📿 Shloka Collection

Aksharam Brahma Paramam

Gita 8.3 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8 — Akshara Brahma Yoga
श्रीभगवानुवाच — अक्षरं ब्रह्म परमं स्वभावोऽध्यात्ममुच्यते ।
भूतभावोद्भवकरो विसर्गः कर्मसंज्ञितः ॥
Shri Bhagavan uvacha — Aksharam brahma paramam svabhavo'dhyatmam uchyate,
Bhutabhavodbhavakaro visargah karmasamjnitah.
अक्षरम्
the imperishable
ब्रह्म
Brahman
परमम्
the supreme
स्वभावः
one's own nature
अध्यात्मम्
adhyatma (the self)
उच्यते
is called
भूतभावोद्भवकरः
that which causes the origin of beings
विसर्गः
the creative act
कर्मसंज्ञितः
is known as karma

Krishna begins answering. That which never perishes — that is the supreme Brahman. The essential nature of every being — the soul — is called adhyatma. And the creative activity that brings beings into existence is called karma.

Consider a seed. The seed itself never truly changes — plant it, and it produces the same kind of tree, season after season. That unchanging essence is like Brahman. The tree's own character — giving shade, bearing sweet fruit — that is its svabhava, its nature, like the soul within each of us. And the sprouting of the seed into a sapling — that creative unfolding — that is karma.

Krishna distills vast concepts into clear, graspable definitions. Each word carries the weight of the Upanishads, yet the explanation flows as simply as an elder explaining life's biggest truths to a grandchild.

This shloka answers Arjuna's first three questions (Brahman, adhyatma, karma). The next shloka (8.4) addresses the remaining questions — adhibhuta, adhidaiva, and adhiyajna. The chapter's title, Akshara Brahma Yoga, derives from the very first word of this verse: akshara, meaning that which never decays.

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