Bhagavad Gita · 8.12 · Path of the Eternal God·12 of 28
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च।मूर्ध्न्याधायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ॥
sarva-dvārāṇi sanyamya mano hṛidi nirudhya cha
mūrdhnyādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām
Sanskrit recitation
What you remember at the end · 8.1–8.13 · Teaching
Translation
Having closed all the gates, confined the mind in the heart, and fixed the life-breath in the head, engage in the practice of concentration.
Meaning
The gates are the senses of knowledge. Closing the gates means control of all senses by the practice of Pratyahara or withdrawal of the consciousness from them. Even if the senses are controlled, the mind will be dwelling on the sensual objects. Therefore the mind is confined or fixed in the lotus of the heart and thery all the thoughts or mental modifications are also controlled. The whole lifreath is now taken up and fixed at the crown of the head (Brahmarandhra or the hole of Brahman).
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→
- cha
- and
- hṛidi
- in the heart region
- manaḥ
- the mind
- mūrdhni
- in the head
- nirudhya
- confining
- sanyamya
- restraining
- ādhāya
- establish
- prāṇam
- the life breath
- ātmanaḥ
- of the self
- āsthitaḥ
- situated (in)
- sarva-dvārāṇi
- all gates
- yoga-dhāraṇām
- the yogic concentration
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