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Chapter 8 · Attaining the Supreme · 28 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps

1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.

Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›

Mind & yogaChapter 8 · Attaining the Supreme

8.8 8.10

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 8.9

Meditation and remembrance at death

Īśvara · God

कविं पुराणमनुशासितार-

मणोरणीयांसमनुस्मरेद्य: ।

सर्वस्य धातारमचिन्त्यरूप-

मादित्यवर्णं तमस: परस्तात् ॥ ९ ॥

kaviṁ purāṇam anuśāsitāram

aṇor aṇīyāṁsam anusmared yaḥ

sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam

āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt

Translation

One should meditate upon the Supreme Person as the one who knows everything, as He who is the oldest, who is the controller, who is smaller than the smallest, who is the maintainer of everything, who is beyond all material conception, who is inconceivable, and who is always a person. He is luminous like the sun, and He is transcendental, beyond this material nature.

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Meditate on the Supreme Person

1
Meditate on the Supreme Person, who knows everything, controls and maintains everything, and is beyond material nature.
2
Prabhupāda explains that Kṛṣṇa is always a person, not impersonal or empty. His power is beyond our understanding.
3
Rather than argue endlessly, accept the teachings of scripture and follow them to gain understanding.

Key points from the purport

Mentions 10 ways of thinking/meditating on the Supreme

How to think of Krishna (This includes all the points of the purport)

Kavi — Knower of everything (past, present and future)

Oldest — All born out of Him

Controller

Smaller than the smallest

Enters into each atom

Enters into the heart of the living entity; who is one ten-thousandth the tip of a hair

Maintainer of everything

Beyond all material conception — All big planets are floating by His energy

Achintya — Inconceivable

God’s energy is beyond our thinking jurisdiction

Logic and philosophical speculation cannot touch Him

Sign of real intelligence –

Accept the principles of sastra as it is

Avoid useless arguments and speculations

Always a person — As indicated by the word ‘rupam’

Luminous like sun 10.Transcendental, beyond this material nature

Text 8.9 refutes “Absolute Truth as impersonal”; Recommends meditation on personality

Connected verses · 1

Texts 8.9 & 8.10

Krishna is thus discussing Bhakti, but Bhakti mixed with aspirations of a yogi seeking liberation from birth and death “yoga mishra bhakti”. Meditating on Him as possessor of these qualities enables one to realize Supersoul who is the goal of yoga practice done by yogis

Remembering Krishna (Practice Remembrance Through

meditation)

By meditating on Krishna and His qualities, or by practicing yoga-mishra-bhakti, one can think of Supreme Personality of Godhead when quitting the body and reach the spiritual planets

Chapter 8, section III: Remembering Krishna (Practice Remembrance Through