THE HOLY GITA
CHAPTER NUMBER 08
AKSHARA BRAHMA YOGA OR THE YOGA OF THE IMPERISHABLE BRAHMAN:
VERSE NUMBER 23, 24, 25 and 26
Verse Number 23
Text in Transliteration:
yatra kale tv anaavrttim aavrttim chai ‘va yogainah
prayaataa yaanti tam kaalam vakshyaami bharata rshabha
Text in English:
Now I shall tell you, O the best of the Bharatas, the time in which the yogis depart never to return and also the time in which they depart to return.
Verse Number 24
Text in Transliteration:
agnir jyotir ahah sukla shanmaasaa uttaraayanam
tatra prayaataa gacchanti brahma brahmavido janaah
Text in English:
Fire, light, day-time, the bright half of the moon, and the six months of northern path of the sun, then going forth, the knowers of Brahman go to Brahman.
Verse Number 25
Text in Transliteration:
dhoomo raatris tathaa krshnah shanmaasaa dakshinaayanam
tatra chaandramasam joytir yogee praapya nivartate
Text in English:
Smoke, night, the dark half of the moon, and the six months of the southern passage of the sun, then going forth, the yogi obtains the lunar light and returns.
Verse Number 26
Text in Transliteration:
suklakrshne gatee hy ete jagatah saasvate mate
ekayaa yaaty anaavrittim anyayaa ‘vartate punah
Text in English:
The bright and the dark, these paths are deemed to be the world’s eternal paths; by the one a man goes, not to return, by the other he returns again.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIDBHAVANANDA FOR THE VERSES 23 TO 26:
What is contained in these three stanzas (verses 24 to 26) is a matter for thought. The Jivatmas (the human beings) transmigrating through death pass along two paths known as devayaana and pitryaana. They are described as the path of light and the path of smoke respectively. The former is bright and the latter dark. The one leads the soul to regions higher and the other keeps him lingering and lagging long behind. A literal meaning of these stanzas leads us into a ludicrous impossibility. Fire and light are held to take the departing soul upward. There is no difficulty whatsoever in creating this favourable environment to a dying soul. If this situation ensures an upward progress, ethical and spiritual endeavours become superfluous, which is absurd. It is further stated that he who dies in the day-time progresses and he who dies at night lags behind. But day-time can easily be created to a dying soul in these days with the help of an aeroplane. This means that man’s spiritual progress depends on the physical amenities he is able to command, which is also absurd. The northern path of the sun is held auspicious because of its warmth and brightness to those living in countries to the north of the equator. But by air transport to Australia and South America during the southern path of the sun, a dying man on the northern hemisphere can be placed in a favourable situation for his taking to the path of light. The dark half of the moon is the only natural event which man cannot counteract. But reason revolts against the belief that the exit of man from the earth during one fortnight aids his upward march and that the other hinders it. The attainments of the departing souls also do not warrant this position. Man having conquered time, space and causation to a great extent, these factors in nature cannot in any way contribute to his taking to the path of light or that of smoke.
The two paths mentioned here are the allegorical expressions of the paths of knowledge and ignorance. The soul pursuing the path of knowledge gets progressively into the brilliance of Atman. That other soul which is steeped in ignorance stagnates and deteriorates. Death is the indicator of the attainments of a soul in the span of a life. As a lamp brightens up just at the last moment of its becoming extinguished, a man pursuing the path of knowledge gets into the clarity of awareness while leaving the body. The intensity of the awareness is compared with fire, light, day-time, the bright path of the sun. Contrary to it, the darkness of the ignorance in the other man becomes increasingly enshrouded as is mentioned herein. Blessed are they who pursue the path of light in their succeeding briths, till the goal is reached.
COMMENTARY BY DR.S.RADHAKRISHNAN:
FOR VERSE 25
Our dead ancestors (pitris) are said to live in the world of the moon and remain there till the time of their return to earth.
FOR VERSE 26
Life is a conflict between light and darkness. The former makes for release and the latter for rebirth. The author here uses an old eschatological belief to illustrate a great spiritual truth, that those who are lost in the night of ignorance go by the path of ancestors and are subject to rebirth and those who live in the day of illumination and tread the path of knowledge obtain release from rebirth.
COMMENTARY BY SWAMI SIVANANDA:
For Verse 23
I shall declare to you, O Prince of the Baratas, the time at which if the Yogis leave their body they will not be born again; and also when if they die they will be born again.
To return means ‘to be born again’.
For Verse 24
This is the Uttara-Marga or Devayana, the northern path of light, by which the Yogis go to Brahman. This path leads to salvation. It takes the devotee to Brahmaloka. The six months of the northern solstice is from the middle of January to the middle of July. It is regarded as the better period for death. There is a vivid description in the Chhandogya Upanishad, the Kaushitaki Upanishad and the Brahma Sutras chapter IV .3 and 4, ii 18 and 21.
“On the road beginning with light (the departed soul proceeds), on account of that being widely known.”
“Having reached the path of the gods he comes to the world of Agni (fire), to the world of Vayu (air), to the world of Varuna (rain), to the world of Indra (king of the gods), to the world of Prajapati(the Creator), to the world of Brahman.”
“They go to the light, from light to day, from day to the waxing half of the moon, from the waxing half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the north, from those months to the year, from the year to the sun.”
“When the person goes away from this world he comes to Vayu ( air ). Then Vayu makes room for him like the hole of a wheel and through it he mounts higher. He comes to the sun.”
