Years |
Age of
Triad |
Red |
Over |
|
Dvāpara |
864,000
Years |
Age of
Doubt |
Yellow |
Over |
|
Kali |
432,000
years |
Age of
Vice |
Black |
Present |
|
Maha
(total) |
4,320,000
years |
AUM |
AUM |
AUM |
Kali Yuga started at midnight of 02/18/3102 BC. These Yugas are
cyclical in nature starting from Krita Yuga. Lord Krishna was on earth by the
end of Dvāpara Yuga. As you notice in the table, Krita Yuga is the
longest, four times longer than Kali Yuga, the Treta Yuga three times longer
and the Dvāpara Yuga is only twice longer.
Brahma's Life
and Times
Brahma’s Life Span: 100 Brahma years (311.04
Trillion person-years.)
Table: The Kalpas
|
Brahma Units |
Kalpa Units |
Man-years |
|
One Day |
1 |
4,320,000,000 (4.32 Billion) |
|
Day and Night |
2 |
8,640,000,000 (8.64 Billion) |
|
1 Month |
60 |
259,200,000,000 (259.2 Billion) |
|
1 Year |
720 |
3,110,400,000,000 (3.1104 Trillion) |
|
100 Years |
72,000 |
311,040,000,000,000 (311.04 Trillion) |
Brahma's day precedes a night of equal
duration. There are two thousand Yugas or periods in Brahma's one day and one
night, which last (4.32 billion years X 2) 8.64 billion person-years. His
one-day (4.32 billion years) consists of one thousand cycles of all four yugas
and there are fourteen manvantaras in one Brahma's day and night. Each
manvantara has its own Manu, Indra, and Rishis. Manvantara means period of Manu
and there are 14 Manus in a Brahma’s day, 5040 Manus in one year and 504,000
Manus in one Brahma's lifetime of 100 Brahma years. Brahma and the attending
Manus and Rishis come and go, but Maha Vishnu remains forever. To restate these
figures in another way, each Manu has his term and power lasting for 71.42857
cycles through a set of four yugas (one Maha Yuga) and in human terms for
306,720,000 years. 306.72 Million or 71.42857 cycles = 4.2941 Million (4.32
Million years a cycle of one Maha Yuga.) Each Manvantara has his own retinue of
descendants, seven Rishis (Sapta Rishis), gods, Indra, and Ghandharvas. It is
like change of administration in Washington, when a new president is sworn in.
When the day's work comes to fruition, Brahma retires for the night with an
infinitesimal amount of soporific called Tamas (One of the Gunas or modes).
When he retires, the whole universe (the three worlds, Bhu, Bhuvah, and Swah)
is absorbed into him. These worlds are consumed by fire emitted by the serpent
God, Lord Sankarsana and the heat is intense and felt in the world above. It
gets so hot in the upper Maharloka, the abode of Bhrgu Muni, that he moves to a
higher and safer location namely Janaloka. The oceans swell and swallow all
three worlds. In the midst of all this devastation, Lord Hari, surrounded and
praised by Sri, Bhu, Rudra, Sanatkumara and others, the usual residents of
Janaloka, reclines on His Snake-bed in the ocean with His eyes closed as
if sleeping and unconcerned, but in reality in meditation and full
awareness (Yoga-Nidra = sleep
meditation with full awareness, one of the Vishnu's Yoga
māyās.)
Brahma is past middle age now. That means
Brahma had been around at least 155 trillion years. In Brahma's life, there are
two halves. In the beginning of the first half, the Lord and the Vedas appeared
in the first millennium of the kalpa called Brahma-kalpa.
The name of next kalpa was Padma-kalpa
because the lotus flower grew out of the navel reservoir of water of Bhagavan
Vishnu. The first millennium of the second half goes by the name Varaha-kalpa,
because the Lord incarnated as a hog. He is now in the second half of his life
and the duration of the two halves of life of Brahma (311.04 trillion years) is
less than one nimesa (less than one second) for the beginningless Lord, the
Soul of the Universe (Vishnu).
When Brahma goes to sleep in the (Brahma's)
night, all planetary systems below his abode, Brahmaloka, are inundated with
water. He dreams about Maha Vishnu who directs Brahma to rejuvenate the
universe again.
8.18:
From Avyaktat, all living entities become manifest at the beginning of
the day. At the arrival of night, they dissolve into the unmanifest.
Avyakta is pluripotential, unmanifested and undifferentiated
stem substance. Avyakta (of Brahma) is another name for Sūkshma
sarīra of Brahma, which is the subtle body. Purusa is above it and the
intermediate substances between avyakta and the manifested world are linear,
cascading, branching and reproducible both forwards and backwards. The process,
named Māyā, is enzymatic and transformational. Avyakta is Prakriti or
matter. The primal matter or stem substance is Ākāsa or Ether.
