Bhishma Parva

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 31 Mar 2010 12:43 and updated at 31 Mar 2010 13:54

MAHABHARATA, BOOK 06: BHISHMA PARVA

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Section 32

XXXII Bhagavad Gita Chapter VIII Arjuna said, What is that Brahman, what is Adhyatma, what is action, O best of male beings? What also has been said to be Adhibhuta, and what is called Adhidaiva? Who is here Adhiyajna, and how, in this body, O slayer of Madhu?

And how at the time of departure art thou to be known by those that have restrained their self, The Holy One said, Brahman is the Supreme and indestructible. Adhyatma is said to be its own manifestation. The offering to any godhead in a sacrifice which causeth the production and development of all, this is called action Remembering me alone in his last moments, he that, casting off his body, departeth hence, cometh into my essence. There is no doubt in this. Whichever form of godhead one remembereth when one casteth off, at the end, his body, unto that one he goeth, O son of Kunti, having habitually meditated on it always. Therefore, think of me at all times, and engage in battle. Fixing thy mind and understanding on me, thou wilt, without doubt, come even to me. Thinking of the Supreme with a mind not running to other objects and endued with abstraction in the form of uninterrupted application, one goeth, O son of Pritha, unto the Divine and Supreme male Being.

He who at the time of his departure, with a steady mind, endued with reverence, with power of abstraction, and directing the life-breath called Prana between the eye-brows, thinketh of that ancient seer, who is the ruler of all, who is minuter than the minutest atom, who is the ordainer of all, who is inconceivable in form, and who is beyond all darkness, cometh unto that Divine and Supreme Male Being, I will tell thee in brief about that seat which persons conversant with the Vedas declare to be indestructible, which is entered by ascetics freed from all longings, and in expectation of which people practise the vows of Brahmacharins. Casting off this body, he who departeth, stopping up all the doors, confining the mind within the heart, placing his own life-breath called Prana between the eye-brows, resting on continued meditation, uttering this one syllable Om which is Brahman, and thinking of me, attaineth to the highest goal He who always thinketh of me with mind ever withdrawn from all other objects, unto that devotee always engaged on meditation, I am, O Partha, easy of access. High-souled persons who have achieved the highest perfection, attaining to me, do not incur re-birth which is the abode of sorrow and which is transient, All the worlds, O Arjuna, from the abode of Brahman downwards have to go through a round of births, on attaining to me, however, O son of Kunti, there is no re-birth They who know a day of Brahman to end after a thousand Yugas, and a night of his to terminate after a thousand Yugas are persons that know day and night On the advent of Brahman's day everything that is manifest springeth from the unmanifest; and when his night cometh, into that same which is called unmanifest all things disappear. That same assemblage of creatures, springing forth again and again, dissolveth on the advent of night, and springeth forth again, O son of Pritha, when day cometh, constrained by the force of action, etc. There is, however, another entity, unmanifest and eternal, which is beyond that unmanifest, and which is not destroyed when all the entities are destroyed. It is said to be unmanifest and indestructible.

They call it the highest goal, attaining which no one hath to come back. That is my Supreme seat. That Supreme Being, O son of Pritha, He within whom are all entities, and by whom all this is permeated, is to be attained by reverence undirected to any other object. I will tell thee the times, O bull of Bharata's race, in which devotees departing from this life go, never to return, or to return. The fire, the Light, the day, the lighted fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice, departing from here, the persons knowing Brahma go through this path to Brahma Smoke, night, also the dark-fortnight and the six months of the southern solstice, departing through this path, devotee, attaining to the lunar light, returneth. The bright and the dark, these two paths, are regarded to be the eternal two paths of the universe. By the one, one goeth never to return; by the other, one going cometh back. Knowing these two paths, O son of Pritha, no devotee is deluded. Therefore, at all times, be endued with devotion, O Arjuna.

The meritorious fruit that is prescribed for the study of the Vedas, for sacrifices, for ascetic austerities and for gifts, a devotee knowing all this that hath been said here, attaineth to it all, and also attaineth the Supreme and Primeval seat'

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