Brahma Kimba Adhyatma Ki Karma
Arjuna
inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What
are fruitive activities? What is this material
manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me.
How does this Lord of
sacrifice live in the body, and in which part does He live, O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional
service know You at the time of death?
The Supreme Lord said, The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called
Brahman, and his eternal nature is called the self. Action pertaining to the
development of these material bodies is called karma, or fruitive
activities.
Physical nature is known
to be endlessly mutable. The universe is the cosmic form of the Supreme Lord, and
I am that Lord represented as the Supersoul, dwelling
in the heart of every embodied being.
And whoever, at the time
of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at
once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
Whatever state of being
one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail.
Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me
in the form of Krsna and at the same time carry out
your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activities dedicated to Me and your mind and intelligence fixed on Me, you will
attain Me without doubt.
He who meditates on the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O
Partha [Arjuna], is sure to
reach Me.
One should meditate upon
the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who
is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of
everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and
who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun and, being transcendental, is
beyond this material nature.
One who, at the time of
death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and in full devotion engages
himself in remembering the Supreme Lord, will certainly attain to the Supreme
Personality of Godhead.
Persons learned in the
Vedas, who utter omkara and who are great sages in
the renounced order, enter into Brahman. Desiring such perfection, one
practices celibacy. I shall now explain to you this process by which one may
attain salvation.
The yogic situation is
that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the
senses and fixing the mind on the heart and the life air at the top of the head,
one establishes himself in yoga.
After being situated in
this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks
of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and quits his body, he will certainly
reach the spiritual planets.
For one who remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Prtha, because of his constant engagement in devotional
service.
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return
to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained
the highest perfection.
From the highest planet
in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein
repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My
abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again.
By human calculation, a
thousand ages taken together is the duration of Brahma's one day. And such also
is the duration of his night.
When Brahma's day is
manifest, this multitude of living entities comes into being, and at the
arrival of Brahma's night they are all annihilated.
Again and again the day
comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.
Yet there is another
nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated.
When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.
That supreme abode is
called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the
supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
The Supreme Personality
of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although
He is present in His abode, He is all-pervading, and everything is situated
within Him.
O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at
which, passing away from this world, one does or does not come back.
Those who know the
Supreme Brahman pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery god,
in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the moon and the
six months when the sun travels in the north.
The mystic who passes
away from this world during the smoke, the night, the moonless fortnight, or in
the six months when the sun passes to the south, or who reaches the moon planet,
again comes back.
According to the Vedas,
there are two ways of passing from this world--one in the light and one in
darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes
in darkness, he returns.
The devotees who know
these two paths, O Arjuna, are never bewildered. Therefore
be always fixed in devotion.
A person who accepts
the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from
studying the Vedas, performing austere sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing
philosophical and fruitive activities. At the end he
reaches the supreme abode.
Thus Bhaktivedanta sings the song of Sri Gita,
with the hope that hearing this, Krsna conscious pure
devotees will be pleased.