The Bhagavad Gita (12 page)

23  “The fruits they pray for, however, are ephemeral, perishable (and thus not Real), providing only fleeting satisfaction. Worshipers of these deities of the senses go to them; My devotees come to Me.

24-25  “People of little wisdom do not understand My supreme, immutable existence and thus they think of Me only as a finite figure, a worldly body. They are unable to grasp the transcendent Godhead beyond My human form. I do not reveal Myself to them. Very
few can see through this veil of illusion called
maya
that I hold in front of Me.

26  “Arjuna, My delusive
maya
and I are always comingled. While others are deluded by the appearance of physical ‘reality,’ I am all-knowing. I know every being — past, present, and future — but nobody knows Me completely. If individual souls do not know their own Truth
(Atma),
how are they to know the truth of God, the Cosmic Soul?

27  “Why is it that people do not know this deep truth? Because as soon as they are born they are led to believe that the world around them is ‘real.’ They forget their oneness with Divinity and fall into a pattern of likes and dislikes that gives rise to all sorts of desires, attachments, and aversions. With their nervous systems thus conditioned, their sense of individuality (ego) is reinforced time and time again. It does not dawn on the impure mind preoccupied with ego to make room for devotion to God. Without that devotion it is impossible to see one’s oneness with God.

28  “But those who purify their actions by dedicating them all to the Divine gradually grow less influenced by their own habits and desires. One step at a time, they overcome the lower self, worshiping Me, the One who is not separable.

29  “No matter how strongly you ascribe to the universal delusion that you can avoid pain and only have pleasure in this life (which is utterly impossible), sooner or later you must confront the fact of your inevitable aging and eventual death. Some people, trying to escape the fear of death, come to Me for refuge. Once with Me, they learn of their True Self
(Atma)
and ascertain the nature of Divinity. Therefore, because
death stirs people to seek answers to important spiritual questions, it becomes the greatest servant of humanity, rather than its most feared enemy.

30  “Finally, Arjuna,
yogis
know that it is I, the Godhead (Brahman), the
Adhyatma,
who presides over the entire cosmos, including the physical universe (
adhibhuta
), the deities who serve Divine purposes
(adhidaivas),
and the spirits who handle all sacrifices or offerings
(adhiyajna).

“The wisdom and devotion of these
yogis,
these wise souls, serves them throughout their lives — and especially at the hour of death, the time when most people are scared and confused. That is why spiritual wisdom is so important. These
yogis
truly know their own
Atma
(which is Divinity itself, Me), and so they calmly accept death as a matter of course. Their God-realization is at its zenith when they drop their bodies. At that instant their whole consciousness becomes one withMy Cosmic Consciousness, and they are thus liberated from rebirth.”

1-2  Arjuna says, “Please wait a minute, Krishna. Your words raise several questions in me: Just what precisely is Brahman, the Supreme Godhead, and what is this
Adhyatma
you mentioned? And what is the essential nature of
karma?
What, really, are those other things you referred to —
adhibhuta, adhidaiva,
and
adhiyajna?
I know you alluded to them as spirits or dieties who serve Divine purposes, but what exactly do you mean? And how exactly
are yogis
united with the Godhead at the time of their death?”

  3  Krishna obliges. “You have asked seven questions, Arjuna, some of them rather abstract. Time is running fast, the
war faces us with open jaws, so listen closely. First, Brahman (the Godhead) is My absolute highest nature, vaster than whatever you call vast, omnipresent, immanent everywhere, the Imperishable (indestructible, undying, eternal) Divine.

“Next, the term
Atma
(or
Adhyatma)
is used to indicate the exact same vastness, the earliest Supreme Godhead existing in all individual beings. It cannot be known without great effort.

“Next,
karma
(here meaning action) refers in this context to My original vibrations, the initial actions that brought all creation into existence and keeps it going. (All beings are a part of this
karma
.)

  4  “The prefix
adhi
means the ‘beginning’ or ‘first,’ the ‘original.’ It connects these terms directly with the all-pervasiveness of the primordial Godhead (Brahman).
Adhibhuta
pertains to the earliest, most initial Divinity that exists in the physical universe, and particularly in the elements and thoughts that comprise the individual.
Adhidaiva
refers to the primordial Divinity that dwells in the numerous lesser deities who, as My agents, operate an individual’s body, mind, and senses. The eye is illumined by Surya the Sun god, the hand by Indra, and so forth. And the term
adhiyajna
refers to the earliest Divinity in the act of giving, the primordial spirit of selfless sacrifice that flows throughout creation.

“The point in all this is that Divinity is actually present throughout the universe, in every object, all creatures, and each individual being — and it always has been. Furthermore, this same Divinity exists within each and every activity that all these beings do in daily life — and it has been that way forever.

“Despite the fact that humanity finds numerous ways to separate God from the world, and despite the fact that everything in the world is perishable (including your body, I remind you), know that all of it is totally pervaded by the Imperishable Supreme Divine, which is Me.”

5-6  “Regarding your final question, which is very important, know this: whoever remembers Me at the time of death will no doubt come to Me. That person’s consciousness will merge into My cosmic consciousness.

“This is a universal law, Arjuna. The sum total of all thoughts and feelings during the whole span of your life condense into a single state of mind at the time of your departure from the body. You assume a particular mental makeup at the instant of death. Whatever occupies your attention throughout life will inevitably be your consciousness at the moment you die — and to that realm of consciousness you will go. Then, some time later, that same mental structure is manifested back into the world. This is called the next birth.

