Chapter VIII is about the Transcendent Brahman and how to realize it. Here the Gita presents an ancient view of the soul’s journey after death. Following up on Chapter VII, this chapter briefly explains several important terms and concepts that are presented more fully in the Upanishads. This Chapter further emphasizes the terms of the last verse of Chapter VII. Krishna is both the immanent and transcendent Brahman. The discourse then develops the answer to Arjuna’s question about how one is to reach Brahman at the hour of death and not return to cycles of rebirth. Krishna explains to Arjuna that whatever the person’s deepest motivations and thoughts are at the time of death determines whether he merges into the Brahman of immortality or takes another birth. The baggage of motivation and desire go along with the soul on his last journey. Krishna asks Arjuna to be deeply convinced of his own divine nature and not to be lost in the world of Maya – of material attachments and desires, because that will be his last thought at the time of death. Devotion to Krishna as Brahman is not only at the hour of death but also as he goes through his worldly existence, remembering Krishna at all times and living his life from that center.
Then there is another ancient Hindu concept of the cyclical nature of creation discussed in this chapter about how multitudes of beings come in and out of existence. Different Hindu yogic prescriptions are given from ancient texts on how the yogi should depart from his life at the hour of death, chanting Om, drawing the senses within the heart and directing his consciousness to depart from the crown of the head in the highest state of Samadhi.
However, there is another state of being that is higher than the perishable cosmos, which is not born and does not die. This is the supreme goal of all living things. This Transcendent Brahman is beyond all material and cosmic states and is the final resting place where the soul reaches immortal bliss and is not reborn.
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