We’re at a very important juncture in the Bhagawad Gita, wherein Bhagawan Krishna is explaining the path to attain the highest “Vaikuntam”, from where we’re not going to come back forever into any “Lokha”. In pursuit of one’s travel post the current birth of ours in this world, Bhagawan Krishna talks about two paths – The “White Path” and the “Black Path”. While the white path is referred to as the “Archiraadhi Maargam”, which is full of bright light, the black path is referred to as the “Dhumaadi Maargam”, which is full of darkness and miseries. For spiritual seekers / aspirants like all of us, we should strive to traverse this “Archiraadhi Maargam”, shouldn’t we? For this, Bhagawan is of course going to explain several guidelines that we should follow, and we’re going to discuss them in our future episodes. However, for now, Bhagawan is explaining how the “Archiradhi Maargam” is. We’ve seen in yesterday’s episode that this path traverses through twelve different “Lokhas”, starting from the “Archit”, which is nothing but a huge bright light. From there on, we traverse through several phases such as “Shukla Paksham”, “Uttaraayanam”, “Samvatsaram” and then enter into the “Vaayu Lokha”, “Surya Lokha”, “Chandra Lokha”, “Varuna Lokha”, “Vidyut Lokha”, “Indra Lokha” and then we enter into Bhagawan Brahma’s “Satya Lokha”! We’ve witnessed the journey of our “Atman” through all these “Lokhas”, and we might ask a question here – “Where is “Vaikuntam”? We’ve seen a long journey till now and where is this going to end?” Let’s continue this discussion on “Archiraadhi Maargam” further in today’s episode.
Moving further thus, Bhagawan Krishna explains – “Oh Arjuna! Once you cross through Bhagawan Brahma’s “Satya Lokha”, you will traverse through the expansive, deep and exorbitant “Lokha” called “Moola-Prakriti”. This is nothing but the “Cosmos” or the “Cosmic energy”, which we often keep explaining. Once you cross this “Moola-Prakriti”, you will go closer to a river called “Virajaa Nadhi”. Crossing this “Virajaa Nadhi” is one of the toughest things that you can do and it is not very easy. If you still have “Karma” left in you, there is no option but to submerge in this “Virajaa Nadhi” and thereby go back to any of the previously described “Lokhas” again! However, if you are devoid of any “Karma”, you will be able to cross this “Virajaa Nadhi” and after this, you’ll finally reach the “Vaikunta Lokha” of mine. Thus, people who reach the “Vaikuntam”, will never have a situation henceforth wherein they’ll come back to this world again! You can live permanently there at “Vaikuntam” with ultimate peace and eternal bliss!”
Saying thus, Bhagawan Krishna is now going to talk about the “Black Path”. All of us whose “Karma Phalam” is left over at various stages will have to go through this “Black Path” only and let us pay some attention to this as well! 🙂 So, Bhagawan says thus, “Oh Arjuna! The “Black Path” (“Dhumaadhi Maargam”) is just the opposite of the “Archiraadhi Maargam”. Just like how you have a “Shuklapaksham” in the “Archiraadhi Maargam”, you have a “Krishnapaksha” here. Just like how you have a “Uttaraayanam” there, you will have a “Dakshinaayanam” here. Just like how you have a “Vidyut Lokha” there, which is full of bright light, here you’ll have a “Dhooma Lokha”, which is full of toxic smoke, through which you will not be able to see anything! Thus, by traversing this path, you’ll never be able to attain “Vaikuntam” at all! Those who traverse this path are never going to attain me for sure! They are going to get lost! Oh Arjuna! I’m telling all this to you so that you should not fall into this trap of getting into the “Dhoomaadi Lokha” at any point of time. If you’re getting into it, you’ll not be able to come out of it forever!”
Saying thus, Bhagawan Krishna completes the eighth “Adhyaaya” of the Bhagawad Gita and for today, let us clearly understand the two important paths. As ardent “Bhaktas” of Bhagawan Krishna, we should ensure that we do not fall into the trap of the “Dhumaadi Maargam”, and rather, try to follow Bhagawan’s guidelines to traverse the path of “Archiraadhi Maargam” to attain Him at “Vaikunta”! We shall wait till the next episode to continue this discussion into the important ninth “Adhyaaya” of the Bhagawad Gita! Stay tuned! 🙂
The Indian Dharma 