Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 in English IAST: Akṣara Brahma Yoga

oṃ tatsaditi śrīmadbhagavadgītāsūpaniṣatsu brahmavidyāyāṃ yogaśāstre śrīkṛṣṇārjunasaṃvāde akṣarabrahmayogo nāma aṣṭamo’dhyāyaḥ ||

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About Akshara Brahma Yoga

The seventh chapter left six words unexplained: Brahman, adhyatma, karma, adhibhuta, adhidaiva and adhiyajna. Its last line also spoke of remembrance at the time of death. The eighth chapter unfolds these very things through Arjuna’s seven questions.

At the centre of the chapter is a simple principle: remembrance at the last moment comes from whatever the mind has been steeped in throughout life. Hence the teaching ‘remember me at all times, and fight’. Alongside demanding yogic procedures, it also holds the gentle word ‘I am easy to reach’ for one who remembers the Lord every day with an undivided mind.

How the chapter moves

• Verses 1 and 2: Arjuna’s seven questions, on Brahman, adhyatma, karma, adhibhuta, adhidaiva, adhiyajna, and how the Lord is to be known at the time of death.
• Verses 3 and 4: Short answers to the first six questions.
• Verses 5 to 8: Remembrance at the time of the end, the rule of ‘sada tadbhavabhavitah’, and doing one’s duty while remembering at all times.
• Verses 9 to 13: The supreme Person as the object of meditation, the life-breath between the eyebrows, restraint of the gates of the senses, and the yogi who departs with Om.
• Verses 14 to 16: The Lord is easy to reach for one who remembers him every day with an undivided mind, and for those who reach him there is no rebirth.
• Verses 17 to 22: The day and night of Brahma, the cycle of creation and dissolution, the eternal unmanifest beyond it, and the supreme Person attained by undivided devotion.
• Verses 23 to 28: The two paths of light and smoke, the call ‘be steadfast in yoga at all times’, and the understanding that goes beyond every fruit of merit.

The Imperishable: three readings

At ‘aksharam brahma paramam’ in the third verse the acharyas part ways. For both Shankara and Madhva the Imperishable is the Supreme Brahman. But Shankara understands ‘svabhava’ as that same Brahman present in each body, while Madhva understands it as the jiva. For Ramanuja the supreme Imperishable here is the individual self in its own nature, freed from prakriti.

These pages do not decide between the readings. Wherever the acharyas part, each position is recorded in its own terms.

Uttarayana and dakshinayana

Many take the northern and southern courses of the sun, day and night, in verses twenty-four and twenty-five, as a rule about the date of death. But Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva all understand them as presiding deities who lead the soul along the path. The Brahma Sutras too discuss the question, and hold that even a knower who dies at night or in dakshinayana does not lose the fruit.

The last days and care

Since this chapter speaks directly about death, the verse pages read it alongside some points of present-day palliative care. The breath practices of verses ten and twelve belong to accomplished yogis. It is not safe to try them on one’s own from a book.

Sources: several.

ಪಾಠದಲ್ಲಿ ತಪ್ಪೋ ಬೇರೆ ಪಾಠಾಂತರವೋ ಕಂಡಿತೇ? ನಮಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸಿ.
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