Stories of the Great Bharata - A Retelling

Arc 2 - Bhagavad Gītā Parva - Chapter 13 - The Yoga of the Imperishable Brahman (Bhagavad Gītā VIII)

Akṣara–Brahma Yoga

Vaiśampāyana said:

When Arjuna had heard of the threefold manifestation—Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña—his mind grew eager for clarity. Then upon that sacred plain, Śrī Bhagavān, the Eternal Witness, revealed to him the mystery of the imperishable Self and the path beyond return.

Arjuna said:

“What is that Brahman, O Lord of Lords,

What is this Self within?

What is called action, mighty One,

That binds the souls of men?

“Tell me of Adhibhūta, too,

Of Adhidaiva, and of Thee

As Adhiyajña here in flesh—

How know Thee at life’s end, O Keśava, free?”

The Imperishable and Its Manifestation

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“The Supreme, indestructible,

That is called Brahman’s name;

Its self-manifesting power within—

That Adhyātma men proclaim.

“The act that causes birth and growth,

The sacred giving, sacrifice—

This, O Arjuna, know as karma—

The cosmic wheel of life.”

Vaiśampāyana said, “The Lord here defines the triad: the eternal Absolute (Brahman), Its self-revealing consciousness within all beings (Adhyātma), and the great motion of creation and offering (karma).”

Remembrance at Death

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“Whoso remembers Me alone

When casting off his mortal frame,

Cometh to Me, O Pṛthā’s son—

Of this there is no doubt or shame.

“Whatever form a man recalls

When he resigns this clay,

To that he goeth, son of Kuntī,

Steeped in thought that way.

“Therefore remember Me in all,

And yet perform thy fight;

Mind and reason fixed on Me,

Thou shalt attain My light.”

The thought at death crowns the thought of life. He who holds the Lord as his last remembrance attains to Him, for death reveals only what the heart has served.

The Yogin at the Final Hour

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“He who in his latest breath,

With steadfast heart and reverent soul,

Fixes life’s current ‘twixt the brows

And thinks on Me, attains the goal—

“That Ancient Seer, the Ruler all,

Smaller than the smallest known,

Ordainer of the moving worlds,

Beyond all darkness, all alone.”

When prāṇa is drawn upward through the central path, and the mind clings to the Immutable, the yogin transcends form and merges in the Supreme Puruṣa—“the Divine Male Being.”

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The Path of the Ascetic Soul

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“Now I will tell thee briefly, friend,

Of that seat indestructible—

By Vedic knowers hymned in faith,

By chaste ascetics sought and full.

“Closing all the gates of sense,

Confine the mind within the heart;

Lift prāṇa to the brow’s bright space,

And still all motion’s part.

“Then utter the syllable, One and whole—

Om, the Eternal Brahman’s sound;

Thinking on Me, departing thus,

He gains the Supreme beyond.”

This verse describes the science of dying consciously—the Yoga of the Last Thought. The sacred sound Om, held in unbroken remembrance, becomes the bridge from the transient to the deathless.

The Easy Path of Devotion

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“To him whose mind is fixed on Me,

Who turns to none beside,

To such a steadfast devotee

I am an easy guide.

“They who reach Me, perfected souls,

Return no more to birth;

They gain that changeless, deathless state

Beyond all sorrow’s earth.”

Those united to Śrī Bhagavān through love and remembrance need no other ritual; His presence carries them beyond the mortal shore.

The Day and Night of Brahmā

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“From Brahmā’s height down to the lowest,

All worlds repeat their birth;

But reaching Me, O son of Kuntī,

Is no return to earth.

“A day of Brahmā is a thousand ages,

His night another thousand told;

In day all beings forth arise,

In night they sink to unmanifest hold.

“Again and yet again they spring,

Compelled by action’s tide;

But beyond this unmanifest

There lies the changeless side.”

The cosmic ages—kalpas—measure the pulse of creation. Yet beyond this rhythmic birth and death stands the eternal, unmanifest reality untouched by time.

The Supreme, Unmanifest Goal

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“Beyond the unmanifest there shines

Another, everlasting sphere;

Unfading, called the Highest Goal—

None, reaching that, comes here.

“That is My seat supreme, O prince,

My being vast and pure;

All worlds within Me rest and move—

By Me they still endure.

“To Him the wise devote their heart,

Unwavering, one-pointed, true;

In Him they live, by Him are filled,

And unto Him they go anew.”

Beyond the cycles of birth and dissolution lies the Akṣara Brahman, the indestructible Self. It is the home of the liberated, the heart of Śrī Bhagavān Himself.

The Two Eternal Paths

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“Now hear the ancient paths of souls—

The bright that leads, the dark that veils.

The fire, the light, the northern way,

Conducts where no return prevails.

“Smoke, night, the dark fortnight’s span,

The southern course of sun—

These lead to the lunar gleam,

Whence souls return, their course undone.

“The bright and dark, these dual ways,

Forever through the ages run;

By one the yogin ne’er returns,

By one he comes again, O son.”

The Lord here reveals the mystic uttarāyaṇa and dakṣiṇāyana—symbolic of paths of knowledge and ignorance. The soul’s direction at death reflects its inner light.

The Devotee Beyond All Delusion

Śrī Bhagavān said:

“Knowing these paths of light and shade,

The yogin is no more misled;

Therefore at all times, O Arjuna,

Be steadfast, full of faith instead.

“What fruits the Vedas, gifts, and rites

And austerities ordain—

The steadfast yogin, knowing this,

Gains all—and Me to gain.”

The Lord concludes: all disciplines—sacrifice, study, and penance—culminate in devotion. To know the Eternal is to inherit every reward and transcend all limitation.

Vaiśampāyana said:

Thus ended the Eighth Chapter, the Akṣara–Brahma Yoga, the Yoga of the Imperishable.

Having heard of the deathless state, the cycles of creation, and the two eternal ways, Arjuna bowed in awe before Śrī Bhagavān, whose compassion knows no end.

O King Janamejaya, this is the sacred dialogue where death was taught as gateway, not as end—where remembrance became immortality, and the word Om revealed the heart of the Supreme.