Cosmic Evolution

Eighth Chapter of Bhagavad-Gītā Summarized

As summarized by Michael Dolan/Bhakti Vidhan Mahayogi

According to Yamunacharya, “The Eighth Chapter of Bhagavad-Gītā deals with the 3 divisions of truth-seekers: namely those who seek aiśvarya, or those who seek knowledge of the indestructible self and those who wish to attain the Supreme, or Bhagavan. This chapter explains the knowledge to be attained and the qualities to be acquired by these different classes of aspirants.   (Gitasaṁgraha 12 aiśvaryākṣarayāthātmyaṁ bhagavaccaraṇārthiṇām vedyopādeyabhāvānam astame bheda ucyate. ऐश्वर्याक्षरयाथात्म्यं भगवच्चरणार्थिणाम् वेद्योपादेयभावानम् अस्तमे भेद उच्यते) 

Bhaktivedanta Swāmi titles the chapter  “Attaining the Supreme,” in keeping with the ancient commentator Yamunacharya. Śrīdhara Mahārāja’s translator calls it “The Path of Absolute Freedom.

Arjuna has asked Kṛṣṇa to define terms, and so far we have seen the explanation of Brahman and ātmā, or God and the Self. He’s also interested in understanding karma, and supernatural influences especially those of the Vedic gods. Let’s start with karma.

The word karma may be defined in various ways. It comes from the Sanskrit root kri  which is the verb “to do,” or “to make.” 
Normally, we think of karma in terms of action and reaction: we speak of good karma and bad karma. Karma also means “work, action, creative energy.” Here, Kṛṣṇa associates karma with procreation. He says that karma is bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ  or “that procreative energy by which the material bodies of the living entities are created.” We've seen the meaning of "karma-yoga" as work-in-sacrifice. When karma is balanced in yoga through sacrifice it may lead to dedication or bhakti. But when karma is an end to itself, it means action becomes perpetuated in the chain of birth and death. 
Here, Kṛṣṇa uses the word karma  to describe the entire subjective evolution of consciousness by which the living souls generate the conditions for the varieties of living species in the cosmic world with the help of the host of gods and other progenitive beings. (bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo visargaḥ karma-saṁjñitaḥ) Bhaktivedānta Swāmī  translates this, "action pertaining to the development of the material bodies of the living entities is called karma..." whereas S. Radhakrishnan says, "karma is the creative impulse out of which life's forms issue. The whole cosmic evolution is called karma. The subject-object interaction which is the central pattern of the cosmos is the expression of Brahman, the Absolut Sirit, which is above the distinctions of subject and object." According to the translator of the commentary of Śridhara Mahārāja,  the word visarga  means "creation," and bhūta-bhāvodbhava-karo means "whose action produces the bodies of human and lower species though the agency of gross and subtle material elements." 

S. Radhakrishnan titles the chapter, “the Course of Cosmic Evolution,”

Kṛṣṇa continues: “Adhibhutam or the cosmic manifestation of time and space is impermanent. Physical nature or adhibhutam is subject to change at any time. The physical elements themselves are transitory and destructible. The conception of the entire universal experience along with all living beings, the sun, stars, and moon with all their gods is the cosmic form of divinity called adhidaivatam. Just as material bodies are inhabited by the individual spirit souls, so I inhabit the adhidaivatam universal body or cosmic form in my capacity as the Paramātmā or Supreme soul. As such, I am the original subject as well as the object of all sacrifice, the Adhiyajña.  

The Sanskrit here is terse, but deep with meaning: Adhibhuta  refers to the transitory nature of the elements and the time-space continuum which are akṣara,  destructible, mutable, perishable. Those who are after aiśvarya or material opulence and wealth will be frustrated in their sacrifice. They will achieve only temporary results, since everything in this world is temporary. A more worthy attempt will be to offer sacrifice to the higher plane,  adhidaivata  beyond the mundane gods of this world. The best offering will be made to the subject of all sacrifice, the Adhiyajña. the Supreme Puruṣa, Kṛṣṇa Himself. In his Gīta-bhāṣya, Ramanuja comments, “Adhiyajña connotes God; He should be propitiated in sacrifice, i.e. God, who is the atman of the gods who constitute his body, should be propitiated by sacrifices. This should be commonly known by all three groups of truth-seekers (materialists, spiritualists, and those who take the path of dedication)  when they perform any sacrifices.