Prāna is the primal force or the all-purpose energy or enzyme in evolution
of material (Ākāsa) from one substance to another substance or
according to Sankya from the fine to the gross material and conversely. The
following elements explain what is fine and what is gross: Oxygen and hydrogen,
two invisible (fine elements) substances, combine to form invisible substance
water vapor, which in turn condenses into water (gross substance), which in
turn freezes into ice. In projection or evolution, the Ākāsa, the
primal substance of the universe, becomes Prakāra in all its forms (Cit
and Acit, both sentient and insentient forms). The universe of the insentient
and the sentient is made of nine substances, such as earth, water, light, air,
ether (Ākāsa), time, space, soul and mind. This Ākāsa is
(sometimes called) undeveloped, imperishable (aksara) and māyā.
Prāna energizes Akāsa for its evolution. Prāna is more than mere
breath, it is life-breath, it is a force, and it is a phenomenon.
The days and nights of Brahma: Two kalpas,
one in the beginning and one at the end of the first half of life of Brahma
(Brahma and Padma kalpas), marked the first half of Brahma’s life. In Brahma
kalpa, Lord Vishnu taught Brahma the Vedas, at which he became proficient; in
the Padma kalpa, there sprang a lotus bearing all the worlds from the water-laden
navel of Sri Hari (Vishnu). The beginning of Vārāha kalpa marked the
latter half of Brahma’s life, when the Lord incarnated in the form of a boar.
All these kalpas in the time frame of the Lord is a mere fraction of an eye
blink, described here as Nimesah, a second. The Time resides in the Lord and
has no control over Him. Brahma meets his maker at the end his life at the age
of one hundred years. Each celestial being except for Lord Narāyana has a
life span of 100 god-years, which in human terms is of a variable time for each
being. For example, one god-year is equal to 360 person-years. Please do not
confuse god with Lord Vishnu, who is the God of the gods and all living
creatures. Therefore, a god lives for 36,000 person-years or 100 god-years. Brahma
is above the gods and the longest living being except for Lord Narāyana
(Vishnu), and lives for 100 Brahma years equal to 311.04 Trillion person-years.
These 311.04 Trillion person-years is a Nimesah or a second for Lord
Narāyana. The second half of Brahma's life began on 02/18/3102 B.C at
midnight.
8.19:
The host of beings, taking birth again and again dissolves against their
will on the arrival of night O Partha and comes into being on arrival of day.
The day and night referred to here are those
of Brahma; Brahma lives for one hundred Brahma years, after which Brahma dies
and a new Brahma is born. The new Brahma creates Manu, gods, Sapta Rishis,
asuras, human beings, animals, and the universe. At death, the soul going up
the artery from the heart leaves the body from the top of the head, anterior
fontanel area, or brahma-randhra, which is the point of first entry for the
soul. (Anterior fontanel is the soft spot on the head of an infant.)
It is common knowledge the Greater and the
lesser souls live in the spiritual heart, which is on the right chest, though
the soul's point of entry and exit are on the crown. The soul climbs up the
shaft of sun's rays and reaches the sun, when the rising soul is in the “know”
and the one not in the “know” takes other paths and reenters another body by
the anterior fontanel. Katha Upanishad 2.3.16 (That is the unfortunate soul
with a load of karma and without a road map.)
The days and nights of Brahma: Read the
commentary appended to Verse 18, Chapter 8
A note on AbioCor:
Abiomed of Danvers, Mass. makes the new,
totally implantable artificial heart, called the AbioCor. It works on battery
power and has no wires or tubes passing through the skin. The soul reposes in
the spiritual heart on the right side of the chest. This spiritual heart is not
a fleshy organ like the physical heart. The new implantable heart does not
alter anything as far as the individual and the Greater Souls are concerned. It
is unfortunate the first recipient of implantable heart died.
8.20:
But higher than this unmanifested nature, there is another unmanifested
eternal being, which is beyond dissolution, when all beings perish.
Here Krishna refers to Avyakta as the one
higher than the unmanifest namely purusa and Prakriti. Avyakta is unmanifest
and imperishable. There is no day or night in Avyakta; it is eternal
(sānātana).
8.21:
This Avyakta is Aksara. That is the highest and supreme state. Those who
reach My Supreme abode never return to the life of birth and rebirth.
