BG 08.21 avyakto 'ksara ity uktas... cited

Expressions researched:
"That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible" |"avyakto 'ksara ity uktas" |"tad dhama paramam mama" |"tam ahuh paramam gatim" |"that place from which, having attained it, one never returns" |"that which is known as the supreme destination" |"yam prapya na nivartante"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "8.21" or "That which the Vedantists describe as unmanifest and infallible" or "avyakto ksara ity uktas" or "tad dhama paramam mama" or "tam ahuh paramam gatim" or "that place from which, having attained it, one never returns" or "that which is known as the supreme destination" or "yam prapya na nivartante"

BG Preface and Introduction

BG Introduction:

As long as we do not give up this propensity of lording it over material nature, there is no possibility of returning to the kingdom of the Supreme, the sanātana-dhāma. That eternal kingdom, which is never destroyed, can be approached by one who is not bewildered by the attractions of false material enjoyments, who is situated in the service of the Supreme Lord. One so situated can easily approach that supreme abode.

Elsewhere in the Gītā (8.21) it is stated:

avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim

yaṁ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

Avyakta means unmanifested. Not even all of the material world is manifested before us.

BG Introduction:

In the effulgent rays of the spiritual sky there are innumerable planets floating. The brahmajyoti emanates from the supreme abode, Kṛṣṇaloka, and the ānanda-maya, cin-maya planets, which are not material, float in those rays. The Lord says, na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ/ yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama (BG 15.6). One who can approach that spiritual sky is not required to descend again to the material sky. In the material sky, even if we approach the highest planet (Brahmaloka), what to speak of the moon, we will find the same conditions of life, namely birth, death, disease and old age. No planet in the material universe is free from these four principles of material existence.

BG Introduction:

Elsewhere in the Gītā (8.21) it is stated:

avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim

yaṁ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

Avyakta means unmanifested. Not even all of the material world is manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot even see all of the stars within this material universe. In Vedic literature we can receive much information about all the planets, and we can believe it or not believe it. All of the important planets are described in Vedic literatures, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and the spiritual world, which is beyond this material sky, is described as avyakta, unmanifested.

BG Chapters 7 - 12

BG 8.21, Translation and Purport:

That which the Vedāntists describe as unmanifest and infallible, that which is known as the supreme destination, that place from which, having attained it, one never returns—that is My supreme abode.

The supreme abode of the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is described in the Brahma-saṁhitā as cintāmaṇi-dhāma, a place where all desires are fulfilled. The supreme abode of Lord Kṛṣṇa, known as Goloka Vṛndāvana, is full of palaces made of touchstone. There are also trees, called "desire trees," that supply any type of eatable upon demand, and there are cows, known as surabhi cows, which supply a limitless supply of milk. In this abode, the Lord is served by hundreds of thousands of goddesses of fortune (Lakṣmīs), and He is called Govinda, the primal Lord and the cause of all causes. The Lord is accustomed to blow His flute (veṇuṁ kvaṇantam).

SB Canto 7

SB 7.15.62, Purport:

From Bhagavad-gītā we understand that there is another prakṛti, or nature, which is real. This is explained by the Lord Himself in the Eighth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā (8.19-21):

bhūta-grāmaḥ sa evāyaṁ

bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate

rātry-āgame 'vaśaḥ pārtha

prabhavaty ahar-āgame

paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo

'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ

yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu

naśyatsu na vinaśyati

avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim

yaṁ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

"Again and again the day of Brahmā comes, and all living beings are active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved. Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is. That supreme abode is called unmanifested and infallible, and it is the supreme destination. When one goes there, he never comes back. That is My supreme abode." The material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The material world is temporary or false, but the spiritual world is an eternal reality.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Gitopanisad (Earliest Recording of Srila Prabhupada in the Bhaktivedanta Archives):

And one is situated in the supreme service of the Lord, he is the right person to approach that eternal kingdom. And that eternal kingdom does not require any sun, any moon, or any electricity. That is a glimpse idea of approaching of the eternal kingdom. In another place in the Bhagavad-gītā it is also said that

avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim

yaṁ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 8.21)

Avyakta means nonmanifested. Even the part of material world is not manifested before us. Our senses are so imperfect that we cannot see how many stars, how many planets there are in this material universe. Of course, through the Vedic literature we get information of all the planets. We may believe or not believe, but all the important planets in which we have connection, they are described in the Vedic literature, especially in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

So Kṛṣṇa says, avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim (BG 8.21). That nonmanifested... Because in the material eyes, material science... It is not possible to, I mean to say, disclose by material science. What is material science? We cannot go even to this moon planet, what to speak of the spiritual planet. It is not possible. It is not possible. So avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim. That is the... If we want to penetrate the outer space, we should be able to penetrate this outer space or this covering, then enter into that spiritual sky, and there it is called paramāṁ gatim. That sort of journey is called supreme. Not that you go up 25,000 away from this planet and again come back.

