Bhagavad Gita : Chapter 8

Arjuna:

What is that brahma, what is “adhyatma”, what is “karma”, what is “adhibhootham”, and what is “adhidaivam”, you spoke about just now? And what and how is “adhiyajna” here in the body? How, at the time of death, are you to be known in the quietened mind?

Krishna:
Brahma is the supreme eternal principle; its presence in the living body is what is meant by adhyatma; karma is the action of creation and its progress, adhibhootham refers to all transitory things, adhidaivam is the universal divine Form; and it is only ME that is Adhiyajna, present inside all the bodies of the living.

He, who, when he discards the body at the end of his life and goes from here, remembers ME alone, will be one with ME; there is no doubt about it.

Whatever one keeps in mind at the time of death, to that he goes, shaped as he is by those thoughts.

Therefore remember ME at all times, and fight on. He, whose mind and will are dedicated to me, will certainly come to ME.

By the single-minded recourse to practice and continuous contemplation, the supreme divine presence is realized, Arjuna.

He, who constantly contemplates with full devotion in his calm mind that all-knowing, most ancient, all-controlling, all-sustaining Power, smaller than the smallest, of unimaginable form, sunlike in its radiance, and beyond all darkness, attains, at the time of death, that supreme divine Power, his life-force gathered in between the brows by the strength of his yogic practice.

What the Vedic scholars call the undecaying, what the sanyasins devoid of attachments merge into, and for what the students undergo brahmacharya, that state, I will now tell you concisely.

He, who leaves the body, remembering ME in yogic contemplation and reciting the one syllable “OM” which is the symbol of brahma, with all sensory openings closed, the mind drawn inwards, the life-energy gathered in the head, attains the highest state.

To a yogi, who thinks of ME always single-mindedly, and who practises yoga with perseverance, I am easily accessible. The great souls who have come to ME are no more subject to the series of rebirth, which is the source of all misery.

Up to the world of the creator, all the worlds are subject to change; but there is no rebirth for anyone who is come to ME.

A day of the creator is equal to a thousand yugas of this world, and so also a night, another thousand yugas, according to those who know the science of calendar.

All individuals come into being from the unknown at the start of his day and vanish into the same unknown, at the start of night.

The same horde of beings appears again and again and helplessly vanishes at the start of night, to reappear at the start of day.

Beyond this unknown is another unknown of immemorial times, which does not perish when all others do perish.

That, is the eternal unknown, which, they say, is the ultimate goal. MY state is that from which there is no return.

That supreme PERSON, inside whom is contained all existence and by whom is all this wrapped around, is accessible only through single-minded devotion.

I shall now tell you the time, departing when, a yogi returns or does not return. Fire, light, day, bright fortnight, the six months of uthharaayana: departing under the influence of the gods who symbolize these time-periods, the realized will go to brahma.

Smoke, night, dark fortnight, six months of dakshinaayana: departing when, the yogi goes to the moon’s world, and returns.

These are said to be the two all-time paths in the world; taking one, you do not return, taking the other you return. Knowing these two paths, a yogi does not err.

Therefore at all times, practise yoga, Arjuna.

Whatever merit one gets from the vedas, sacrifices, penances, and offerings of alms, is all eclipsed by this knowledge, and the yogi who knows this attains the highest state.