“From the moon to the lightning; there a person that is not human leads him to Brahman.”
Time is here used in the sense of path or the stage on the path. ‘Fire’ and ‘light’ are the deities who preside over time. ‘Day-time’ is the deity who presides over the day. The bright fortnight is the deity presiding over it. The ‘six months of the northern solstice’ is the deity who presides over the northern path.
This is the path of illumination that leads to liberation.
The life-breaths of the liberated sages who have attained knowledge of the Self do not depart. They are absorbed in Brahman. The Jivanmuktas who attain Kaivaly-Moksha or immediate salvation or liberation have no place to go to or return from. They become one with the all-pervading Brahman.
Each step may mean a plane or state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. The more the purity the more the divine light. There are bright objects throughout the course of the path. There is illumination or knowledge when one passes along this path. Hence it is called the path of light. After Bhishma was mortally wounded, he lay on the bed of arrows till the onset of the northern solstice and then departed from here to the Abode of the Lord.
FOR VERSE 25
This is the Pitriyana or the path of darkness of the path of the ancestors which leads to rebirth. Those who do sacrifices to the gods and other charitable works with expectation of reward go to the Chandraloka through this path and come back to this world when the fruits of the Karmas are exhausted.
‘Smoke’, ‘night time’, ‘the dark fortnight’ and ‘the six months of the southern solstice’ are all deities who preside over them. They may denote the degree of ignorance, attachment and passion. There are smoke and dark-coloured objects throughout the course. There is no illumination when one passes along this path. It is reached by ignorance. Hence it is called the path of darkness or smoke.
FOR VERSE 26
The bright path is the path to the gods taken by the devotees. The dark path is of the manes taken by those who perform sacrifices or charitable acts with the expectation of rewards. These two paths are not open to the whole world. The bright path is open to the devotees and the dark one to those who are devoted to the rituals. These paths are as ‘eternal’ as the Samsara.
World here means devotees or people devoted to ritual.
Pitriloka or Chandraloka is Svarga or heaven.
Comments by the blogger:
Swami Sidbhavananda, Dr.S.Radhakrishnan and Swami Sivananda are of the same opinion with regard to the Verses 24, 25 and 26. After giving a detailed account of the relevant portions of the Brahma Sutra, Swami Sivananda says in his commentary to verse 24 says, “Each step may mean a plane or state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. Dr.S.Radhakrishnan says, “The author here uses an old eschatological belief to illustrate a great spiritual truth,...” Swami Sidbhavananda says a literal interpretation of these three verses would lead to absurd results.
All the three agree that the great truth is clothed in allegorical expressions.
That said, I think it would be relevant here to say a few words about what I read in an article I read long back in “Reader’s Digest”.
There is something as clinical death. That is when a person is announced to be dead clinically in a nursing home by concerned doctors. There are occasions when some persons clinically pronounced to be dead come back to life and then lead a ‘normal’ and after their convalescent period!
The article I am speaking about dealt with many interviews with such persons who had been clinically pronounced to be dead by concerned doctors but miraculously came back to life.
All the persons interviewed agreed on one point and that was that they, after having been pronounced to be dead, went through a passage. They mean they were conscious of going through a passage. Some said the passage was dark. While others said the passage was filled with light. But all went through a passage. And at the end of the passage, they went to a place filled with light. And the light was not bright in terms we understand on earth. It was extra bright but they were not blinded by the light. They went with a shadow of their real-life form.
And all said in one voice that they were met by God who was made of extra bright light. Without oral words, a highlight of the important events was shown for the person’s benefit. In which all the major good and bad things he or she had done on earth were gone through. That there were even jocular moments with the Lord when the highlights were shown! And then it was decided by God that they had not exhausted the time given to them. And then they were given a good by and sent back. And when such clinically dead persons returned back from that bright spot, it was once again through a passage either of darkness or light.
The interviewees in this article belonged to various places and they were separately interviewed. When they returned back to the earth’s plane, there was a sharp intake of breath on the part of the “dead bodies” as per the accounts of personnel attending to them or around the place in the nursing homes.
So from this, we may conclude the three able Commentators are correct. That high spiritual truth is couched in the old eschatological belief.
Moreover, the Lord addresses Arjuna at the very start as, “O Best of Bharatas” in verse 23. There is much significance in that. You are, Arjuna, the best of the Bharats and you should be able to understand the truth couched in allegory. Because the Lord has called Arjuna in verse 22 as Partha, which means ‘son of Pritha or Kunti’ by which the Lord meant even an ordinary average man and woman born of a woman’s womb can understand that the Supreme Purusha is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone. He could have called Arjuna O Partha, or Mahabhahu.
No, He addresses Arjuna as “O Best of Bharatas” The Bharata race itself is the best on earth. And Arjuna is the Best of such Bharatas! So he could plow through the maze of beautiful allegory and arrive at the truth.
Somehow it has always been the custom of the Lord, and great writers that they would not state the great truth in simple and straight words. It is as though they expect the recipient to have the spiritual wherewithal to understand the allegorical truth. It is not the first time the Lord has used allegory in Gita and not the last. We shall see more such allegories in future.
He tests us. He tests our faith. It is as if He would not give it straight to the underserved!
So we should have shradha or Faith of singular nature in the Lord and His words. Otherwise, Gita could be a book of conundrums! But for those who are endowed with faith and devotion, the truth will not be far to seek.
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