FolioCorpusBhagavad-gītā

Bhagavad-gītā 8.23

యత్ర కాలే త్వనావృత్తిమావృత్తిం చైవ యోగిన: । ప్రయాతా యాన్తి తం కాలం వక్ష్యామి భరతర్షభ ॥ ౨౩ ॥
yatra kāle tv anāvṛttim
[yatra kaale tv anaavrittim]
āvṛttiṁ caiva yoginaḥ
[aavrittim chaiva yoginah]
prayātā yānti taṁ kālaṁ
[prayaataa yaanti tam kaalam]
vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha
[vakshyaami bharatarshabha]
Word-for-word
yatra — at which kāle — time tu — and anāvṛttim — no return āvṛttim — return ca — also eva — certainly yoginaḥ — different kinds of mystics prayātāḥ — having departed yānti — attain tam — that kālam — time vakṣyāmi — I shall describe bharata - ṛṣabha — O best of the Bhāratas .
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
yatra kāle tv anāvṛttim
yatra
at which
kāle
time
tu
and
anāvṛttim
no return
āvṛttiṁ caiva yoginaḥ
āvṛttim
return
ca
also
eva
certainly
yoginaḥ
different kinds of mystics
prayātā yānti taṁ kālaṁ
prayātāḥ
having departed
yānti
attain
tam
that
kālam
time
vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha
vakṣyāmi
I shall describe
bharata - ṛṣabha
O best of the Bhāratas .
Important Words
  • kāle — at which time
    Locative of kāla — time. The chapter has used kāla repeatedly (anta-kāle, prayāṇa-kāle, sarveṣu kāleṣu) — every key promise has been linked to a moment. Here the moment-vocabulary is foregrounded for technical instruction.
  • anāvṛttim — no return
    An (not) + āvṛtti (return) — from ā + vṛt, the same root as āvartin in 8.16. 'Non-return'. The technical noun for the destination that does not turn back. The Gītā's vocabulary is consistent across many verses.
  • āvṛttim — return
    Same word without the negation. The two are paired in the verse — 'non-return and return' — naming the two outcomes the chart will distinguish. Sanskrit pairs them grammatically; the meaning depends on which side the dying yogi falls on.
  • yoginaḥ prayātāḥ — different kinds of mystics, having departed
    Yogin (yogi) + prayāta (past participle of pra + yā, 'gone forth'). The 'departed yogis'. Prayāṇa is the technical word for the soul's departure; here the participle names those who have made it.
  • vakṣyāmi — I shall describe
    Future first person of vac — to speak. 'I will speak'. Kṛṣṇa's verb of promised teaching. The Gītā uses this form at major junctures — at 7.2, 9.1, and here. It signals: the next verses carry the weight of explicit instruction.
  • bharata - ṛṣabha — O best of the Bhāratas
    Bharata + ṛṣabha (bull, chief, best). Arjuna is addressed as the leading bull of his lineage — a strength-vocative used when serious instruction is being given. The address dignifies the listener for the difficulty of the teaching.
O best of the Bhāratas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogī does or does not come back.
Purport

The unalloyed devotees of the Supreme Lord, who are totally surrendered souls, do not care when they leave their bodies or by what method. They leave everything in Kṛṣṇa’s hands and so easily and happily return to Godhead. But those who are not unalloyed devotees and who depend instead on such methods of spiritual realization as karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga and haṭha-yoga must leave the body at a suitable time in order to be sure of whether or not they will return to the world of birth and death. If the yogī is perfect he can select the time and situation for leaving this material world. But if he is not so expert his success depends on his accidentally passing away at a certain suitable time. The suitable times at which one passes away and does not come back are explained by the Lord in the next verse. According to Ācārya Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, the Sanskrit word kāla used herein refers to the presiding deity of time.

— A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda
Gauḍīya Ācāryas
Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura Gauḍīya
Translation
23. O best of Bharata’s lineage, I will now explain about the paths by which the yogīs return or do not return.
Commentary

“You have said in verse 21 that anyone who attains You does not come back, but You have not mentioned about any particular path that the devotee must traverse. Since the devotee is beyond the guṇas, his path is also beyond the guṇas, not a sattvic path such as going through the sun planet. But I am asking about the path taken by the yogīs, jṣānīs and karmīs. I will speak about the path (kālam) [Note: Kāla usually means “time,” but in this context means “path.”] of return and no return that they traverse when they have died.”

Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa Gauḍīya
Translation
23. O best of Bharata, I will now explain about the paths by which the yogīs return or do not return.
Commentary

The Lord has said that the devotees do not return to this world and those averse to the Lord return. By which paths do the devotees and those following kāmya karmas (yoginaḥ) travel so that they do not return or return? Kāla means the deities presiding over kāla. Since agni or dhūma are not related to time, the word kāla is still used (in a more general sense) because of the majority of words in the sequence including ahara and the other sequence including ratri are related to time. [Note: On the path of liberation, day, the waxing moon, the uttarāyaṇa are related to time, and on the path of return, the night, the waning moon and the dakṣināyaṇa are time related. Fire, light and smoke are not related to time.] Moreover, it should be understood that the word kāla refers to the path protected by the series of devatās starting wiht fire and series of devatās starting with smoke.