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

We have also that sort of body, but it is very small. Now it is covered by this matter, by this dress, and if we some way or other able to give up this false dress, then we reach that spiritual kingdom, God's kingdom. That is paramāṁ gatim. Yaṁ prāpya: "If you can reach there, if you can achieve that perfection," yaṁ prāpya na nivartante, "if at once you go, you cannot..., no more to come back. No more to come back." Yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama: "That is My superior abode."

Lecture on BG 8.20-22 -- New York, November 18, 1966:

So yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. The Lord says, "That superior place, superior nature, if somebody can go there, then he has no more to come back here. He gets the highest perfection of life." Now, if there... What is there? What is the nature and what are the paraphernalia? Now, here it is said, puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha bhaktyā labhyas tv ananyayā. Now, if we are at all interested to reach that supreme abode, then the process is bhakti. Bhaktyā. Bhaktyā means devotional service, submission, submission to the Supreme Lord. Bhaktyā means bhaja. It is a Sanskrit word. The root meaning is bhaja-dhātūkti. Bhaja. Bhaja means service. So bhaja-dhātūkti bhakti, bhaktyā.

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

Prabhupāda:

avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas

tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim

yaṁ prāpya na nivartante

tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

(BG 8.21)

This verse we have been discussing last day, that avyaktaḥ akṣaraḥ. Avyakta means which is not manifested. This material world is manifested, but the spiritual world is not manifested before us. But, although not manifested, that part of this creation is eternal. Akṣara. Akṣara means "which has no annihilation." In the material world everything is born, it stays for some time, it develops, it gives some by-products, then it dwindles and then vanishes.

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

Even Professor Einstein, he was reading regularly this Bhagavad-gītā, such a great scientist. So there are many evidences. So you believe this, that there is a spiritual atmosphere and that is the kingdom of God. And here it is stated that yaṁ prāpya na nivartante, if you somehow or other, you can reach that spiritual atmosphere, then the result is na nivartante, you'll have no more to take this material body, na nivartante. Tad dhāma paramaṁ mama. So you'll become quietly and happily situated in your eternal life. Don't you think?

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

That is my desire, heart's desire. I want. I want that. Why you want that? Because you have got the right to have that prerogative. You have got the right. Therefore you want. You are eternal. You are blissful. You are full of knowledge. Simply you are covered by this material entanglement. Therefore you have forgotten yourself. Now, here is the chance. Here is the chance to take advantage and revive my original status of life, original status of life. Here it is clearly said, yaṁ prāpya na nivartante: "If you somehow or other can approach that spiritual atmosphere, then you haven't got to return again in this land of miseries of the atmosphere."

Lecture on BG 8.21-22 -- New York, November 19, 1966:

Either this country or that country or this planet or that planet, you'll never be happy. Here is information. Avyaktaḥ akṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim. If you can reach that highest perfectional stage of life, then only you'll no longer be required to come back again to this nonsense material world. Yes. This is the information you get.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: Yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu naśyatsu na vinaśyati.

Prabhupāda: Ah, so why the...

Dr. Patel: Avyakto 'kṣara ity uktas tam āhuḥ paramāṁ gatim (BG 8.21).

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: Yaṁ prāpya na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama.

Prabhupāda: Paramaṁ mama. Now, again, He's come to mama. "That dhāma is mama, Mine."

Dr. Patel: Puruṣaḥ sa paraḥ pārtha...

1970 Correspondence

Letter to Krsna dasa -- Calcutta 6 October, 1970:

"There is another eternal nature which is transcendental to this manifest and nonmanifest matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is." (B.G. 8.20) "It is the highest destination, going, no one ever returns from that, My Supreme Abode." (B.G. 8.21) So although the Russians may be very much advanced by throwing sputniks into the outer space, they are missing the real point—Krsna Consciousness, the science of God. Although there are so many departments of knowledge, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, etc., the science of God is still to be introduced. When the scientist philosopher medical man will get the opportunity to study systematically what is God, what are His energies, what is my relationship, how to approach Him, then only there will be paradise. But paradise in the present condition of life in ignorance of God is parasite in temporary paradise.