Bhagavad Gita · 8.3 · Path of the Eternal God·3 of 28
श्री भगवानुवाच अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते।भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥
śhrī bhagavān uvācha akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo
’dhyātmam uchyate bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ
Sanskrit recitation
What you remember at the end · 8.1–8.13 · Teaching
Translation
The Blessed Lord said, "Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme; its essential nature is called Self-knowledge; the offering (to the gods) that causes the existence and manifestation of beings and sustains them is called action."
Meaning
Brahman is imperishable, immutable, eternal, selfexistent, selfluminous, unchanging and allpervading. It is the source, root and womb of everything. In It all beings that are manifested live, move and have their very being. Hence, It is Paramam, the Supreme and Akshara.Its essential nature or Svabhava is Adhyatma. Brahmans dwelling in each individual body as the innermost Self (the Pratyagatma) is called Adhyatma. Yajnavalkya (a great sage of the Upanishadic period) said O Gargi Heaven and earth stand upheld in their places. The Brahmanas call this (Brahman) the Akshara (the imperishable). It is neither red nor white It is not shadow, not darkness, nor air, not ehter, without adhesion, without smell, without eyes, without ears, without speech, without mind, without light, without breath, without a mouth or door, without measures, having nothing within and nothing outside It. It does not consume anything, nor does anyone consume It. Akshara is the Supreme Brahman only.Akshara here does not mean the holy word Om, or the Avyakta (the unmanifested source of all that is in Nature). There is Laya (absorption) for Om. There is destruction for the unmanifested Nature also
After Swami Sivananda
What you remember at the end· 8.1–8.13→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 8.1Arjuna said, "What is Brahman? What is Adhyatma? What is action, O best among men? What is Adhibhuta declared to be? And, what is Adhidaiva said to be?"
- 8.2Who and how is Adhiyajna here in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? And how, at the time of death, are You to be known by the self-controlled?
8.3The Blessed Lord said, "Brahman is the Imperishable, the Supreme; its essential nature is called Self-knowledge; the offering (to the gods) that causes the existence and manifestation of beings and sustains them is called action."
- 8.4Adhibhuta—knowledge of the elements—pertains to My perishable nature, and the Purusha, or the Soul, is the Adhidaiva; I alone am the Adhiyajna here in this body, O best among the embodied.
- 8.5And whoever, leaving their body, goes forth remembering Me alone at the time of death, they will attain My Being; there is no doubt about this.
- 8.6Whoever at the end leaves the body, thinking of any being, to that being only does he go, O son of Kunti (Arjuna), due to his constant thought of that being.
- 8.7Therefore, at all times, remember Me only and fight. With your mind and intellect fixed on Me, you will undoubtedly come to Me alone.
- 8.8With the mind not moving towards any other thing, made steadfast through the practice of habitual meditation, and constantly meditating, one goes to the Supreme Person, the Resplendent, O Arjuna.
- 8.9Whosoever meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient, the Ruler of the whole world, minuter than an atom, the supporter of all, of inconceivable form, effulgent like the sun and beyond the darkness of ignorance.
- 8.10At the time of death, with an unwavering mind, endowed with devotion, by the power of Yoga, fixing the whole life-breath in the middle of the two eyebrows, he reaches that resplendent Supreme Person.
- 8.11That which is declared to be Imperishable by those who know the Vedas, that which the self-controlled (ascetics or Sannyasins) and passion-free enter, that goal, desiring which celibacy is practised, I will declare to thee in brief.
- 8.12Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart, and fixed the life-breath in the head, engage in the practice of concentration.
- 8.13Uttering the one-syllabled Om, the Brahman, and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains the Supreme Goal.
Word-by-word→
- karma
- fruitive activities
- brahma
- Brahman
- paramam
- the Supreme
- uchyate
- is called
- adhyātmam
- one’s own self
- akṣharam
- indestructible
- visargaḥ
- creation
- sanjñitaḥ
- are called
- svabhāvaḥ
- nature
- śhrī-bhagavān uvācha
- the Blessed Lord said
- bhūta-bhāva-udbhava-karaḥ
- Actions pertaining to the material personality of living beings, and its development
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