Chapter 8 Shlokas 20, 21

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातन:।

य: स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति।।२०।।

अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहु: परमां गतिम्।

यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम।।२१।।

However, far beyond even this Unmanifest there is

yet another unique, unmanifest existence which does not

perish even when all other beings are destroyed.

It is unmanifest and indestructible.

It is the Supreme Goal – attaining which

there is no return. That is My Supreme Abode.

Chapter 8 Shlokas 20, 21

परस्तस्मात्तु भावोऽन्योऽव्यक्तोऽव्यक्तात्सनातन:।

य: स सर्वेषु भूतेषु नश्यत्सु न विनश्यति।।२०।।

अव्यक्तोऽक्षर इत्युक्तस्तमाहु: परमां गतिम्।

यं प्राप्य न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम।।२१।।

Now the Lord speaks of that ancient, unmanifest Truth.

However, far beyond even this Unmanifest there is yet another unique, unmanifest existence which does not perish even when all other beings are destroyed. It is unmanifest and indestructible. It is the Supreme Goal – attaining which there is no return. That is My Supreme Abode.

The Lord clarified even earlier that “All these lokas or realms and all mortal beings are bound by attributes, by names and forms, by the length of their duration and by time itself, by the body, by life and death and by innate latencies. Transcending all this lies the essence of Brahm – the Supreme abode – Krishna Himself.”

Lord Krishna’s basic nature

1. He is beyond the body idea.

2. He transcends the idea of individual existence.

3. There is a complete absence of the intellect that pertains to the body.

4. He transcends time.

5. That attributeless One attains a form with the support of Prakriti; however, He is beyond the gunas.

6. He is beyond maya; He is only the Atma. He is the supreme Lord Himself.

7. He is the eternal, imperishable epitome of knowledge and its practice and transcends both knowledge and ignorance.

8. He is unmanifest but is seen to be manifest.

9. He appears to have a name and form, yet, no ‘I’ exists there to which that name and form could be attributed.

10. He is the Indestructible One amidst the destructible.

11. He is absorbed into the Supreme Atma.

12. What meaning can birth and death hold for one who no longer claims the body as his own? He is like a living symbol of Brahm.

13. He is the goal of the sadhak. He is Brahm’s boon to the mortal being.

14. It would seem that His birth has taken place only for the establishment of dharma.

15. He is the actual form of the nature of That Supreme Brahm – the epitome of Adhyatam. Watching His example, many a great man of wisdom,

­­–  can understand the true meaning of scriptural tenets;

­­–  can obtain the essence of Truth;

­­–  can discern Brahm’s code of conduct;

­­–  can discern where they have deviated from the path of spiritual living.

Therefore that Supreme Purusha is known as:

a) Eternal essence of knowledge and its practical demonstration in life.

b) Knowledge Itself which irradiates luminescence in the world.

c) Indivisible Atma in manifest form.

d) Supreme Essence of Truth – the nectar that grants immortality.

e) Eternal Essence of the Atma – Light itself.

f) Everlasting Truth.

g) The eternal, unmanifest One who appears as manifest.

h) The refuge of all and the support of all.

i)  He also has various other epithets.

­­–  That indivisible, eternal Essence is the very core of all beings.

­­–  That indivisible, eternal Essence is the aim of all beings.

­­–  It is that indivisible, eternal Essence into which all beings desire mergence.

The Lord says, “That is My abode; that is the Supreme State. Having attained that indestructible Brahm – the Self of all, the individual does not return to the mortal world. Once absorbed into the essence of That Supreme Brahm, he is freed from the cycle of birth and death.

Why does Such a One never return?

Little one, on the one hand lies the Atma Itself and on the other hand, Prakriti. That individual who is not affected by Prakriti during his lifetime and who has no expectations of the world wrought from Prakriti:

1. He becomes like Brahm – working for the welfare of all beings born of Prakriti.

2. He identifies with all.

3. Whosoever comes before him, he goes to that one’s level and seems to be one with him.

4. His actions seem to match the deeds of the one who stands before him.

5. He seems to follow the same dharma as the one who comes to him.

The Lord says that the Atmavaan performs actions similar to the Lord’s. When the individual has no use for the creation of Prakriti, then Prakriti no longer exists for such a one – only the Atma remains.

Little one, let me explain this for you again. This is an extremely subtle point, so hear it carefully. The individual who considers the body to be important, has several expectations and needs from the world. When he no longer claims the body, nothing remains for him to achieve or to know. The world matters to the individual as long as the body or the ‘I’ holds any significance for such a one. With the decline in their importance, the world becomes meaningless. Such a one does not even bother about the life or death of the body. He neither craves for life, nor cares about death.

Little one, the Unmanifest One whom the Lord has earlier described, can be understood:

a) if you comprehend the truth about the absorption of the world and its re-emergence;

b) if you understand about the subsiding of the latencies of man and their regeneration;

c) if you know that the seeds of karma lapse into a dormant mode of rest after death and then re-emerge in the form of a new body.

This cycle of the unmanifest and the manifest is ever moving. The Atma transcends this cycle. The Atma is never destroyed nor re-created. It is ever indestructible and unchangeable.