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Krishna uses the words “bhruvOr madhye” in verse 10 and “moordhani aadhaaya” in verse 12 to clearly describe how one should control the lifebreath at the time (kaale) of the journey (prayaaNa). Bhruva means the eyebrow, and bhrvOh means of the two eyebrows. Maadhye means center of. Thus, bhruvOr madhye means in the center of, or middle of, the two eyebrows. What about it?
Krishna says, PrayaaNa kaale, at the time of the journey (when the atma or soul must depart from the body), bhruvOr madhye praaNam aaveshya samyak. At the time of this journey, i.e., when the moment of death, dying, approaches, one must fully and in its entirety (samyak) literally force
Page 35 of 101 (aavashya) the life breath (praaNam) and place it in the middle of, center of, the two eyebrows.
In various yogic practices, such as PraNaayaamam, the most commonly known yogic practice, one learns to control the breathing process. At first we carefully inhale air through our nostrils, actually only one nostril. Then it is completely held within the body for a brief moment before it is expelled through the other nostril.
http://www.chakrahub.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/7chakras.jpg
Somewhere along the way this breathing process started in our body. It is an involuntary process. We cannot help it. Everyone knows how to breathe.
Page 36 of 101 It need not be taught. What we need to learn, or be taught, is how to
regulate this breathing process. It is quite possible to hold the entire breath within the body for a short time, such as those who perform
praaNaayamam know. Where does the breath reside within the body when one does the praaNaayamam, or regulated process of inhale-hold-exhale?
It is definitely NOT residing in the middle of the two eyebrows. One can probably feel it in the lungs, or within the heart, or in some “diffused” form within the whole body. Just having the breathe held within the body has a great deal of health benefits (such as how oxygen is absorbed by the blood and then distributed throughout the body, likewise for things that must be expelled from the body). But, usually, we do not control the breathe in this fashion and keep breathing in the so-called “normal” fashion. When we are “out of breath” or “panting” things change and we are trying desperately to inhale and bring more oxygen into the body via the enhancement of the normal breathing process.
Now, Krishna is telling Arjuna (and us) that we have to do something
different. The entire lifebreath, at the moment of the final journey, or death, must be concentrated so that it is actually residing (or literally pushed into, forced into) the space between the two eyebrows.
But, Krishna says some more in this verse. Besides holding, or forcing, the breathe in this fashion – holding is a better word than forcing as we will see shortly and why so – we must do several other things.
Manaasaa acalena – this must be done with a very steady and calm mind, one that is not wavering with thoughts like we experience in our day to day living. We are filled with millions and millions of thoughts and the mind can take us to places unknown in a matter of seconds.
Bhaktyaa yuktO – one must be filled with devotion. This has to be learned while we are alive through prayer.
Page 37 of 101 Yoga balena – with the power or strength of yoga. This means we must also learn some yogic practices. We must learn how to control the breathe and hold it as described between the eyebrows. This requires practice or training, like training to play a sport, run a marathon, or many other things we do in life.
Acalena (steady, not wavering, not wandering) manaasaa (with a mind), and bhaktyaa yuktO (filled with bhakti or devotion) means that we must be ready for the moment of death and face it in an absolutely calm manner. There is no need to fear this moment. Bhakti, devotion, is developed with regular prayer rituals, such as reciting of the Vishnu Sahasranaamam, Lalita Sahasranaamam, study of scriptures like Gita and Srimad
Bhagavatam (and other devotional works in many other languages, Indian and otherwise). Then there will be no fear when the moment of death, or the final journey (the exact meaning of the words used, mrutyu is NOT used here).
What happens when one can do this? Krishna tells us in the final part of verse 10. Sa Tam Param Purusham upaiti Divyam.
Sa, or sahaa, is the pronoun which means “he”. He who does what has been described. (One could also include here, by implication, saa, the female pronoun meaning the same. May be ladies should chant saa instead of sa, when they recite this verse!)
Sa upaiti means, he comes. Actually “eti” means to comes. The addition of “upa” reinforces the message of coming, as in the words like Upanayanam, Upanishad, and so on.
