8.1
Arjuna said, “O Lord, what is Brahman? What is Self? What is karma? What is this material manifestation? What are the demigods?
8.2
Who is the Lord of Sacrifice and how does he live in a body? How can those engaged in spiritual practice know you at the time of death? Please explain these things to me.”
8.3
Lord Krishna said:
The immutable emptiness of the Absolute is called Brahman. The arising of Brahman as life is called Self. The momentum of Creation is called karma.
8.4
Creation is the manifestation of seemingly material appearances, which in actuality have no substance and are forever changing. I am the Universal God and contain all the demigods, like those of the sun and moon. I dwell in the heart of every living being, and thus am Lord of their sacrifices.
8.5
Whoever thinks of Me at the time of death will come to Me when he leaves the body. Of this there is no doubt.
8.6
For whatever a man thinketh of at the moment of death, that he will become after passing.
8.7
Therefore, think of Me — God in the form of Krishna — as you carry out your given duty, which for you, Arjuna, is to fight. Surrender your mind to Me. Dedicate your actions to Me. In this way you will surely come to Me.
8.8
Practice the yoga of meditating on Me. With one-pointed resolve, focus your thoughts on God. When the mind wanders, bring it back. Do this without ceasing and God Consciousness will happen.
8.9
Meditate on God as the Source of Creation. Timelessly ancient, smaller than the nucleus of an atom — He is the sustainer of all beings and forms. Self-luminous like the sun — He is beyond both darkness and light.
8.10
One who, at the time of death, with a stilled mind gained from the practice of yoga, fixes his attention on the point between his eyebrows, and in full devotion remembers the Divine Lord, certainly shall be gathered in by Him.
8.11
There are those who dedicate themselves wholly to renunciation and the study of the Vedas, and who live celibate lives free of passion in order to attain Brahman.
8.12
Closing the lower gates of the body moves one’s mind and thoughts from the body to the heart, and allows one’s life energy to flow upwards to the top of the head. This accelerates one’s yoga practice.
8.13
One who leaves his body while meditating on God and intoning the sacred AUM — whether in sound or thought — will instantly attain the Supreme.
8.14
O Arjuna, to the faithful practitioner who remembers Me without ceasing, I am easily realized.
8.15
Great souls who realize God are no longer subject to the worldly miseries of life and death. They live in perfection.
8.16
From the lowest levels of the material world to the highest celestial planes, all are realms of birth, tribulation and death. But once God Consciousness is realized, one need never again be born on any material plane.
8.17
One day of God is equal to a thousand eons of human time. Similarly, his nights are one thousand eons. One who knows this in himself, knows the truth of night and day.
8.18
At the dawning of God’s day, all beings emanate from the unmanifested Source. At the fall of God’s night, all beings dissolve into the unmanifested Void.
8.19
Over and over this same multitude of beings is manifested at the dawn of God’s day, and again and again helplessly dissolved into nothingness at the fall of God’s night.
8.20
Yet beyond this endless cycle of manifesting and un-manifesting of Creation in time, is the timeless, unchanging solidity of the Eternal Unmanifest. When the Universe of comings and goings is destroyed, the Eternal Unmanifest is untouched.
8.21
The Eternal Unmanifest is my Home. Those who come to Me there, never return to the realm of manifestation.
8.22
This Consciousness of the Most High is only attainable by one-pointed devotion to Me, to Him for whom This is Home.
[The following six verses were probably not part of the original text. They are out of tune with the rest of the Gita, and it is speculated they were added at the end of this chapter by someone with an ulterior purpose. Indeed, this chapter ends more naturally after verse 8.22.]
8.23
O Arjuna, I will now explain to you the times when a mystic departs never to return, and when he again returns to earth.
8.24
Those who pass into death in fire, light, daytime, during the waxing of the moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the north, attain the Absolute right away.
8.25
Those who pass into death in smoke, darkness, nighttime, during the waning of the moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the south, attain lunar light and will be reborn.
8.26
According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world, one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back. When one passes in darkness, he returns.
8.27
The yogi who knows these two paths is not deluded. Therefore, Arjuna, be steadfast in yoga.
8.28
The yogi who knows this gains merit beyond that received for the study of the Vedas, austerities, charitable works, and performances of sacrifices, and he reaches the Supreme Abode.