Shrimad Bhagavad-gita

by Narayana Gosvami | 2013 | 327,105 words

The Bhagavad-gita Verse 8.16, English translation, including the Vaishnava commentaries Sarartha-varsini-tika, Prakashika-vritti and Rasika-ranjana (excerpts). This is verse 16 from the chapter 8 called “Taraka-brahma-yoga (the Yoga of Absolute Deliverance)”

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 8.16:

आ-ब्रह्म-भुवनाल् लोकाः पुनर् आवर्तिनोऽर्जुन ।
माम् उपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर् जन्म न विद्यते ॥ १६ ॥

ā-brahma-bhuvanāl lokāḥ punar āvartino'rjuna |
mām upetya tu kaunteya punar janma na vidyate
|| 16 ||

ā-brahma-bhuvanāt–from Brahma-loka; lokāḥ–the planets; punaḥ–again; āvartinaḥ–returning; arjuna–O Arjuna; mām–Me; upetya–having attained; tu–but; kaunteya–son of Kuntī; punaḥ–again; janma–birth; na–no; vidyate–there is.

O Arjuna, all planets in this universe up to the planet of Lord Brahmā are places of repeated birth and death, but one who attains Me, O son of Kuntī, never takes birth again.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

“Indeed, all jīvas, even those who have great piety, take birth, but My devotees do not take birth.” To explain this, the verse beginning with ā-brahma is spoken. The jīvas who live on any of the planets up to Satya-loka, the planet of Lord Brahmā, must take birth again.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura quotes Kṛṣṇa as saying, “All planets, from Brahma-loka, or Satya-loka, down to the lowest planet, are temporary. The jīvas from those planets may take another birth, but one who takes exclusive shelter of Me as the object of one-pointed devotion does not take birth again.” It is not said that there is no rebirth for karma-yogīs, aṣṭāṅga-yogīs and those who take shelter of pradhānī-bhūtā-bhakti. This implies that kevalā-bhakti is the ultimate fruit, or the perfection, of all these processes, and one can become free from the cycle of rebirth by gradually attaining this stage of kevalā-bhakti.

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