GG 8 Attaining the Supreme

Gītār Gān

GG 7 Knowledge of the Absolute - GG 9 The Most Confidential Knowledge

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Chapter 8
Attaining the Supreme

arjun kahilen:

brahma kimbā adhyātma ki karma puruṣottama

adhibhūta adhidaiva kaha tāra krama

Text 1: Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities? What is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me.

adhiyajña kivā sei he madhusūdan

kibhāve tomāke pāy prayāṇa yakhan

Text 2: Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body, O Madhusūdana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You at the time of death?

śrī-bhagavān kahilen:

akṣay vināś nāi ataev brahma

āmi bhagavān sejanya parama-brahma

paramātmā ār ye bhagavān

sei ye parama-tattva sei brahma-jñān

karma se kāraṇ jaḍa śarīra visarga

bhūtombhava yār nām śuna tār varga

Text 3: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal nature is called adhyātma, the self. Action pertaining to the development of the material bodies of the living entities is called karma, or fruitive activities.

padārtha ye adhibhūta kṣara bhāva nām

virāṭa puruṣa sei adhidaiva nām

antaryāmī āmi sei adhiyajña nām

yata dehī āche tār hṛde mor dhām

Text 4: O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature, which is constantly changing, is called adhibhūta (the material manifestation). The universal form of the Lord, which includes all the demigods, like those of the sun and moon, is called adhidaiva. And I, the Supreme Lord, represented as the Supersoul in the heart of every embodied being, am called adhiyajña (the Lord of sacrifice).

ataev antakāle āmāre smariyā

yebā cali yāy ei śarīra chāḍiyā

se pāy āmāra bhāv amara se hay

niścaya-i kahinu ei nāhita saṁśay

Text 5: And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body remembering Me alone at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

ye yei smaraṇa kare jīva anta kāle

ye-bhāve se tyāje nija jaḍa kalevare

sei sei bhāva yukta tatta lābha kare

he kounteya! thāki sadā sei bhāva ghare

Text 6: Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kuntī, that state he will attain without fail.

ataeva tumi sadā āmāke smaribe

kāyamana buddhi sab āmāke arpibe

sebhābe thākile more pāibe niścay

āmāte arpita man yadi asaṁśay

Text 7: Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the forrn of Kṛṣṇa and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will attain Me without doubt.

kaṭhina nahe ta' ei abhyāsa karile

manke anyatra sadā nāhi yete dile

he pārtha se-bhāve cinti parama puruṣe

niścaya-i pāibe tumi deha avaśeṣe

Text 8: He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha, is sure to reach me.

parama puruṣa dhyān          śunaha tāhāra jñān,

sarvajña tini se sanātana

niyantā se ati sūkṣma,          vidhātā se antarīkṣa,

agocara jaḍa buddhi mana

ye jan smaraṇa kare,          nitya sei puruṣere

ādityera nyāy svaprakāśa

prakṛtir parapāre,          ye jāne se vidhātāre

svarāṭ tini cid vilāsa

Text 9: One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.

acal manete yevā,          prayāṇa-kālete kivā,

bhakti-yukta haye yoga-vale

bhrur madhye rākhi prāṇ,          yadi hay se smaraṇ

divya puruṣa tāhāre mile

Text 10: One who, at the time of death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and, by the strength of yoga, with an undeviating mind, engages himself in remembering the Supreme Lord in full devotion, will certainly attain to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

veda-jñānī ye akṣar,          lābhe hay tatpar

yāhāte praviṣṭa hay yatigaṇ

vītarāg brahmacārī,          sadā ācaraṇa kari,

se tathya bali śuna vivaraṇ

Text 11: Persons who are learned the in Vedas, who utter the oṁkāra and who are great sages in the renounced order enter into Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one practices celibacy. I shall now briefly explain to you this process by which one may attain salvation.

samasta indriya dvār,          ruddha hayeche yār,

viṣayete anāsakti nām

manke nirodh kari,          hṛdayete sthir kari,

yei jan hayeche niṣkām

prāṇke bhrur mājhe,          yogya sei yogī-sāje,

samartha yog dhāraṇe sei

Text 12: The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and the life air at the top of the head, one establishes himself in yoga.

oṁkāra akṣara brahma,          uccāraṇe yei brahma,

āmāke smaraṇa kare yei

se yāy śarīra chāḍi,          vaikuṇṭha vihārī hari,

samān lokete hay vās

sei se paramā gati,          śrīhari caraṇe rati,

dhanya tār paramārtha āś

Text 13: After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable oṁ, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly reach the spiritual planets.

ye yogī ananya citta,          āmāke smaraye nitya,

dṛḍhatār saha avirām

tāhāra sulabha āmi,          he pārtha jānaha tumi,

nitya yoge tāhāra viśrām

Text 14: For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am very easy to obtain, O son of Pṛthā, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.