Where does he come to, or go to, or arrive at (this is real meaning of upaiti and the addition of “upa”), if one is thinking of leaving the body and starting a journey? The answer is Tam Purusham – he arrives at, or goes to, or comes to, That Purusha, who is qualified by the adjective Param, hence he comes to that Supreme Being. Krishna also adds Divyam, Divine. He
Page 38 of 101 Imagine how a multitrack situation with a train ready to take off? What will happen in this situation. The train can only head down one single tracks, although many are present. It depends on the direction in which the front end of the train (the engine) is facing. Likewise, a modern airplane can take off and head in any direction in the vast sky. Yet, the direction that is must choose to arrive at its desired destination depends on the runway on to which it is directed. Only then is the plane pointing in a direction that is conducive to its quickest arrival at its chosen destination. If it takes a wrong turn, it can always turn around and come back, but this will take a finite time, and depending on the circumstances, also possibly involving one more landing and take off, may be even at a different airport. The same with the train, if it heads down the wrong track.
Now, apply this same analogy to how the lifebreath must leave the body, based on what Krishna has just described. The directionality, the place where the lifebreath must be held, before explusion from the body, is just as important to reach the desired destination – that Divine Supreme Being.
This should convince all of us to do the needful and learning how to hold the entire lifebreath as described here. If we cannot, they we will be like a train going down the wrong track, or the airplane taking off from the wrong runway.
Verse 11, which we will skip for the moment, is a further introduction to the description of the destination that Krishna to take Arjuna (and us). We will return to this later. Now, let us consider verse 12, which has been cited above and which describes what else we must do.
Sarva dwaaraaNi saiyamya
manO hrudi nirudhya ca l
moordhani-aadhaaya atmanah praaNam
aastithO yoga dhaaraNam ll 8.12 ll BG
Page 39 of 101 Sarva dwaaraaNi saiyamya – The word dwaaram means a door, or a gate, or the entrance. DwaaraaNi is the plural form. This body is compared to city with nine gates, or entrances in chapter 5, verse 13. Nava-dwaara puray dehee… Dhee means one who is holding the body. These nine entrances are what is being alluded to here. These nine entrances are the places where external inputs are received by our senses – the two eyes, the two ears, the two nostrils, the one mouth (never mind, some have more than one, figuratively speaking) and the two excretory passages which include the genitals. Females must wonder why only nine are mentioned, not ten. (That can be a topic for lively debate but outside the scope of the present!)
ManO hrudi nirudhya ca – The word “ca” is the conjunction “and”. We must also do something more. The five indriyas (or sensory organs) were just mentioned and now Krishna manas to these five. The manas is often translated, for want of a better word, as the mind in English. We have often discussed the chariot analogy in Gita study. The body is like a chariot
(ratha). The indriyas are like the horses. The manas is like the reins held by the one driving the chariot. The buddhi, or intelligence or intellect, is like the charioteer who actually holds the reins that control the horses or indriyas. Who is within chariot (or the rathin)? That is the dehi, the atma, the resident of the body and it is this rathin, or dehi, who is using the body (chariot), using the manas and buddhi to enjoy different pleasures (which is compared to the road on which the chariot travels). So, now Krishna is telling us what to do with the manas, or the controlling agency for the indiryas.
It should be completely restrained (nirudhya), or entrapped, cannot let go. In psychiatric hospitals, patients who suffer from serious psychological problems are physically restrained. In extreme cases they put a strait jacket around them. The process called “nirudhya” here is something similar.
Krishna tells us where the manas should go, or be restrained, or
constrained to be. He says hrudi – in the heart. This is commonly described as the place within the body where the Supreme Being resides – an
Page 40 of 101 amsha, or a very small divine fragment. The Goddess Mahalakshmi, or Sridevi, resides in this place within Paramaatma’s body – hence we say, Shreevatsaankita vakshasam to describe Him, in the last dhyaanam sloka (Chaayaayaam paarijaatasya…) of the Vishnu Sahasranaamam. Also, in the Shantaakaram bhujaga shayanam slokam, we find the description Yogihrud dhyaana gamyam. Yogi hurd means within the hearts of yogis. By the process of dhyanam, the yogis try to visualize Him as being situated within their heart, or hrud.
