Vyasa · a new plain-English translation from the Sanskrit
8.1 Arjuna said: What is that brahman? What is the self? What is action? What is called the material realm, and what is said to be the divine realm, O supreme among men?
8.2 What is the realm of sacrifice, and how does it dwell here in this body, O slayer of Madhu? And how, at the time of departure, are you to be known by those of disciplined self?
8.3 The Blessed Lord said: Brahman is the imperishable, the supreme; its own essential nature is called the self; the creative emanation that brings forth the existence of beings is called action.
8.4 The material realm is the perishable state of being; the divine realm is the supreme person; and I alone am the realm of sacrifice here in this body, O best of embodied beings.
8.5 Whoever, at the time of death, departs remembering me alone, leaving the body behind, attains my state of being; of this there is no doubt.
8.6 Whatever state of being he remembers when he leaves the body at the end, to that he goes, Kaunteya, always having been shaped by that state.
8.7 Therefore, at all times, remember me and fight. With mind and intellect fixed on me, you will come to me without doubt.
8.8 With mind disciplined by the practice of yoga, not wandering to anything else, one goes to the supreme divine person, Partha, by constantly meditating on him.
8.9 One who meditates on the seer, the ancient one, the ruler, subtler than the subtlest, the sustainer of all, of unthinkable form, radiant like the sun, beyond darkness —
8.10 who, at the time of departure, with unwavering mind, endowed with devotion and the power of yoga, having drawn the life-breath rightly between the eyebrows, attains that supreme divine person.
8.11 That which the knowers of the Veda call the imperishable, which ascetics free from passion enter, desiring which they practice celibacy — that state I will declare to you in brief.
8.12 Having restrained all the gates of the body, confined the mind within the heart, and fixed one's own life-breath in the head, established in the discipline of yoga,
8.13 uttering the single syllable Om, which is brahman, and remembering me — whoever departs thus, leaving the body, attains the supreme goal.
8.14 To one who constantly remembers me, always, with mind undivided, I am easy to attain, Partha, for that ever-disciplined yogi.
8.15 Having attained me, great souls, having reached the highest perfection, do not undergo rebirth into this fleeting abode of suffering.
8.16 All the worlds up to the realm of Brahma are subject to return, Arjuna; but having attained me, Kaunteya, there is no rebirth.
8.17 Those who know that a day of Brahma lasts a thousand ages, and that his night lasts a thousand ages, they are the knowers of day and night.
8.18 At the coming of day, all manifest things arise from the unmanifest; at the coming of night, they dissolve into that same thing called the unmanifest.
8.19 This same multitude of beings, coming into existence again and again, dissolves helplessly at the coming of night, Partha, and arises at the coming of day.
8.20 But beyond that unmanifest, there is another unmanifest state of being, eternal, which does not perish when all beings perish.
8.21 That unmanifest is called the imperishable; they call it the supreme goal, attaining which none return; that is my highest abode.
8.22 That supreme person, Partha, is attainable by undivided devotion, he within whom all beings dwell and by whom all this is pervaded.
8.23 I will declare to you, best of the Bharatas, the time at which yogis, departing, go to non-return or to return.
8.24 Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the sun's northern course — departing by this path, those who know brahman go to brahman.
8.25 Smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the six months of the sun's southern course — by this path, the yogi attains the lunar light and returns.
8.26 These two paths, bright and dark, are considered eternal for the world; by one, one goes to non-return; by the other, one returns again.
8.27 Knowing these two paths, Partha, no yogi is ever deluded; therefore, at all times, be disciplined in yoga, Arjuna.
8.28 Whatever meritorious fruit is prescribed for the study of the Vedas, for sacrifices, austerities, and gifts, the yogi who knows this transcends all of it and attains the supreme, primal abode.