Bhūrijana Dāsa Gauḍīya
Commentary

This first part of this Section is for jnanis, karma‑kandis and all sorts of mystic yogis. They have to practice according to these very strict rules.

Study Notes — Gauranga Priya Dāsa
Gauranga Priya Dāsa Study Key verse
Bhakti-śāstrī Notes, ISKCON Chowpatty (2009)
Theme

Lord declares to explain...

Process by which “Soul should leave the body to attain Supreme” – in the next few verses

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF SECTION VI

A devotee is confident about Krishna’s protection; he

need not make any special endeavour for his ultimate salvation.

Focus of Learning

(a) Bg. 2.22 clearly states that the Supreme destination, from which there is no return, is the abode

of Krishna, the Supreme Person

(b) Lord as all pervading by “Spiritual and material energies”

(c) Variegatedness of Spiritual energy – Ref. Brahma Samhita (“ananda chinmaya rasa...”)

(d) Material energy – Although the Lord is always in His Supreme abode, He is nonetheless all

pervading by His material energy,

(e) “yasyantah sthani bhutani...” – This phrase in Text 8.22 means that everything is sustained within

Krishna, within His spiritual or material energies

(f) Importance of the word ‘bhaktya’ – To enter Krishna’s Supreme abode or any of the Vaikunta

planets is possible only by bhakti

(g) Vedic description of “Supreme abode” – “Supreme Personality of Godhead” resides in the

Supreme abode and has millions of plenary expansions

Ref. Gopala-Tapani Upanisad 3.2 – Describes that Supreme Abode and the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Analogy: Vedas compare the Lord with a tree bearing many flowers, fruits, leaves etc. Similarly the Lord expands into many plenary expansions
Ref Brahma Samhita 5.37 – "Goloka eva...” – Although the Lord resides in the Supreme Abode, He is all pervading
Ref Svetasvatara Upanisad – “parasya shaktir...” – Supreme Lord although residing far away, systematically conducts everything in the cosmic manifestation by His all pervading energies
Classical Ācāryas
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya Classical
Translation
8.23 Bharatarsabha, O best of the Bharata dynasty; vaksyami, I shall speak; tu, now; tam, of that; kalam, time; prayatah, by departing, by dying; (-these words are to be which time; yoginah, the yogis; yanti, attain; anavrttim, the State of Non-return, of nonrirth; ca eva, and also; of the time by departing at which they attain its opposite, avrttim, the State of Return. By 'Yogis' are implied both the yogis (men of meditation) and the men of acitons (rites and duties). But the men of action are yogis by courtesy, in accordance with the description, 'through the Yoga of Action for the yogis' (3.3). The Lord speaks of that time: [This is Ast.'s reading.-Tr.]
Śrī Rāmānujācārya Classical
Translation
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.
Śrī Abhinavagupta Classical
Translation
8.23 Yatra etc. The non-return : emancipation. The return : i.e., for enjoying [worldly life]. (23)
Swami Sivananda Classical
Translation
8.23 Now I will tell thee, O chief of Bharatas, the times departing at which the Yogis will return or not return.
Commentary

8.23 यत्र where? काले in time? तु verily? अनावृत्तिम् nonreturn? आवृत्तिम् return? च and? एव even? योगिनः Yogis? प्रयाताः departing? यान्ति go to? तम् that? कालम् time? वक्ष्यामि (I) will tell? भरतर्षभ O chief of Bharatas.Commentary I shall declare to you? O Prince of the Bharatas? the time at which if the Yogis leave their body they will not be born again and also when if they die they will be born again.To return means to be born again.

Swami Gambhīrānanda Classical
Translation
8.23 O best of the Bharata dynasty, I shall now speak of that time by departing at which the yogis attain the State of Non-return, and also (of the time by departing at which they attain) the State of Return.
Shri Purohit Swami Classical
Translation
8.23 *Now I will tell thee, O Arjuna, of the times at which, if the mystics go forth, they do not return, and at which they go forth only to return.
Related values & verses
Related values
Tyaga (Renunciation / Letting Go)Atma Nigraha (Self-control)Daksya (Resourcefulness / Skill)Abhaya (Fearlessness)
Related verses
BG 8.24 BG 8.25 BG 8.26 SB 2.2.21 SB 2.2.24 SB 11.25.22 CC Madhya 9.263 CC Madhya 20.218 CC Madhya 22.37 Chāndogya Upaniṣad 5.10.1Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad 6.2.15
Related lectures
Personal Guidance
I shall now describe the times at which yogis depart and either return or do not return.
Practical Applications
  • Recognize that the Vedas have technical instructions about times of departure.
  • Approach these instructions through tradition, not folk astrology.
  • Don't make them more occult than they are.
Reflection Questions
  • What technical instruction of my tradition am I ignoring?
  • What would studying it offer?
Analogy

Kṛṣṇa is like a master mariner pointing out the chart of seasons before a long voyage — these months for sailing north, these for sailing south, this passage for returning, this for not. The verses that follow (8.24–26) are precisely such a chart. The wise sailor reads them not as superstition but as the recorded observations of those who have made the crossing.

📝 My note

Source: vedabase.io

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