He is actually situated within everyone’s heart. It is only a matter of learning (through dhyaanam process) how to visualize Him. Krishna is telling us that we must do the same, and visualize Him within our heart at the time of our last journey.
We also learn from this that dhyaanam is a process that is under the control of the mind, or manas. Only when the manas is brought under control (by the charioteer who is holding the reins to control the horses) by the process of completely constraining the manas to hrud, will we succeed in visualizing Him at the last moment. In other words, when the manas is NOT constrained into the confines of the hrud area (heart area), it becomes like the reins let loose by the charioteer and the horses (indriyas) run wild seeking pleasures (vishayaas, which are the like the road traveled).
AastithO yoga dhaaraNam – situated (aastitha) in the yogic posture and holding it (dhaaraNam). What yogic posture?
Moordhani aadhaaya atmanah praaNam – the yogic posture has to do with holding something on the top of head, or the crown, i.e., moordhani. Aaadhaaya literally means to carry to or take something to. We encounter the same idea in the beautiful verse 10, chapter 5 (BrahmaNyaadhaaya karmaNi…). What is to be carried to the crown? Atamanah – of the atma – praaNam – the life breath. Through the power of the yogic process, Krishna says that the life breath should be literally carried to, or lifted to, the top of the head or the crown area and held there. One should actually get
Page 41 of 101 lying down, but sitting straight up in order to do this successfully, see also http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/bgita/bgita_24.html for commentaries by Swami Krishnananda on chapter 8 (discourses 23 to 26 here).
Finally, we encounter one more sloka before Krishna concludes this section with sa yaati paramam gatim.
Om ityekaaksharam Brahma vyaaharan maam anusmaran l
Yah prayaati tyajan deham sa yaati paramaamm gatim ll 8.13 ll BG Vyaharan literally means saying aloud, or enunciating. We encounter this statement also in chapter 17, verse 24 – tasmaat om ityudaahrutya and also in the famous NarayanOpanishad mantram – Om ityagre vyaaharet. But, all the dwaaras are closed – all the entrances are closed and nine- door city has been clamped down. So, now only the manas and buddhi can be engaged in this chanting or recital. What it means is that everything will heard aloud by the yogi, without any external disturbs like a loud echo within the closed city – or body. What is this sound?
This sound is “Om”. Krishna says that one should utter “Om”. It is counted as just one (eka) letter (aksharam), as also mentioned in the
NarayanOpanishad mantram cited above. This Om, or ekaaksharam, is Brahma – the embodiment of the Absolute Supreme.
Krishna says Maam (Me) anusmaran, which means engaged in the
process of thinking about Me. How is the person thinking? By chanting the one letter “Om”. Why is this so significant. Why is merely saying “Om” equal to remembering Him. Or, should one say Om and also remember Him.
Try saying Om and pay attention to the movement of the lips. As we say the “O” the two lips open wide and as we say the “m” the two lips close. In other words, everything that can ever be uttered, which happens by the process of opening and closing of the lips, is included by merely saying “Om”. How are we to remember Him? We can chant the Vishnu
Page 42 of 101 Sahasranamam. But, at the time of death, there is no time to chant all the 1000 names. Ok, we can simply chant “Rama” which is stated to be
equivalent to chanting all the 1000 names. But “Ra” and “ma” are two letters. Krishna makes easier and gives us the choice of just uttering one single letter, by just saying “Om”.
This was discussed this recently in our study of Ahalya’s hymn in praise of Rama, after she was liberated from her stone-form: the Ahalya kruta Shree Rama Stotram (see http://www.scribd.com/doc/87281848/Ahalyakruta- Shree-Rama-Stotram ) Ahalya says, Omkaara vaacyas tvam Raama, you bring glory to Omkara, i.e., the sound vibration Om. But at the moment of death even those two letters can just be turned into a single “Om”.
