Chapter 8 Shloka 23

यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिन:।

प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्यामि भरतर्षभ।।२३।।

Arjuna, I shall now describe for you

 that time wherein the Yogi

who has renounced his body,

does not return; and that time

whereby the Yogi does return.

Chapter 8 Shloka 23

यत्र काले त्वनावृत्तिमावृत्तिं चैव योगिन:।

प्रयाता यान्ति तं कालं वक्ष्यामि भरतर्षभ।।२३।।

The Lord says:

Arjuna, I shall now describe for you that time wherein the Yogi who has renounced his body, does not return; and that time whereby the Yogi does return.

Look little one, the compassionate Lord, explaining to Arjuna once again, now says that, “I shall now describe to you the secret of the Yogi’s return to this earth and also of the circumstances under which such a one does not return.”

Aavritti (आवृत्ति)

Little one, first understand the conditions which cause the return of the Yogi. ‘Aavritti’ means:

a) To come back again;

b) To take birth once more after death;

c) Repeated rebirth;

d) To attain a specific state once again;

e) To attain a specific circumstance once more;

f) To take another’s support again and again.

Contrary to this is the state wherein one does not return after death. Here you must understand Aavritti thus:

1. To be reincarnated repeatedly in the idea of doership.

2. To fall repeatedly into the cycle of birth and death.

3. To be born again and again, tied to the intellect that pertains to the body.

4. To return to this world.

5. Fettered by the fruits of actions and by destiny, to attain the body once more and then submit to death.

6. Fettered by the bonds of the world, to drown in this ocean of the world and rise up again.

Now the Lord says, I shall also describe to you that span of time departing in which, the individual no longer dons the body again. He does not return to the world.

Anaavritti (अनावृत्ति)

a) Those who do not return;

b) Those who attain immortality after renunciation of the body;

c) Those who renounce attachment with the idea of individual existence and thus do not return;

d) Those who merge into That Supreme Enlightened Being of wisdom and then do not take birth again;

e) Those who are completely devoid of attachment to the world;

f) Those who live as the embodiment of selflessness.

Their love, their actions, their devotion and their knowledge is completely selfless. They have no attachment with their body, mind and intellect unit; nor do they seek to establish these. They are not worshippers of the body. They are attached to the Truth, to the Eternal. They are completely silent towards the transient but, knowing the transitory nature of the body, mind and intellect, they place these at the service of all.

a) They, who cannot be bound by any object of the world,

b) They, who cannot be fettered even by any complex or latency of their own mind-stuff,

 what could they seek from the world and what would they give to it?

The Yogi is one who is ever immersed in yoga and who is ever engaged in its practice. Little one, the Lord said, “Samatvam Yogam Uchyate.” i.e. the perfect Yogi is one who retains his equanimity in loss and gain, sorrow and happiness, victory and defeat, apprehension and fearlessness, towards enemy and friend, calumny and praise etc.

1. Whose aberrated thought processes are completely silenced;

2. Who does not claim any one state of the body as his own;

3. Who seeks no pedestal for himself;

4. Who despite being proficient in his deeds, fulfils the other’s need by going to the other’s level;

– such a Yogi does not return to this mortal realm after death.

Little one, my dearest, there is no other who can surpass the wisdom of such a one, his state, his firmness in yoga. Such a one identifies with the other by descending to the other’s level and by performing actions like the other.

Little one, that yogi who is subject to ‘return’, is a Yoga Bhrashta.

a) Such a one died whilst treading the path of yoga.

b) He had not yet succeeded in silencing all the aberrated thought processes within.

c) He practised the renunciation of attachment, moha, ego etc. but had not succeeded in eradicating these.

d) He had gained mastery over himself to quite an extent, but had not gained complete control.

e) His tapas or endurance, swadhyay or self study and Ishvar pranidhana or surrender to the Lord was not complete.

f) His mind was not yet in complete control.

However, such a one has left his body even whilst making persevering endeavours towards perfection in yoga. His perusal and study of the Scriptures enriched his knowledge, but that knowledge had not yet moulded his deeds. Nor had the thought processes within his mind stuff become quiescent.

He still possessed the body idea, attachment with the mind and with the body. Complete detachment with the mind had not yet been achieved; renunciation of the intellect had not yet been attained. However, continuous and constant endeavours were underway towards this end, when he passed away.

The Lord is thus describing the state of the Yogi who is subject to rebirth. This state is diametrically opposed to the state of the ordinary man, replete with vice and virtue, who is ever attaining death and rebirth in order to taste the fruits of his myriad deeds.