Krishna declares that His abode is beyond and
higher than that of Brahmaloka and that of Purusa and prakriti. Krishna's abode
is higher than Avyakta and Aksara, meaning the Unmanifested and the
Imperishable. Once a devotee reaches Krishna's abode, there is no return to
samsāra. By Bhakti, Prapatti, Saranāgati, and or yogas, a devotee, or
a yogi can attain the abode of Krishna or Isvara or Narāyana.
Spirit was the first entity; It is called a
person. The unmanifest and the imperishable Avyakta come next. The atma Mahan,
the Great Soul of the universe and the firstborn according to Sankara, comes
next. Rg Veda equates Hiranyagarbha with the firstborn and the soul of the
universe. Ramanuja considers Atma Mahan is the individual self and
performer, which is pervaded by the Great Self. The Light (Purusa) acts on
Prakriti, which comes out of Avyakta, and the universe unfolds. Ramanuja
considers that Avyakta is inanimate Prakriti; superior to Avyakta there is an
object of human interest. This Supreme (the most Superior object) is the
Unmanifest and the Pure Knowledge called Pramanas. It means that nobody else
knows this subject or knowledge, which is eternal, enduring, not subject to
origination or annihilation. It is understood only vaguely.
8.22: This Supreme, O Partha, can be gained by
exclusive devotion to Me, in whom all beings exist, and by whom all this is
pervaded.
Brahad-āranyakaUpanishad 2.5.15: This Self is the Lord of all
beings, the king of all beings. The hub holds the spokes of the wheel; the hub
of the Self likewise holds together all beings, all gods, all worlds, all
breathing creatures, all these selves (jivatmas).
8.23: O Best of Bharatas, I will disclose to you
the time when the departing yogis do not return and the time when they do return.
Return
means rebirth.
8.24: The paths of the departing souls, who attain
the Brahman because of Brahman knowledge, are the fire, the day, the bright
half of the month and the six months of sun’s northern passage.
Chāndyogya Upanishad 4.15.5 and 5.10.1-2
The knower of Brahman, at the time of departure, reaches the Brahman by
following the paths of the deities presiding over the fire, the day, the bright
fortnight of the waxing moon and the six months of sun’s northern passage.
These deities take the soul in the fashion of a relay race handing over the
soul to the deity in the next relay station. The light and time are the common
factors; the deities of fire, day, bright fortnight, and six months of sun’s
northern passage travel progressively longer distances, carrying the soul.
Thus, the soul lands in the abode of Brahma for eventual attainment of the
Supreme or returns to the earth in the embodied form. This is the “Path of
Light” for the passage of the souls which are endowed with Brahma knowledge
(Brahma-Vido Jnāna), but not realized knowledge (Vijnāna), possessing
which would have liberated them right here on the earth. He, who practices
austerities and goes on the path of deva-yāna, never takes a birth again
in this world. He, who practices actions and ceremonies with expectation of a
reward, goes on the path of pitr-yāna to the land of the ancestors and
returns to the earth.
8.25: Smoke, night, also the dark (half of the
month), the six months of sun's southern passage are the paths the departing
yogi takes, attains the lunar light, and returns (to earth after a sojourn).
The paths of the departing souls, attached to desires are the smoke,
the night, the dark fortnight, and the six months of sun’s southern passage,
reach the light of the moon and return to earth after a sojourn.
Chāndyogya Upanishad 5.10.3
Again, the deities presiding over the smoke, the night, the dark
fortnight, and the six months of sun’s southern passage take the departed soul
who wallows in desires, in a relay fashion to the light of the moon, where he
resides for a while, but returns to the earth. Once the positive karma from
meritorious deeds is spent, he comes back to the earth in a form that
transforms from one substance to the next substance: space, air, smoke,
moisture, cloud, rain, rice, barley, trees, and plants. The fate of soul
trapped in the plant kingdom depends on the merit of the animal or person who
eats or sows the vegetable matter. From this stage onwards, the soul takes
residence in an animal or a person depending on the deeds.
Chādyogya
Upanishad 5.10.8 says: He, who is wise (Vijnānam) takes the path of the
gods and goes to the gods; he, who works with expectation of a reward, takes
the path of the manes and returns to the earth as a person; he who does neither
continues to ride the wheel of life as animals.
8.26: Light and darkness are the two eternal paths
of this world. By (the former) one, he goes, not to return; by (the latter) the
other, he returns (again).
8.27: A yogi, knowing these two paths, O Partha,
is not deluded. Therefore, O Arjuna, at all times be steady in yoga.
8.28: Knowing all this and going beyond the
studies of Vedas, performance of sacrifices, tapas (austerities), and
charities, which (collectively) result in fruits of merit, the yogi attains the
Supreme eternal abode.
End BG Chapter Eight: Brahman the Imperishable