The second line simply says, Yah prayaati tyajan deham, one who goes while leaving the body, as just described here, sa yaati paramaam gatim, that person will arrive at, or reach (yaati), or go to, the Supreme
(paramaam), beyond which there is nothing superior, state, or existence (gatim). The word gati also describes motion and the process of traveling initiated by the indweller of the body takes this person to Paramaam gatim.
Why should one do all this? This too is answered succinctly in verse 15. There is no rebirth for those who reach Him – Maam upetya punar-janma na aapnuvanti. The verb aapnuvanti means to attain. The addition of na means negation. So, literally this means do not attain rebirth, or will not be reborn. Why is this such a good thing?
Krishna says the place where they would return is dhukkalayam (a house of sorrow). It is also impermanent (ashaasvatam). Krishna is referring to life on this earth. What is the point of coming back again, attaining a body (next time it might not even be a human body) and suffering here and going
through the cycle of birth (janma), death (mrutyu), old age (jaraa) and diseases (vyaadhi). Better to go the place from which there is no coming back. This is stated more clearly in verse 16. One can reach higher lokas, all the way up to the loka where Brahma resides (aa-Brahma-bhuvanaa)
Page 43 of 101 but one will return. It is only a matter of time. But if one comes to Him
(Maam upetya tu), there is no rebirth (punar janma na vidyate).
Following this, Krishna enters into the discussion of some cosmological ideas and what happens even with Brahma – to kind of gives an idea of what will happen if we actually get to Brahmaloka, i.e., actually become Brahma. Even Brahma, it is said, fears death, since the lifetimes granted is only two paraardhaas, as already described. It is a mindbogglingly large duration by human reckoning but it is still finite. It is by no means infinite or eternity. Hence, we encounter the description in verses 17 to 21, before proceeding to the description of how to embark on the final journey.
Finally, let us reconsider the significance of Om ityekaaksharam Brahma vyaaharam Maam anusmaran. There are seven chakras with the human body, as seen in the diagrams reproduced earlier. These seven chakras are named as follows and are associated with the following sound
vibrations, or bheejaaksharams.
Moolaadhaara – Lam (pronounced as in Lambodhara) Swaadhishthana – Vam (pronounced as in Vamsha) Manipoora – Ram (pronounced as in English word rum) Anaahata – Yam (as in verse 6, chapter 8)
Vishuddha – Ham (as in Hamsa, the bird)
Aagnya (Aajnaa) – Om as in the primordial sound discussed
Sahasraara – Also, Om (or the bindhu, the central dot, of Shree cakram)
The sound vibration “Om” mentioned in verse 13 is the primordial sound vibration that is linked with the two cakras indicated here and directs the praaNa to the cakras situated between the two eyebrows (Aajnaa cakram) or the top of the crown of the head (sahasraara). Releasing the lifebreath from these two cakras, takes the dehi (the indweller in the body, i.e., atma, or soul) straight to paraam gati, tad dhaama paramam ma-ma, from which there is no returning back. The cakras are like launching pads for a rocket. The launching pad must point in the right direction for a rocket, or
spaceship to reach the correct interplanetary destination. Hence, in space science or technology, we have what is known as “launch windows” when
Page 44 of 101 the earth is in the appropriate spot to launch the rocket in the direction desired.
Can a novice without any yogic abilities reach the param dhaaama? On first reading of this description of the verses from chapter 8, it would appear that a novice is destined to return back and get entangled once again in this ashaasvatam dhukkalayam. But there is hope, still.
Srila Prabhupada offers the following in his purport for verse 19, chapter 2, Canto 2 where Shukaacarya describes yogic processes to Parikshit in order to both leave the body permanently, or temporarily to visit various lokas. http://vedabase.net/sb/2/2/19/en
The expert yogī who has thoroughly practiced the control of the life air by the prescribed method of the yoga system is advised to quit the body as follows. He should plug up the evacuating hole with the heel of his foot and then progressively move the life air on and on to six places: the navel, abdomen, heart, chest, palate, eyebrows and cerebral pit. Controlling the life air by the prescribed yogic process is