🪷 Bhagavad-Gītā · 8.24

8.24 अग्निः fire? ज्योतिः light? अहः day? शुक्लः the bright fortnight? षण्मासाः six months? उत्तरायणम् the northern path of the sun? तत्र there? प्रयाताः departed? गच्छन्ति go? ब्रह्म to Brahman? ब्रह्मविदः knowers of Brahman? जनाः people.Commentary This is the UttaraMarga or Devayana? the northern path or the path of light? by which the Yogis go to Brahman. This path leads to salvation. It takes the devotee to Brahmaloka. The six months of the northern solstice is from the middle of January to the middle of July. It is regarded as the better period for death. There is a vivid description in the Chhandogya Upanishad? the Kaushitaki Upanishad and the Brahma Sutras? chapter IV.3 and 4? ii. 18 and 21.On the road beginning with light (the departed soul proceeds)? on account of that being widely known.Having reached the path of the gods he comes to the world of Agni (fire)? to the world of Vayu (air)? to the world of Varuna (rain)? to the world of Indra (king of the gods)? to the world of Prajapati (the Creator)? to the world of Brahman.They go to the light? from the light to day? from day to the waxing half of the moon? from the waxing half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the north? from those months to the year? from the year to the sun.When the person goes away from this world he comes to Vayu (air). Then Vayu room for him like the hole of a wheel and through it he mounts higher. He comes to the sun.From the moon to the lightning there a person that is not human leads him to Brahman.Time is here used in the sense of the path or the stage on the path. Fire and light are the deities who preside over time. Daytime is the deity who presides over the day. The bright fortnight is the deity presiding over it. The six months of the northern solstice are the deity who presides over the northern path.This is the path of illumination that leads to liberation.The lifreaths of the liberated sages who have attained knowledge of the Self do not depart. They are absorbed in Brahman. The Jivanmuktas who attain KaivalyaMoksha or immediate,salvation or liberation have no place to go to or return from. They become one with the allpervading Brahman.Each step may mean a plane or a state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. The more the purity the more the divine light. There are bright objects throughout the course of the path. There is illumination or knowledge when one passes along this path. Hence it is called the path of light.After Bhishma was mortally wounded? he lay on the bed of arrows till the onset of the northern solstice and then departed from here to the Abode of the Lord.

8.24 Agnih, fire-is a deity presiding over a period of time; similarly, jyotih, light-also is a deity presiding over a period of time. Or fire and light are the well-known Vedic deities. As the expression 'mango grove' is used with regard to a place where mango trees are more numerous, similarly, the expressions 'at which time' and 'that time' (in the earlier verse) are used in view of the predominance (of the deities presiding over time). [If the first two (fire and light) are taken as Vedic deities, then the remaining three are the only deities of time. Still, the latter being numerically greater, all the five deities are referred to as deities of time. The deities of both the Paths-of gods and manes, or of the Northern and the Southern Paths as they are called-who are gods of time, are referred to here as 'time' by such words as day, fortnight, six months, etc.] So also, ahah, daytime, means the deity of daytime. Suklah, the bright fortnight, implies the deity presiding over the bright fortnight. Sanmasah uttarayanam, the six months of the Northern solstice-here, too, is understood the deity presiding over the Path. This is the principle (of interpretation followed elsewhere (in the Upanisads also). Tatra, following this Path; janah, persons; who are brahma-vidah, knowers of Brahman, those engaged in meditation on (the alified) Brahman; gacchanti, attain; brahma, Brahman; prayatah, when they die. It is understood that they attain Brahman through stages. Indeed, according to the Upanisadic text, 'His vital forces do not depart' (Br. 4.4.46), there is neither going nor coming back for those established in full realization, who are fit for immediate Liberation. Having their organs merged in Brahman, they are suffused with Brahman, they are verily identified with Brahman.

8.23 - 8.24 Here, the term 'time' denotes a path, having many deities beginning with day and ending with year. The deities preside over divisions of time. The meaning is - I declare to you the path departing in which Yogins do not return and also the path departing in which the doers of good actions return. By the clause, 'Light in the form of fire, the day, bright fortnight, six months of the northern course,' year also is denoted.

8.24 See Comment under 8.25

।।8.24।। इस श्लोक में क्रममुक्ति के मार्ग को दर्शाया गया है। वेदप्रतिपादित कर्म एवं उपासना के समुच्चय अर्थात् दोनों का साथसाथ अनुष्ठान करने वाले साधक और उसी प्रकार जिन लोगों को वर्तमान जीवन में ही ब्रह्म का साक्षात् अनुभव न हुआ हो ऐसे ब्रह्म के उपासक इस क्रममुक्ति के अधिकारी होते हैं। उपनिषदों के अनुसार ये साधक जन देह त्याग के पश्चात् देवयान (देवताओं के मार्ग) के द्वारा ब्रह्मलोक अर्थात् सृष्टिकर्ता ब्रह्माजी के लोक में प्रवेश करते हैं। वहाँ कल्प की समाप्ति तक दिव्य अलौकिक विषयों के आनन्द का अनुभव करके प्रलय के समय ब्रह्माजी के साथ वे सर्वथा मुक्त हो जाते हैं। उपनिषदों में प्रयुक्त शब्दों का उपयोग कर भगवान् श्रीकृष्ण यहाँ देवयान को इंगित करते हैं। ऋषि प्रतिपादित तत्त्व ज्ञान के जिज्ञासुओं के लिये अध्यात्म दृष्टि से यह श्लोक विशेष अर्थपूर्ण है।अग्नि ज्योति दिन शुक्लपक्ष उत्तरायण के षण्मास ये सब सूर्य के द्वारा अधिष्ठित देवयान को सूचित करते हैं। प्रश्नोपनिषद् में परम सत्य की सृष्टि से उत्पत्ति का वर्णन करते हुए इन मार्गों को स्पष्ट रूप से बताया गया है। वहाँ गुरु बताते हैं कि सृष्टिकर्ता प्रजापति स्वयं सूर्य और चन्द्र बन गये। आकाश में दृश्यमान सूर्य और चन्द्र क्रमशः चेतन और जड़ तत्त्व के प्रतीक स्वरूप हैं।चेतन तत्त्व के साथ तादात्म्य स्थापित करके जो सत्य का उपासक अपना जीवन जीता है वह मरण के समय भी जीवन पर्यन्त की गई उपासना के उपास्य (ध्येय) का ही चिन्तन और स्मरण करता है स्वाभाविक है कि ऐसा उपासक अपने उपास्य के लोक को प्राप्त होगा क्योंकि वृत्ति के अनुरूप व्यक्ति बनता है। सम्पूर्ण जीवन काल में रचनात्मक दैवी एवं विकासशील विचारों का ही चिन्तन करते रहने पर मनुष्य निश्चित ही वर्तमान शरीर का त्याग करने पर विकास के मार्ग पर ही अग्रसर होगा। इस मार्ग को अग्नि ज्योति दिन आदि शब्दों से लक्षित किया गया है। इस प्रकार उपनिषदों की अपनी विशिष्ट भाषा में ब्रह्म के उपासकों की मुक्ति का मार्ग उत्तरायण कहलाता है। क्रममुक्ति को बताने के लिए ऋषियों द्वारा प्रायः प्रयोग किये जाने वाले इस शब्द उत्तरायण में उपर्युक्त सभी अभिप्राय समाविष्ट हैं।इस मार्ग के विपरीत वह मार्ग जिसे प्राप्त करने पर पुनः संसार को लौटना पड़ता है उसका वर्णन करते हुए भगवान् कहते हैं --