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GĪTĀ, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CH. VIII 1041
अग्निज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् । तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः॥ २४ ॥ धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् । तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते ॥ २५ ॥ शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते।
एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययाऽऽवर्तते पुनः ॥२६॥ time of death, having died when, the (Karma-) Yogins do not come back to birth in this world); and (the time of death having died) when, they come again. (24) The Fire, jyotiḥ (that is, flames), daytime, the bright half of the month), and the six months of the uttarāyana (that is, northern solsticeTrans.), those men, knowers of Brahman, who die in these, attain the Brahman after death and do not come back). (25) (Fire), smoke, night, the dark half (of the month), and the six months of the daksināyana (that is, the southern solstice-Trans.), the (Karma-) Yogin (who dies) in these going to the light of the Moon, (that is, the sphere of the Moon), returns (after his acquired merit is over). (26) In this way, the white and the black (that is, the light and the dark) have been considered the two sasvate gali' (that is, the eternal paths) of the world; going by one path, one does not return; and by the other path, one returns.
[These two paths are known in the Upanisads by the names 'devayāna' (bright half) and 'pitryāna '(dark half), or the 'arcırādz-mārga' and the 'dhūmrūdı-mārga'; and these paths have been described even in the Rg-Veda. When fire is set to the dead body of a man, that is, from fire itself, both these paths commence; therefore, the word
Fire' must be taken as implied from the previous stanza into the 25th stanza. As the only object of the 25th stanza is to show the difference between the path described in the previous stanza and the second path, the word 'Fire' has not been repeated in it. A further explanation about this matter has been given towards the end of Chapter X of the
