Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dissolved.
Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.
That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all pervading, and everything is situated within Him.
O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, one does or does not come back.
Those who know the Supreme Brahaman pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north.
The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night the moonless fortnight, or in the six months when the sun passes to the south, or who reaches the moon planet, again comes back.
According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world-one in the light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back, but when one passes in darkness, he returns.
The devotees who know these two paths, O Arjuna, are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.
A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Vedas, performing austere sacrifices, giving charity or pursuing philosophical and fruitive activities. At the end he reaches the supreme abode. | |