Gita 08.05 – Our choice at the junction determines our destination
Gita 8.3 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Gita 8.4 Muktva Kalevaram Muktva they will become liberated Kalevaram from the world Yahaprayati which a person will attain Madbhavam Mayabod Yati Nasthyatrasamsayah that Nasthyatrasamsayah there is no doubt that they will attain Mayabod So this verse is often referred to as one of the most important verses. Its essential message can be succinctly summed as the law of last thought.
That title can apply to this as well as the next verse, which gives general principle. Krishna is telling over here, Antakaale, so Antakaale chamameva, Smaran. Krishna has talked about Antakaal twice earlier in the Gita, in 2.72, the last verse of the second chapter, and 7.30, the last verse of the seventh chapter.
And especially based on the last verse of the seventh chapter, Arjuna in the second verse of the eighth chapter asks the question, how can one remember him at the time of death? So Krishna is answering that over here. How can one be aware of him? So that he will be answering gradually. Here he is stating the importance of remembering him at the time of death.
So he states here, Antakaale chamam evamam eva, me certainly, the word eva is an intensifier. It can mean certainly, it can also be used to mean only. So if we can focus our consciousness on Krishna at the time of death, Smaran mukta kalevaram, then we will become liberated from material existence.
Yaha prayati, and the person prayati, we have the word prayan, it means departure. So we may use the word departure for going from some lokal. So it may be from, we may leave from our house, or we may leave in a train from a station, or we may leave in a plane from an airport.
So departures, prayan, signifies going away from a place. So here Krishna is talking about going from my abode. Normally, whenever we talk about departure, often a question that comes concomitantly is departure from where and departure to where? So Krishna has talked about departure from the body.
Mukta kalevaram, that one is becoming freed from the body. Yaha prayati samadbhavam, such a person will attain my nature, will attain the spiritual nature of existence. Yati na sthyatra samshayaha, and about this there is no doubt.
Yati na sthyatra, there is no doubt about this Krishna says. So attaining Krishna is a matter of remembering Krishna at the time of death. We may wonder, why is the moment of death so defining? It's just like, suppose we come to a railway station.
And if, suppose it's a junction from which trains are going to many destinations. So we may decide to go to a particular destination in our planning stage. So if I come to the, say I come to Bombay station, and from there train goes to Baroda, train goes to Goa, train goes to Pune, train goes to Nasik.
Basically, we could say, north, northeast, southeast, something like that roughly. Now, when we come to that crossroad, at that time, when we come to the junction rather, now which train we board is important. If we board, if we had planned to go to Pune, but if we board a train to Baroda, then once we board that train we will be catapulted.
We will be taken to that destination automatically. There is a mechanism set up over there, that a train on this rail is going to go to this destination. And that mechanism cannot be changed.
So what we can choose is which train we choose to board. But once we decide to board a particular train, then we can't change the destination associated with that train. The train will go by its own nature, by its own momentum, by its own motion, movement and momentum towards that destination.
And thus it will attain that destination. So this principle Krishna will talk about in the next verse, when he says यम्यव्वापिस्वरन्भावं ते जित्यं ते कलेवरं तं तमे वैती कौंतेय सदातः भावभावितः So he says that whatever state of being one remembers at the time of death, that is the state we will attain in our next life. So we could say death is like arriving at a particular station and then the moment of death is like arriving at a junction and then boarding a particular train.
So as we come closer and closer to death, we are coming closer and closer to the station. And the moment of death is the moment of boarding a particular train. And Krishna will talk in a verse later after that.
तस्मात् सरवेशु कालेशु मामनुस्मर युध्यच मैं अर्पित्मनो बुद्धिर् मामेवैशिस्यसंशयः तस्मात् सरवेशु कालेशु Therefore at all times, मामनुस्मर युध्यच, remember me and fight. मैं अर्पित्मनो बुद्धिर् If you remember me, if you dedicate your mind and intelligence to me, मैं अर्पित्मनो बुद्धिर We may not be able to, in the course of our life, offer our body to Krishna. Because our body is still conditioned, still material.
But if we just offer, our body is still conditioned and we live in the material world where we have material obligations, we have our social relations, we have our professional commitments, and we may not be able to offer our entire body to Krishna. That means we cannot engage full-time in Krishna's service in a physical sense. But we can try to offer our inner being, our mind and intelligence to Krishna.
That means we connect everything that we are doing with Krishna and we offer everything that we are doing to Him in a mode of devotion. So, मैं अर्पित्मनो बुद्धिर मामेवैशिस्यसंशयः मामेवैशिस्य And by that we will attain Him, He says. So just like, if we, while going along, going towards the station, while travelling here and there in the city, we have some work in the city, so we are going to various places in the city, and eventually we know that we have to go to the station from where we have to depart.
So, if we had planned to go to Pune, and we are thinking about going to Pune, and we are keeping that in mind, eventually, when we come to the station, we will choose the train that goes to Pune, and automatically we will get to Pune. But if we are careless, if we are so caught in the various things that we have been doing, the various things that could have been done better, the various things that had gone wrong, and we are absent-minded when we come to the station, and we don't carefully choose which train we board, then we will end up boarding a wrong train, and we may go to a wrong destination. But if we carefully choose the train that we board, if we, at the moment of boarding, we are attentive, and we choose the right train, then we will get to the right destination.
So Krishna is telling over here that, if you remember Me, Arjuna, at the time of death, you will attain Me. So if we, if our consciousness, we direct it towards Krishna, that is, we board the train that is going towards the destination Krishna, then we will attain that destination. Of this, Krishna says, there is no doubt.
Because there is a mechanism set up, and whatever we think about at the time of death, that we will attain. And especially Krishna is very merciful, and we will attain Him. Although, we could say, as compared to the other destinations, the destination of Krishna Loka may seem very very far away, but it is Krishna's mercy and Krishna's promise that those who remember Him at the time of death will attain Him.