Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते ।
एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययावर्तते पुनः ॥२६॥
śukla-kṛṣṇe gatī hy ete
jagataḥ śāśvate mate
ekayā yāty anāvṛttim
anyayāvartate punaḥ
Word for word (synonyms)
- śukla
- light
- kṛṣṇe
- darkness
- gatī
- passing away
- hi
- certainly
- ete
- all these
- jagataḥ
- of the material world
- śāśvate
- the *Vedas*
- mate
- in the opinion
- ekayā
- by one
- yāti
- goes
- anāvṛttim
- no return
- anyayā
- by the other
- āvartate
- comes back
- punaḥ
- again
Translation
According to the Vedas, there are two ways of passing from this world—one in light and one in darkness. When one passes in light, he does not come back; but when one passes in darkness, he returns.
Purport
Other scriptures cited in this purport: Chāndogya Upaniṣad
The same description of departure and return is quoted by Ācārya Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa from the Chandogya Upaniṣad. In such a way, those who are fruitive laborers and philosophical speculators from time immemorial are constantly going and coming. Actually they do not attain ultimate salvation, for they do not surrender to Kṛṣṇa.
What this verse teaches
A yogī or jñānī who leaves body by the path of light attains liberation. A karmī who leaves body by the path of darkness returns back to this world.
- Themes
- The Five Topics
In thematic compilations 1
- Auspicious and inauspicious times of leaving body (8.23-26)
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 1
- Bhagavad-gītā 8.22–27 1966-11-07 · New York
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.