Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8- Akshara Brahma Yoga - Sloka 26

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission

The Paths of Light and Darkness 23-26
1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 8 - Akshara Brahma Yoga - Sloka 26

Bhgavatham sheds light

Shukla krishna gati hi jagatah shashvate mate I

Ekaya yati anavrittim anyaya avartate punah II sloka 26

शुक्ल कृष्ण गति हि जगतः शाश्वते मते I 

एकया यति अनावृत्तिं अन्यया आवर्तते पुनः I I  श्लोक 26

The bright and the dark, these paths are deemed to be the world's eternal paths; by the one a man goes,l not to return, by the other he returns again.

What is contained in the last 3 slokas is a matter of thought. The jivatmans transmigrating through death pass along two paths known as devayana & pitrayana.  They are described as the path of light and smoke respectively. The former is bright and the latter is dark. The one leads the soul to regions higher and the other keeps him lingering and lagging long behind. A literal meaning of these slokas leads us into ludicrous impossibility. Fire and light are held to take the departing soul upward. There is no difficulty whatsoever in creating this favourable environment to a dying soul. If this situation ensures an upward progress, ethical and spiritual endeavours become superfluous, which is absurd. It is further stated that he who dies in the day time progresses and he who dies at night lags behind. But day time ca easily created by a dying soul in these days by an aeroplane. This means that ones spiritual progress depends on the physical amenities he is able to command which is also absurd. The northern path of the sun is held auspicious  because of its warmth and brightness to those living in countries to the north of the equator.  Butt by air transport to Australia and South America during the southern path of the sun, a dying man on the northern hemisphere can be placed in a favourable situation for his taking to the path of light. The dark half of the moon is the only natural event which man cannot counteract. But recent report revolt against the belief that the exit of man from the earth during one fortnight aids his upward march and that the other hinders it. The attainments of the departing souls also do not warrant this position. Man having conquered time, space and causation to a great extent, these factors in nature cannot in anyway contribute to his taking to path of light or that of smoke. 

The two paths mentioned here are the allegorical expressions of the paths of knowledge and ignorance. The soul pursuing the path of knowledge gets progressively into the brilliance of atman. That other souls which is steeped in ignorance stagnates and deteriorates. Death is the indicator of the attainments of a soul in the span of a life. As a lamp brightens up just at the last moments of its becoming extinguished, a man pursuing the path of knowledge gets into the clarity of awareness while leaving the body. The intensity of the awareness is compared with fire, light, daytime, the bright half of the moon and the six months of the northern path of the sun, or more accurately the brighter path of the sun. Contrary to it, the darkness of the ignorance in the other man, becomes increasingly enshrouded as is mentioned here in.