āmāke lābh kare se mahātmā hay

nahe tār punarjanma yethā duḥkhālay

aśāśvata saṁsārete nahe tāra sthiti

paramā gatite tār siddha avasthiti

Text 15: After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.

caturdaśa bhuvanete yata lok hay

brahmalok paryanta se nitya keha nay

se sab lokete sthān gamanā-gaman

sakala lokete āche janama-maraṇ

bhaktira āśray yevā āmāke ye pāy

kevala tāhāra mātra punarjanma nay

Text 16: 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 Kuntī, never takes birth again.

manuṣer sahasra ye caturyug yāy

brahmāra se ekadin kariyā gaṇay

seirūp ekarātri brahmāra gaṇana

rātri-dina brahmāra ye karaha manana

Text 17: By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahmā's one day. And such also is the duration of his night.

sei rātri abasāne avyakta haite

vyakta hay e trilok brahmāra dinete

ābāra se rātri-kāle haibe pralay

avyakta haite janma avyakte milāy

Text 18: At the beginning of Brahmā's day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged into the unmanifest again.

carācara yāhā kichu sei udbhav pralay

punaḥ punaḥ janma ār punaḥ punaḥ kṣay

Text 19: Again and again, when Brahmā's day arrives, all living entities come into being. And with the arrival of Brahmā's night they are helplessly annihilated.

tāhāra upare yei bhāvera nirṇay

sanātan sei dhām akṣaya avyay

sakala sṛṣṭira nāṣ e jagate hay

sanātana dhām nahe haibe pralay

Text 20: Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.

sei se avyakta nām 'akṣara' tāhār

jīvera se gati nām paramā yāhār

se gati haile lābh nā āse phiriyā

āmāra se nitya dhām saṁsāra jiniyā

Text 21: That which the Vedāntists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns—that is My supreme abode.

parama-puruṣa sei nitya dhāme vās

he pārtha! ananya bhakti tāhāra prayāsa

tṅāhār-i antarete hay samasta jagata

antaryāmī se puruṣa sarvatra vistṛta

Text 22: The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated within Him.

ye kālete anāvṛtti yogīra sambhav

balitechi śuna tāhā bharata ṛṣabh

Text 23: O best of the Bhāratas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogī does or does not come back.

brahmavit puruṣa ye jyoti śubhadine

uttarāyaṇa kālete karile prayāṇe

brahma-lābh haya tār anāvṛtti gati

karmīra jñānīra sei sādhāraṇa mati

Text 24: Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain that Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment of the day, during the fortnight of the waxing moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the north.

tārā iṣṭāpūrti karme rātri kṛṣṇa-pakṣe

dhūm vā dakṣiṇāyana candra jyoti lakṣe

mārga sei āśrayete punarāgaman

karma-yogī nāhi kare brahma-nirūpaṇ

Text 25: The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun passes to the south reaches the moon planet but again comes back.

ataev dui mārga śukla kṛṣṇa nām

śāśvata ye dui path hai vartamān

śukla-mārge yār gati tār anāvṛtti

kṛṣṇa-mārge yār gati se āvṛtti

Text 26: According to Vedic opinion, 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; but when one passes in darkness, he returns.

kintu pārtha bhakta mor dui mārga jāni

mohaprāpta nāhi hay bhakti-yog māni

ataev he arjun! more nitya smara

bhakti-yog-yukta hao kabhu nā pāsara

Text 27: Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.

vedādi śāstrete yāhā,          yajña tapa dān tāhā,

puṇya-phal yāhā se pradiṣṭa

se yog ye avalambe,          pāy tāhā avilambe,

samyaka bujhiyā nija iṣṭa

Text 28: A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austere sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. Simply by performing devotional service, he attains all these, and at the end he reaches the supreme eternal abode.

bhaktivedānta kahe śrī-gītāra gān

śune yadi śuddha bhakta kṛṣṇagata-prāṇ

Thus Bhaktivedānta sings the song of Śrī Gītā, with the hope that hearing this, Kṛṣṇa conscious pure devotees will be pleased.

Gītār Gān

GG 7 Knowledge of the Absolute - GG 9 The Most Confidential Knowledge