Bhagavad Gita · 8.16 · Path of the Eternal God·16 of 28
आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन।मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥
ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino ’rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate
Sanskrit recitation
The path of light · 8.14–8.22 · Teaching
Translation
All the worlds, including the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O son of Kunti, has no rebirth.
Meaning
Those devotees who practise Daharopasana (a kind of meditation on the mystic space in the heart) and other devotees who reach Brahmaloka through the path of the gods (Devayana) and attain gradual liberation (KramaMukti) will not return again to this world. But those who reach Brahmaloka through the practice of the Panchagni Vidya (a ritual) will enjoy life in Brahmaloka and come back to this world.All the worlds are subjected to return because they are limited or conditioned by time.
After Swami Sivananda
The path of light· 8.14–8.22→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 8.14I am easily attainable by that ever-steadfast yogi who constantly and daily remembers me for a long time, not thinking of anything else with a single-minded or one-pointed focus, O Partha.
- 8.15Having attained Me, these great souls do not take birth again here—a place of pain and impermanence—but have reached the highest perfection of liberation.
8.16All the worlds, including the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O son of Kunti, has no rebirth.
- 8.17Those who know the day of Brahma, which lasts a thousand Yugas, and the night, which also lasts a thousand Yugas, know day and night.
- 8.18From the Unmanifested, all the manifested worlds proceed upon the arrival of the 'day'; upon the arrival of the 'night', they dissolve indeed into that which is known as the Unmanifested.
- 8.19This same multitude of beings, being born again and again, helplessly dissolves, O Arjuna, into the Unmanifested at the coming of the night and comes forth at the coming of the day.
- 8.20But verily, there exists higher than this Unmanifested, another Unmanifested Eternal, which is not destroyed even when all beings are destroyed.
- 8.21What is known as the Unmanifested and the Imperishable, That is said to be the highest goal. Those who reach It do not return (to this Samsara). That is My supreme abode (place or state).
- 8.22That highest Purusha, O Arjuna, is attainable by unswerving devotion to Him alone, within Whom all beings dwell and by Whom all this is pervaded.
Word-by-word→
- ā-brahma-bhuvanāt
- up to the abode of Brahma
- lokāḥ
- worlds
- punaḥ āvartinaḥ
- subject to rebirth
- arjuna
- Arjun
- mām
- mine
- upetya
- having attained
- tu
- but
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- punaḥ janma
- rebirth
- na
- never
- vidyate
- is
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