BHAGVAD GITA

EIGHT: LIFE EVERLASTING

“Arjuna asked: O Lord of Lords! What is that which men call the Supreme Spirit, what is
man’s Spiritual Nature, and what is the Law? What is Matter and what is Divinity?


Who is it who rules the spirit sacrifice in many; and at the time of death how may those
who have learned self-control come to the knowledge of Thee?


The Lord Shri Krishna replied: The Supreme Spirit is the Highest Imperishable Self, and Its
Nature is spiritual consciousness. The worlds have been created and are supported by an
emanation from the Spirit which is called the Law.


Matter consists of the forms that perish; Divinity is the Supreme Self; and He who inspires
the spirit of sacrifice in man, O noblest of thy race, is I Myself, Who now stand in human
form before thee.


Whosoever at the time of death thinks only of Me, and thinking thus leaves the body and
goes forth, assuredly he will know Me.


On whatever sphere of being the mind of a man may be intent at the time of death, thither
he will go.


Therefore meditate always on Me, and fight; if thy mind and thy reason be fixed on Me, to
Me shalt thou surely come.


He whose mind does not wander, and who is engaged in constant meditation, attains the
Supreme Spirit.


Whoso meditates on the Omniscient, the Ancient, more minute than the atom, yet the
Ruler and Upholder of all, Unimaginable, Brilliant like the Sun, Beyond the reach of
darkness;


He who leaves the body with mind unmoved and filled with devotion, by the power of
his meditation gathering between his eyebrows his whole vital energy, attains the
Supreme.


Now I will speak briefly of the imperishable goal, proclaimed by those versed in the
scriptures, which the mystic attains when free from passion, and for which he is content to
undergo the vow of continence.


Closing the gates of the body, drawing the forces of his mind into the heart and by the
power of meditation concentrating his vital energy in the brain;


Repeating Om, the Symbol of Eternity, holding Me always in remembrance, he who thus
leaves his body and goes forth reaches the Spirit Supreme.


To him who thinks constantly of Me, and of nothing else, to such an ever-faithful devotee,
O Arjuna, am I ever accessible.


Coming thus unto Me, these great souls go no more to the misery and death of earthly life,
for they have gained perfection.