In Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8, Lord Krishna answers how one attains Ishwara after death. It depends on what we think at the time of death. If we think of Him at that time, then we attain Him. Since no one knows when death occurs, it’s better to meditate on Him always. Here, he discusses about three types of mediation, first, on the cosmic form of Ishwara, second type in his name or Om, the third type and simplest is to remember Him in any form throughout our life. So what happens after death? Krishna explains that the universe is like an infinite cycle of creation and dissolution that symbolically represents day and night, at the end of each day all living and non living things, they become unobvious and when night ends they are manifest again. Hence we are caught in the endless cycle of creation and dissolution. Only those who take an effort come out of this cycle and attain the Lord. He urges us to take steps to attain liberation. Finally, he enumerates the two paths the soul takes after death. The first the dark one is for those who performed good actions, the reach heaven exhaust the results of their actions and return to the world are reborn. The second is the bright one attained by those who practice faithful meditation on Ishwara in addition to performing good actions. They reach the dwelling of Lord Brahma and remain there until dissolution and they are eventually liberated. The Lord encourages us to take this path.
arjuna uvāca
kiḿ tad brahma kim adhyātmaḿ
kiḿ karma puruṣottama
adhibhūtaḿ ca kiḿ proktam
adhidaivaḿ kim ucyate
Translation
Arjuna inquired: O my Lord, O Supreme Person, what is Brahman? What is the self? What are fruitive activities? What is this material man...View More
adhiyajñaḥ kathaḿ ko ’tra
dehe ’smin madhusūdana
prayāṇa-kāle ca kathaḿ
jñeyo ’si niyatātmabhiḥ
Translation
Who is the Lord of sacrifice, and how does He live in the body, O Madhusudana? And how can those engaged in devotional service know You at the tim...View More
śrī-bhagavān uvāca
akṣaraḿ brahma paramaḿ
svabhāvo ’dhyātmam ucyate
bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo
visargaḥ karma-saḿjñitaḥ
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: The indestructible, transcendental living entity is called Brahman, and his eternal n...View More
adhibhūtaḿ kṣaro bhāvaḥ
puruṣaś cādhidaivatam
adhiyajño ’ham evātra
dehe deha-bhṛtāḿ vara
Translation
O best of the embodied beings, the physical nature, which is constantly changing, is called adhibhuta [the material manifestation]. The universal form of...View More
anta-kāle ca mām eva
smaran muktvā kalevaram
yaḥ prayāti sa mad-bhāvaḿ
yāti nāsty atra saḿśayaḥ
Translation
And whoever, at the end of his life, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.
View Moreyaḿ yaḿ vāpi smaran bhāvaḿ
tyajaty ante kalevaram
taḿ tam evaiti kaunteya
sadā tad-bhāva-bhāvitaḥ
Translation
Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail.
View Moretasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu
mām anusmara yudhya ca
mayy arpita-mano-buddhir
mām evaiṣyasy asaḿśayaḥ
Translation
Therefore, Arjuna, you should always think of Me in the form of Krishna and at the same time carry out your prescribed duty of fighting. With your activiti...View More
abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena
cetasā nānya-gāminā
paramaḿ puruṣaḿ divyaḿ
yāti pārthānucintayan
Translation
He who meditates on Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Partha, is sure to re...View More
kaviḿ purāṇam anuśāsitāram
aṇor aṇīyāḿsam anusmared yaḥ
sarvasya dhātāram acintya-rūpam
āditya-varṇaḿ 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 con...View More
prayāṇa-kāle manasācalena
bhaktyā yukto yoga-balena caiva
bhruvor madhye prāṇam āveśya samyak
sa taḿ paraḿ puruṣam upaiti divyam
Translation
One who, at the time of death, fixes his life air between the eyebrows and, by the strength of yoga, with an undeviat...View More
yad akṣaraḿ veda-vido vadanti
viśanti yad yatayo vīta-rāgāḥ
yad icchanto brahma-caryaḿ caranti
tat te padaḿ sańgraheṇa pravakṣye
Translation
Persons who are learned in the Vedas, who utter omkara and who are great sages in the renounced order enter into Br...View More
sarva-dvārāṇi saḿyamya
mano hṛdi nirudhya ca
mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam
āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām
Translation
The yogic situation is that of detachment from all sensual engagements. Closing all the doors of the senses and fixing the mind on the heart and t...View More
oḿ ity ekākṣaraḿ brahma
vyāharan mām anusmaran
yaḥ prayāti tyajan dehaḿ
sa yāti paramāḿ gatim
Translation
After being situated in this yoga practice and vibrating the sacred syllable om, the supreme combination of letters, if one thinks of the Supreme Perso...View More
ananya-cetāḥ satataḿ
yo māḿ smarati nityaśaḥ
tasyāhaḿ su-labhaḥ pārtha
nitya-yuktasya yoginaḥ
Translation
For one who always remembers Me without deviation, I am easy to obtain, O son of Pritha, because of his constant engagement in devotional service.
