Bhagavagd Gita - Session 28- Track 2811

Now, ‘Yuga’ is a very difficult concept in the Indian astronomy. According to one view ‘Yuga’ consists of 5 years; according to another view Yuga consists of nineteen years. There is a very big controversy going on even at present. What is Yuga? There are other words-meaning of the word ‘Yuga’ like Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga; and there also you have different ‘timings’ given for each Yuga. So, you may use the word Yuga in that sense also if you like. So, it is not very clear here as to what Yuga is meant here.

Question: In the term of the age of this present cycle, has it been ascertained or…?

Yes, it is said for example that there have been 6 periods, (this is now a different statement…6…from when? One does not know. But it goes on, but at least it is said that there were 6, (at least which we can know), when the world had come to a point, and then it was dissolved. Now, it is said that we have again come to that point of dissolution; but the prediction is that this time it will not be dissolved. The movement is now so ripened, it has now become so propitious that although we are now passing through a period of dissolution, dissolution will not come about, and there will be a new Yuga, a Yuga of the ‘Daylight’ will come. At present we are in twilight, saṁdhyā, but now will come the time of a complete daylight. But these are various kinds of beliefs which are currently at present.

Comment: But there is no authenticity about them.

There is one authenticity which I can say from the basis of what my studies have led me. It is this that we are now nearing a period of supramental manifestation. Supermind has manifested already, and this will now go on increasing. Of this I am certain and this is authentic according to me. So, you can say that, well, it is true that this is not a period of dissolution in spite of all kinds of predictions that have been made, ‘doomsday’ and all that, this is not that moment. We are in a very important stage of our life in the world, extremely important, extremely promising for a glorious future.

Comment: Vibration of the earth are changing.

Yes, new vibrations are now present in the earth, at present.

avyaktādvyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ prabhavanty aharāgame |
rātryāgame pralīyante tatraivāvyaktasaṁjñake ||18|| (VIII)

When the day comes then all that is avyaktā becomes vyakta, from unmanifest manifestation takes place. When the night comes then all that is manifested becomes unmanifest.

bhūtagrāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate |
rātryāgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha prabhavatyaharāgame ||19|| (VIII)

“O Son of Pritha! These all living entities come forth repeatedly with the advent of the day, and are helplessly led to dissolution at the advent of the night.”

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo ’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ |
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati ||20|| (VIII)

This is a movement from unmanifest to manifest and manifest to unmanifest. But there is another reality which is ‘really’ unmanifest: avyaktāḥ, from manifest to unmanifest and from unmanifest to manifest is one kind of movement. But there is a ‘real’ unmanifest who is the Supreme Himself and whoever can reach ‘that’ unmanifest he never perishes. In other words whoever knows the supreme Divine he becomes free from all this movement of coming to day or coming into night: all this does not apply to the one who has attain to the Supreme.

avyakto ’kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim |
yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama ||21|| (VIII)

“The unmanifest being is designated the Imperishable, which is said to be the Supreme Goal. Those who attain to it do not return to this world again. That is My Supreme Abode.”

puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā |
yasyāntaḥsthāni bhūtani yena sarvam idaṁ tatam ||22|| (VIII)

This is considered to be one of the most important statements of the Bhagavad Gita:

“This is the Supreme person, O Son of Pritha! in whom abide all existence and by whom all this is pervaded, who is attainable by unswerving single minded devotion.”

This is the supreme knowledge, the knowledge of the One who is Imperishable, who is the origin of all that is here in this world. This knowledge, Sri Krishna says, will not come to you by Jnana yoga; it will come to you only by Bhakti. So, that is why the supremacy of Bhakti, therefore those who belong to Bhakti yoga, they always like this sentence as the best. That ‘bhaktyā’, it is by Bhakti…although Sri Krishna has said that the one who has full Knowledge gets Bhakti. Now He says that the one who has the real Bhakti gets the highest Knowledge: both are interdependent. In fact both are actually one. The real Jnana yoga is not a ‘dry’ Jnana yoga. The real Jnana yoga is full of the best of Love: to move towards the Knowledge of the Divine is to move enthusiastically with all the Love that you can command, with the pressure of Love, and you turn to the Divine; that is real Jnana yoga and that is real Bhakti. The two are combined together.

Similarly Karma yoga also, when you sacrifice for the Lord, what is that sacrifice if you sacrifice with pain. Sacrifice is really nothing but offering yourself irresistibly in the embrace of the Divine: so, that is real offering, real Karma yoga is ‘that’ Karma yoga.

yatra kāle tv anāvṛttiṁ āvṛttiṁ caiva yoginaḥ |
prayātā yānti taṁ kālam vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha ||23|| (VIII)

“O Best of Bharatas! Now I shall explain to you, the time when Yogins depart either to return again, or never to return to this world.”

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇmāsā uttarāyaṇam |
tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahmavido janāḥ ||24|| (VIII)

“When there is fire, when there is light, when there is day, the bright half of the month, the six months of the northern path, uttarāyaṇa, this is the time, in which passing away from the world the Yogins who know the absolute Brahman attain to the Absolute Brahman.”

Opposite is dakṣiṇāyana, the darkness:

“The other Yogins depart at a time that is characterized by smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the six months of the southern course of the sun and they reach the realm of the lunar light from there they return.”

This is the path of return; that is the path of no return.

dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanam |
tatra cāndramasaṁ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate ||25|| (VIII)

śuklakṛṣṇe gatī hyete jagataḥ śāśvate mate |
ekayā yāty anāvṛttiṁ anyayāvartate punaḥ ||26|| (VIII)

“These two paths- the path of light and that of darkness are thought to be beginningless. Departing by the light, one does not return but while departing by the path of darkness one again returns.”

In the Veda there is a statement: the child is suckled by two mothers; one who is a dark mother and one who is the white mother. But both of them suckle and we grow by both. So, actually from the Divine’s point of view both are necessary, both are equally important and therefore both the time you should remember the Divine: sarveṣu kāleṣu smara māṁ, this is the basic conclusion.

naite sṛtī pārtha jānan yogī muhyati kaścana |
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu yogayukto bhavārjuna ||27|| (VIII)

“The Yogins who know these two pathways,O Son of Pritha! Is never deluded. Therefore, O Arjuna! You always be steadied in Yoga.”

sarveṣu kāleṣu, knowing both the paths therefore don’t say ‘this’ one is more important than ‘that’ one. As Mother says: “O Passengers, O Travellers who are passing through a great night, remember the greatest secrets are revealed in the darkness of the night.” The greatest secrets…therefore going through the darkness do not fear, do not worry, that is also ‘the path’; the greatest secrets cannot be revealed when there is light; then, there are reserved only for the night. Therefore do not fear when you are in the darkness: “the greatest secrets are revealed to you in the darkness of the night”. Therefore ultimate conclusion is: sarveṣu kāleṣu yogayukto; therefore, ‘In all the times you remain united with the Divine’.

vedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva dāneṣu yatpuṇyaphalaṁ pradiṣṭam |
atyeti tat sarvam idaṁ viditvā yogī paraṁ sthānamupaiti cādyam ||28|| (VIII)

“The Yogin having known this goes beyond the fruits of meritorious deeds such as study of the Vedas, performance of sacrifices, practice of austerities and giving away charities. He attains the Supreme and Eternal Abode.”

If you know this, if you remain in Yoga all the time, if you can remember the Divine all the time, then whether you do Jnana yoga, or Karma yoga, or Bhakti yoga, all this is included here and therefore that is all that you should do to attain to the Supreme.

So, next time we will take the 9th chapter now.