Sanskrit · Devanagari
अग्निर्जोतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम्। तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः ॥
Sanskrit · IAST
agnirjotirahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇmāsā uttarāyaṇam tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahmavido janāḥ
English witness
Kashinath Trimbak Telang, 1882The fire the flame the day the bright fortnight the six months of the northern solstice
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29 translations and commentaries are aligned to this verse. Choose up to three; the root verse and Telang witness stay above them.
Śaṅkarācārya
।।8.24।। -- अग्निः कालाभिमानिनी देवता। तथा ज्योतिरपि देवतैव कालाभिमानिनी। अथवा अग्निज्योतिषी यथा श्रुते एव देवते। भूयसा तु निर्देशो यत्र काले (गीता 8।23) तं कालम् (गीता 8।23) इति आम्रवणवत्। तथा अहः देवता अहरभिमानिनी अहः शुक्लः शुक्लपक्षदेवता षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् तत्रापि देवतैव मार्गभूता इति स्थितः अन्यत्र अयं न्यायः। तत्र तस्मिन् मार्गे प्रयाताः मृताः गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो ब्रह्मोपासकाः ब्रह्मोपासनपरा जनाः। क्रमेण इति वाक्यशेषः। न हि सद्योमुक्तिभाजां सम्यग्दर्शननिष्ठानां गतिः आगतिर्वा क्वचित् अस्ति न तस्य प्राणा उत्क्रामन्ति इति श्रुतेः। ब्रह्मसंलीनप्राणा एव ते ब्रह्ममया ब्रह्मभूता एव ते।
68972b7d58be…Rāmānuja
8.23 - 8.24 Here, the term 'time' denotes a path, having many deities beginning with day and ending with year. The deities preside over divisions of time. The meaning is - I declare to you the path departing in which Yogins do not return and also the path departing in which the doers of good actions return. By the clause, 'Light in the form of fire, the day, bright fortnight, six months of the northern course,' year also is denoted.
4e3e870f460e…Swami Sivananda
8.24 अग्निः fire? ज्योतिः light? अहः day? शुक्लः the bright fortnight? षण्मासाः six months? उत्तरायणम् the northern path of the sun? तत्र there? प्रयाताः departed? गच्छन्ति go? ब्रह्म to Brahman? ब्रह्मविदः knowers of Brahman? जनाः people.Commentary This is the UttaraMarga or Devayana? the northern path or the path of light? by which the Yogis go to Brahman. This path leads to salvation. It takes the devotee to Brahmaloka. The six months of the northern solstice is from the middle of January to the middle of July. It is regarded as the better period for death. There is a vivid description in the Chhandogya Upanishad? the Kaushitaki Upanishad and the Brahma Sutras? chapter IV.3 and 4? ii. 18 and 21.On the road beginning with light (the departed soul proceeds)? on account of that being widely known.Having reached the path of the gods he comes to the world of Agni (fire)? to the world of Vayu (air)? to the world of Varuna (rain)? to the world of Indra (king of the gods)? to the world of Prajapati (the Creator)? to the world of Brahman.They go to the light? from the light to day? from day to the waxing half of the moon? from the waxing half of the moon to the six months when the sun goes to the north? from those months to the year? from the year to the sun.When the person goes away from this world he comes to Vayu (air). Then Vayu room for him like the hole of a wheel and through it he mounts higher. He comes to the sun.From the moon to the lightning there a person that is not human leads him to Brahman.Time is here used in the sense of the path or the stage on the path. Fire and light are the deities who preside over time. Daytime is the deity who presides over the day. The bright fortnight is the deity presiding over it. The six months of the northern solstice are the deity who presides over the northern path.This is the path of illumination that leads to liberation.The lifreaths of the liberated sages who have attained knowledge of the Self do not depart. They are absorbed in Brahman. The Jivanmuktas who attain KaivalyaMoksha or immediate,salvation or liberation have no place to go to or return from. They become one with the allpervading Brahman.Each step may mean a plane or a state of consciousness or the degree of purity or illumination. The more the purity the more the divine light. There are bright objects throughout the course of the path. There is illumination or knowledge when one passes along this path. Hence it is called the path of light.After Bhishma was mortally wounded? he lay on the bed of arrows till the onset of the northern solstice and then departed from here to the Abode of the Lord.
81c5a8a1bc28…These supplied texts come from the pinned VedicScriptures dataset under GPL-3.0 and await independent alignment review.