View Moremām upetya punar janma
duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ
saḿsiddhiḿ paramāḿ gatāḥ
Translation
After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogis in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have at...View More
ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ
punar āvartino ’rjuna
mām upetya tu kaunteya
punar janma na vidyate
Translation
From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains to My ...View More
sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmaṇo viduḥ
rātriḿ yuga-sahasrāntāḿ
te ’ho-rātra-vido janāḥ
Translation
By human calculation, a thousand ages taken together form the duration of Brahma’s one day. And such also is the duration of his night.
View Moreavyaktād vyaktayaḥ sarvāḥ
prabhavanty ahar-āgame
rātry-āgame pralīyante
tatraivāvyakta-saḿjñake
Translation
At the beginning of Brahma’s day, all living entities become manifest from the unmanifest state, and thereafter, when the night falls, they are merged ...View More
bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaḿ
bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate
rātry-āgame ’vaśaḥ pārtha
prabhavaty ahar-āgame
Translation
Again and again, when Brahma’s day arrives, all living entities come into being, and with the arrival of Brahma’s night they are helplessly ann...View More
paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ
yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu
naśyatsu na vinaśyati
Translation
Yet there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is...View More
avyakto ’kṣara ity uktas
tam āhuḥ paramāḿ gatim
yaḿ prāpya na nivartante
tad dhāma paramaḿ mama
Translation
That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained...View More
puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha
bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā
yasyāntaḥ-sthāni bhūtāni
yena sarvam idaḿ tatam
Translation
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is greater than all, is attainable by unalloyed devotion. Although He is present in His abode, He is all-p...View More
yatra kāle tv anāvṛttim
āvṛttiḿ caiva yoginaḥ
prayātā yānti taḿ kālaḿ
vakṣyāmi bharatarṣabha
Translation
O best of the Bharatas, I shall now explain to you the different times at which, passing away from this world, the yogi does or does not come back...View More
agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ
ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam
tatra prayātā gacchanti
brahma brahma-vido janāḥ
Translation
Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain that Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an ausp...View More
dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ
ṣaṇ-māsā dakṣiṇāyanam
tatra cāndramasaḿ jyotir
yogī prāpya nivartate
Translation
The mystic who passes away from this world during the smoke, the night, the fortnight of the waning moon, or the six months when the sun pass...View More
śukla-kṛṣṇe gatī hy ete
jagataḥ śāśvate mate
ekayā yāty anāvṛttim
anyayāvartate punaḥ
Translation
Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.
View Morenaite sṛtī pārtha jānan
yogī muhyati kaścana
tasmāt sarveṣu kāleṣu
yoga-yukto bhavārjuna
Translation
Although the devotees know these two paths, O Arjuna, they are never bewildered. Therefore be always fixed in devotion.
View Morevedeṣu yajñeṣu tapaḥsu caiva
dāneṣu yat puṇya-phalaḿ pradiṣṭam
atyeti tat sarvam idaḿ viditvā
yogī paraḿ sthānam upaiti cādyam
Translation
A person who accepts the path of devotional service is not bereft of the results derived from studying the Ved...View More