Arjuna said: O Supreme Person, what is Brahman, what is the self, what are fruitive activities, and what is this material manifestation? And what are the demigods? Please explain this to me.

O Madhusudana, how can the self-realized individuals comprehend You at the time of death? And how can You be known by those who are steadfast in their devotion?

The imperishable Supreme Brahman is said to be the eternal divine self (svabhāva); the offering of one's actions (karma) into the manifested world of beings (bhūta-bhāva) is called visarga, the creative force.

The perishable nature (kṣara) is the material manifestation (adhibhūta), and the eternal soul (puruṣa) is the divine force (adhidaivatam). I am also the transcendental Lord (adhiyajña) situated in the bodies of all living entities.

And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.

Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail, O son of Kunti, because of his constant concentration upon it.

Therefore, at all times, remember Me and fight. With your mind and intellect absorbed in Me, you will surely come to Me.

Contemplating on the divine, supreme person, who is reached by the mind absorbed in the practice of yoga, one attains him, O Partha.

One who constantly remembers the most ancient and adorable form of the Supreme Being, who is the origin of all, inconceivable, beyond the darkness of ignorance, and radiant like the sun, he attains liberation.

At the time of departure, fully engaging the mind in devotion, and with the strength of yoga, placing the life force between the eyebrows, one reaches the divine Supreme Person.

What the knowers of the Vedas declare to be the imperishable, the disciplined, self-controlled ascetics enter into; desiring which, they practice brahmacharya; that state I shall succinctly explain to you.

Controlling all the gates of the body, fixing the mind in the heart, and engaging the life air at the top of the head, one should practice yogic concentration.

Chanting the single syllable 'Om', which represents the ultimate reality, and departing the body while remembering Me, the one who thus leaves the body attains the supreme destination.

For one who remembers Me constantly, who is always absorbed in thoughts of Me, I am easy to obtain, O Arjuna, because he is always engaged in devotional service.

Upon attaining Me, those who reach the eternal abode, the impermanent abode of misery, do not take birth again. They attain the highest perfection.

Arjuna, all worlds, up to the world of Brahma, are subject to return again, but, after attaining to Me, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth.

Those who know the day of Brahma which spans a thousand yugas, and the night of Brahma which also spans a thousand yugas, they are the ones who truly understand.

All beings are unmanifest in the beginning of creation, manifest in the middle, and unmanifest again in the end.

Again and again, all beings are born, O Arjuna, with the coming of the day, and they are dissolved with the coming of the night, helpless in this matter.

But there is another unmanifest nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifest matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated.

That which is known as the unmanifest and imperishable, that goal is said to be the supreme destination. Those who reach it do not return. That is My supreme abode.

O Partha (Arjuna), that Supreme Person is attainable only by unswerving devotion, by which all beings exist within, and by whom this entire universe is pervaded.

O best of the Bharatas, now I shall explain to you the time when departing yogis attain or do not attain liberation, depending on the time of their departure.

Those who depart from this world during the bright half of the month, the six months of the sun's northern course, attains the Supreme destination.

When smoke, night, the fortnight of the waning moon, and the six months of the sun's northern course are present, the yogi who attains to the celestial abode reaches the luminous world and returns not.

These are the paths, bright and dark, of the eternal world; by one, a person goes to the non-returnable state, and by the other, they return again.

Arjuna, none of these paths, for those who know them, lead to delusion. Therefore, at all times, be engaged in yoga, O Arjuna.

Whatever results are declared in the Vedas, in sacrifices, in austerities, and also in acts of charity—know that the yogi transcends all of these, having understood them. Such a yogi attains the supreme eternal abode.