Akshara Parabrahma Yoga (Ch 8)

This 28-verses chapter deals with an un-wavering devotion to the Supreme to attain Him besides the science of meditation to realize the Brahman towards the same end. It can be seen below how v5 places the cart before the horse, and why v9-v14 too, are interpolations that is going by their content that's out of context.

However, the interpolations that take the cake are the superstitious v23-v27 that pollute an otherwise thought-elevating work, and as already noted, it was to Sir Edwin Arnold credit that he deleted these from his timeless The Song Celestial.

So, to see all these interpolations in their improper place, one may appreciate the text and the context of this chapter that opens with Arjuna's query to Krishna thus:

Ch8, V1

O Lord appraise what's Brahman

Lies what within 'n backs action

Nature of deities besides the beings.

kiṁ tad brahma kim adhyātmaṁ kiṁ karma puruṣhottama

adhibhūtaṁ cha kiṁ proktam adhidaivaṁ kim uchyate

Ch8, V2

What is that guides bodily acts,

What makes yogis realize Thee?

adhiyajñaḥ kathaṁ ko 'tra dehe 'smin madhusūdana

prayāṇa-kāle cha kathaṁ jñeyo 'si niyatātmabhiḥ

And thus spoke Krishna,

Ch8, V3

Self-Imperishable is Brahman

But dwells it yet there in beings

Brings that forth is Act Supreme.

akṣharaṁ brahma paramaṁ svabhāvo 'dhyātmam uchyate

bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-sanjñitaḥ

Ch8, V4

Perish as beings all in time

Spirit that lasts of them is Me.

adhibhūtaṁ kṣharo bhāvaḥ puruṣhaśh chādhidaivatam

adhiyajño 'ham evātra dehe deha-bhṛitāṁ vara

Now note this -

V5

anta-kāle cha mām eva smaran muktvā kalevaram

yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaṁ yāti nāstyatra sanśhayaḥ

Those who relinquish the body while remembering Me at the moment of death will come to Me. There is certainly no doubt about this.

And going by the following, the above is a prehash of the same -

Ch8, V6

In the end the way one tends

Charts that future course he takes.

yaṁ yaṁ vāpi smaran bhāvaṁ tyajatyante kalevaram

taṁ tam evaiti kaunteya sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ

Ch8, V7

If thou act with this in mind

In the end thou gain Me true,

By My word now opt for war

With thy strength 'n skill I gave.

tasmāt sarveṣhu kāleṣhu mām anusmara yudhya cha

mayyarpita-mano-buddhir mām evaiṣhyasyasanśhayam

Ch8, V8

Me they reach whoso keep

On Me focus as they work.

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam tyajatyante kalevaram

tam tam evaiti kaunteya sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

So, as v5, places the v8 cart before the horse, here comes v3's expansion of after the closure of the subject as above

V9

kaviṁ purāṇam anuśhāsitāram

aṇor aṇīyānsam anusmared yaḥ

sarvasya dhātāram achintya-rūpam

āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt

He who is omniscient, timeless, the commander, subtler than the subtlest, protector of all, incomprehensible, brilliant like the sun, beyond darkness, (one) contemplates (him).

Now follows a mixture of lectures on yoga, meditation, celibacy etc.

V10

prayāṇa-kāle manasāchalena

bhaktyā yukto yoga-balena chaiva

bhruvor madhye prāṇam āveśhya samyak

sa taṁ paraṁ puruṣham upaiti divyam

At the time of departure, endowed with devotion, an unwavering mind, as well as the power of yoga, fully establishing the praanaas in the centre of the eyebrows, he attains that supreme divine person.

V11

yad akṣharaṁ veda-vido vadanti

viśhanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ

yad ichchhanto brahmacharyaṁ charanti

tat te padaṁ saṅgraheṇa pravakṣhye

Scholars of the Vedas describe Him as Imperishable; great ascetics practice the vow of

celibacy and renounce worldly pleasures to enter into Him. I shall now explain to you

briefly the path to that goal.

V12

arva-dvārāṇi sanyamya mano hṛidi nirudhya cha

mūrdhnyādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām

Restraining all the gates of the body and fixing the mind in the heart region, and then drawing the life-breath to the head, one should get established in steadfast yogic concentration.

V13

oṁ ityekākṣharaṁ brahma vyāharan mām anusmaran

yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaṁ sa yāti paramāṁ gatim

One who departs from the body while remembering Me, the Supreme Personality, and chanting the syllable Om, will attain the supreme goal.

V14

ananya-chetāḥ satataṁ yo māṁ smarati nityaśhaḥ

tasyāhaṁ sulabhaḥ pārtha nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ

O Parth, for those yogis who always think of Me with exclusive devotion, I am easily attainable because of their constant absorption in Me.

And here we have the v23-v27 superstitious kit, the pièce de résistance that was broached at the beginning of this chapter introduction, and before, which, if literally taken, would imply that if one dies when the moon is on the ascent he would be heaven bound and, to hell, if it's other way round. So, Sir Edwin Arnold, one of the foremost to translate the Gita that was way back in 1885, dismissed these as the work of some vedānti and thought it fit, justifiably at that, not to include them in his The Song Celestial, of course, along with the tailpiece v28.

In this connection it may be noted that the relationship between the state, in which a person dies, and his imminent rebirth is covered in Ch14, v14 'n v15, which are seemingly authentic.

V23

yatra kāle tvanāvṛittim āvṛittiṁ chaiva yoginaḥ

prayātā yānti taṁ kālaṁ vakṣhyāmi bharatarṣhabha

But, (there exists) the path of no return for a yogi who is leaving his body, and also the path of return, I shall speak about those, O scion of the Bharatas.

V24

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śhuklaḥ ṣhaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam

tatra prayātā gachchhanti brahma brahma-vido janāḥ

Fire, light, day, the bright (fortnight of the month), the northern movement comprising six months; those people who have departed through that path, knowers of brahman attain brahman.

V25

dhūmo rātris tathā kṛiṣhṇaḥ ṣhaṇ-māsā dakṣhiṇāyanam

tatra chāndramasaṁ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate

Smoke, night, darkness and the southern movement comprising six months; the yogi (travels through) that path, attains the light of the moon, to return.

V26

śhukla-kṛiṣhṇe gatī hyete jagataḥ śhāśhvate mate

ekayā yātyanāvṛittim anyayāvartate punaḥ

For, bright and dark, both these paths have been known since eternity. By one, the traveller does not have to return, by the other, he has to return again.

V27

naite sṛitī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaśhchana

tasmāt sarveṣhu kāleṣhu yoga-yukto bhavārjuna

Yogis who know the secret of these two paths, O Parth, are never bewildered. Therefore, at all times be situated in Yog (union with God).

V28

vedeṣhu yajñeṣhu tapaḥsu chaiva

dāneṣhu yat puṇya-phalaṁ pradiṣhṭam

atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā

yogī paraṁ sthānam upaiti chādyam

The yogis, who know this secret, gain merit far beyond the fruits of Vedic rituals, the study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, austerities, and charities. Such yogis reach the Supreme Abode.

It is worth noting that v1- v4, v6- v8 and v15-v22 of this chapter, if read together would bear an unmistakable continuity of argument that these thirteen interpolations as above deprive it.