Bhagavad Gita BG 8.2
Chapter 8, Verse 2 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
अधियज्ञः कथं कोऽत्र देहेऽस्मिन्मधुसूदन । प्रयाणकाले च कथं ज्ञेयोऽसि नियतात्मभिः ॥
adhiyajnah katham ko 'tra dehe 'smin madhusudana prayana-kale ca katham jneyo 'si niyatatmabhih
Meaning
Who is the adhiyajna here in this body, and how, O Madhusudana? And how are You to be known by the self-controlled at the time of departure?
Understanding
Arjuna's final question completing his seven-question sequence from v1. He asks two things: (1) who/what is the adhiyajna 'here in this very body' (atra dehe — remarkably intimate, not in some distant cosmos). (2) At the moment of prayana (departure, death), how is the Lord to be known by the niyatatma (self-controlled, self-restrained one)? This second question is the most urgent of all — the very practical problem every mortal faces. Krishna has already answered adhiyajna in v4 (aham eva — I myself). But the death-question opens the grand teaching of the rest of Chapter 8.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| अधियज्ञः | adhiyajnah | the lord of sacrifice, the principle sustaining all yajna |
| कथम् | katham | how, in what way |
| प्रयाणकाले | prayana-kale | at the time of departure (death) |
| नियतात्मभिः | niyatatmabhih | by the self-controlled, by those who have mastered the self |
| मधुसूदन | madhusudana | O Madhusudana (slayer of Madhu — epithet of Krishna) |
| अधियज्ञः | adhiyajñaḥ | the Lord of sacrifice |
| कः | kaḥ | who |
| अत्र | atra | here, in this body |
| देहे | dehe | in the body |
| अस्मिन् | asmin | in this |
| मधुसूदन | madhusūdana | O Madhusudana (slayer of Madhu, Krishna) |
| प्रयाण-काले | prayāṇa-kāle | at the time of death |
| च | ca | and |
| ज्ञेयः | jñeyaḥ | to be known |
| असि | asi | are (You) |
| नियत-आत्मभिः | niyata-ātmabhiḥ | by those of self-control |
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