Kṛṣṇa assures Arjuna, “And, whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” Since one’s final conviction is determined by one’s regular habit in life, one should always remember God, Kṛṣṇa, on a daily basis. “He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, O Arjuna, is sure to reach me.”

Kṛṣṇa goes on to describe the respective destinations of three kinds of religionists: those who strive for karmic gain, who wish to have a greater reward in their next life, those who seek spiritual relief from material stress, and those who wish to enter into a loving relationship with God. These are called karmis, jñānīs, and bhaktas. Karmic religion involves worship of God for some material benefit in this life or the next. As they are attached to worship for some material gain, the karmic religionists will return to enjoy the benefits of their sacrifice. As they have no interest in leaving the world of birth and death they are condemned to rebirth in saṁsara. The jñānīs  wish for liberation by merging their individual existence in the infinite undifferentiated spirit called Brahman. They shall achieve liberation, but at the expense of individual selfhood. Absorbed in infinite spirit as drops of water are absorbed in the ocean, they shall enter the impersonal Brahman. One the other hand, those devoted to the Supreme God shall enter his divine planet in a spiritual form, called svarūpa.  Having attained the highest plane of spiritual existence in devotion, the bhaktas  will serve there in dedication. They never return to the material world.

 Kṛṣṇa explains the parameters of the material cosmos, calculating the time frame for the beginning and end of the universe at approximately 311,000,000,000,000 years according to Vedic calculations. The creator of the universe, called Lord Brahma, is also temporary and lives and dies with his creation. The living entities take birth and die again and again in a cycle of rebirth until they understand the truths revealed in the Vedas and explained by Kṛṣṇa here in the Gītā. 

When one Brahma dies, another is reborn and the universe is again created in an endless loop off 311,000,000,000 universal creation cycles. And yet beyond this physical universe is a metaphysical universe not subject to annihilation. The spiritual world is beyond the manifest and unmanifest universes of cosmic reality. This Supreme Abode is unmanifested and infallible. Kṛṣṇa says, “It is the Supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is my supreme abode.”

Bhaktivedānta Swāmī comments: “The supreme abode of the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā  as cintāmaṇi-dhāma, a place where all desires are fulfilled. The supreme abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa known as Goloda Vṛndāvana is full of palaces made of touchstone. There are also trees which are called ‘desire trees’ that supply any type of eatable upon demand, and there are cows known as surabhi  cows which supply a limitless supply of milk. In this abode, the Lord is served by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune (Lakṣmīs), and He is called Goviinda, the primal Lord and the cause of all causes. The Lord is accustomed to blow His flute (venum kvanantam).  His transcendental form is the most attractive in all the worlds—His eyes are like the lotus petals and the color of His body like clouds. He is so attractive that His beauty excels that of thousands of cupids. He wears saffron cloth, a garland around His neck and a peacock feather in His  hair. In the Gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa gives only a small hint of His personal abode (Goloka Vṛndāvana) which is the supermost planet in the spiritual kingdom. A vivid description is given in the Brahma-saṁhitā.  Vedic literature states that there is nothing superior to the abode of the Supreme Godhead, and that that abode is the ultimate destination.  When one attains to it, he never returns to the material world. Kṛṣṇa’s supreme abode and Kṛṣṇa Himself are nondifferent, being of the same quality. On this earth, Vṛndāvana, ninety miles southeast of Delhi, is a replica of that supreme Goloka Vṛndāvana located in the spiritual sky. When Kṛṣṇa descended on this earth, He sported on that particular tract of land known as Vṛndāvana in the district of Mathurā, India.”