Word meanings
- agniḥ
- fire
- jyotiḥ
- light
- ahaḥ
- day
- śuklaḥ
- the bright fortnight of the moon
- ṣaṭ-māsāḥ
- six months
- uttara-ayanam
- the sun’s northern course
- tatra
- there
- prayātāḥ
- departed
- gacchanti
- go
- brahma
- Brahman
- brahma-vidaḥ
- those who know the Brahman
- janāḥ
- persons
Translations
Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern path of the sun (the northern solstice) departing, then men who know Brahman go to Brahman.
If the sage, knowing the Supreme Spirit, goes forth with fire and light during the day, in the fortnight of the waxing moon, and in the six months before the Northern summer solstice, he will attain the Supreme.
Fire, light, daytime, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern solstice—by following this path, persons who are knowers of Brahman attain Brahman when they die.
जिस मार्गमें प्रकाशस्वरूप अग्निका अधिपति देवता, दिनका अधिपति देवता, शुक्लपक्षका अधिपति देवता, और छः महीनोंवाले उत्तरायणका अधिपति देवता है, शरीर छोड़कर उस मार्गसे गये हुए ब्रह्मवेत्ता पुरुष (पहले ब्रह्मलोकको प्राप्त होकर पीछे ब्रह्माजीके साथ) ब्रह्मको प्राप्त हो जाते हैं।Commentary
This is the Uttara-Marga 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 Kaivalya-Moksha 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.