|
Page 1
Arguna said :
What is that Brahman, what the Adhyâtma, and what, O best of beings! is action? And what is called the Adhibhûta? And who is the Adhiyagña, and how in this body, O destroyer of Madhu? And how, too, are you to be known at the time of departure (from this world) by those who restrain their selfs?
The Deity said :
The Brahman is the supreme, the indestructible. Its manifestation (as an individual self) is called the Adhyâtma. The offering (of an oblation to any divinity), which is the cause of the production and development of all things, is named action. The Adhibhûta is all perishable things. The Adhidaivata is the (primal) being. And the Adhiyagña, O best of embodied (beings)! is I myself in this body 1.
And he who leaves this body and departs (from this world) remembering me in (his) last moments, comes into my essence. There is no doubt of that. Also whichever form 2 (of deity) he remembers when he finally leaves this body, to that he goes, O son of Kuntî! having been used to ponder on it. Therefore, at all times remember me, and engage in battle. Fixing your mind and understanding on me, you will come to me, there is no doubt. He who thinks of the supreme divine Being, O son of Prithâ! with a mind not (running) to other (objects), and possessed of abstraction in the shape of continuous meditation (about the supreme), goes to him. He who, possessed of reverence (for the supreme Being) with a steady mind, and with the power of devotion, properly concentrates the life-breath between the brows 3, and meditates on the ancient Seer, the ruler, more minute than the minutest atom 4, the supporter of all, who is of an unthinkable form, whose brilliance is like that of the sun, and who is beyond all darkness 5, he attains to that transcendent and divine Being.
Foot Notes :
1. Adhyâtma where it occurs before (e. g. p. 55) has been rendered 'the relation between the supreme and individual soul.' As to p. 78 action, cf. pp. 53, 54. Adhibhûta is apparently the whole inanimate creation, and Adhidaivata is the being supposed to dwell in the sun. Adhiyagña is Krishna.
2. Some commentators say 'whatever thing' generally. The 'form' remembered in one's last moments would be that which had been most often meditated on during life.
3. Cf. supra
4. Katha, Svetâsvatara,
5. Cf. Svetâsvatara-upanishad.
|