  7  “So what should you do? Throughout life, prepare for the death moment. Actually, the moment of death does not mean some future instant in time, it means this very moment! Any moment may be your last, so treat each as the last because your thought at that instant is the foundation on which your next birth is assembled.

“Live in a state of constant spiritual awareness. Do everything for God. Think of the Divine every minute.
Like the street musician who artfully plucks the guitar and at the same time plays the pipes fastened to it, do your earthly duties well, but simultaneously be aware at every moment of the Godhead. Do your duty, Arjuna, fight, but do it with your mind and heart fixed on Me. Then you will surely come to Me.

  8  “The well-practiced mind does not wander after anything else. Through constant practice
(abhyasa yoga)
living becomes a lifelong meditation on the Divine. Then, no matter what you may be doing, you are imbibing godly tendencies. This becomes a habit of the mind. Educate your mind to this habit. This is how one finds God and goes to God.

  9  “The Divine knows everything. The Divine is the intelligence behind the functioning of the entire cosmos, the Sovereign Ruler who designates the structure and working of the universe. The Divine is subtler than the subtle and yet the support of all; It is inconceivable, incomprehensible, as bright and unchanging as the sun, beyond the darkness of ignorance, above illusion. The Divine is the First Cause. Before Divinity there was nothing.

10  “Remember the Divine this way at the time of death. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of this. When it comes time to depart your body, still your mind completely; draw your life force utterly into the center of your spiritual awareness (between the eyebrows). In this way you will reach Divinity.

11  “I will now tell you of the supreme goal, the eternal state that is deathless, the imperishable, indestructible state that all scriptures point to, which is beyond death and rebirth. This state can be entered only by self-controlled people untainted by worldly desires.

12-13  “At the time of death, one should close down the gates of the senses, place the mind in the shrine of the (spiritual) heart, focus all life-force energy upwards to the center of consciousness between the eyebrows, and repeat the syllable
Om,
which represents Me, Brahman, the Supreme Godhead.

“It is not just the outer sound of
Om
that is beneficial; it is what happens inside. The act of vocalizing this sound helps focus your thoughts single-pointedly on the One, on God. When you are absorbed in repeating this syllable, which is in essence the Divine name, you are concentrating on the Divine — and then you will achieve the supreme goal, Divinity. As the river enters the ocean, your individual consciousness
(Atma)
flows into the Cosmic Consciousness, Brahman.

14  “Arjuna, in a sense this is the very essence of My 14 teachings. The easy way to merge with Me, Brahman, is to constantly, steadfastly, relentlessly remember Me always, at every moment of your life! In this way you are ever prepared for your end. One’s next birth depends on how one’s death takes place. The point is not to hope for a good birth but to aim for a good death.

15  “This world is transitory and full of suffering. Those 15 great souls who have perfected their lives and come to Me are no longer subject to rebirth into yet another lifetime. Avoid birth and you avoid death.”

16  “The levels of existence beyond death are known 16 as the
lokas
(worlds). The highest among them is
Brahma-loka.
All of these worlds and all the beings that inhabit them, from
Brahma-loka
downward, are
subject to rebirth, including Brahma Himself (not Brahman — Brahma, the aspect of God that acts as the creator). But the one who climbs beyond these middle planes and reaches Me, the Absolute state, knows no rebirth.

“One gets what one is worthy of, Arjuna. Those who do not advance past the notion of heaven and hell commit themselves to the intermediate worlds and tie themselves to death and rebirth.

17-19  “Contemplate the cosmic standard of time and creation. When Brahma the creator wakes up at the dawn of each cosmic day, this entire universe and all creatures in it are instantly manifested, only to be dissolved back into the unmanifested (formless) at Brahma’s cosmic nightfall. But each cosmic day and night of Brahma lasts thousands
of yugas,
and
each yuga
lasts 10,000 to 400,000 years; the time is all but incomprehensible to humans. In succeeding days and nights of Brahma, the same multitude of beings helplessly come to birth and death again and again as the physical universe continues its expanding and contracting.

“This eternal cosmic play is the same in the microcosm of the individual soul as it is in the cosmos. When an individual goes to sleep, the entire world his or her mind experiences as ‘real’ withdraws, only to ‘come alive’ again at waking.”

20  “But beyond even the mysterious, unmanifested state into which all beings dissolve at cosmic nightfall, there is another unmanifested reality. It is Brahman, the Godhead, the Thing-in-Itself that is beyond time, that does not perish even when existence itself dissolves!

21  “It is this eternal, absolute Thing-in-Itself that is the ultimate goal. I am That, Arjuna. All those who come to this ultimate home come to Me, never again to be separate, never again to return.

22  “The only way to reach this immortal state is through love, through unswerving devotion to Me (the Divine) alone. As the individual wave does not have any existence independent of the sea, the separate soul does not have any real existence apart from Me, the Universal Soul.

23-25“There are two paths for the individual soul: to freedom from death-rebirth, or to bondage. The former is allegorically the ‘Northern’ path, which here indicates the way of light and brightness of day, symbolically a cloudless sky. This leads selfless souls (those who are free of ignorance and egoism) to the supreme Godhead. The other is the ‘Southern’ path, here meaning the way of darkness or the path of smoke or fog. This leads selfish souls (the ignorant, egoistic ones) to the lesser light of the moon and chains them to the darkness of rebirth and death.