Gita 8.24

Sadhak: "Fire, light, day, bright fortnight, northern path - these seem like external conditions. How do they affect spiritual attainment?"

Guru: "They are external AND internal. 'Agni' is the fire of knowledge that burns ignorance. 'Jyoti' is the light of awareness. 'Ahaḥ' is the day of spiritual wakefulness versus the night of delusion."

Sadhak: "So these are symbols for states of consciousness?"

Guru: "Both literal and symbolic. The outer sun and the inner sun of Self-knowledge correspond. One who has kindled the inner fire will resonate with fire; one steeped in light will travel by light."

Sadhak: "Why does the northern path matter?"

Guru: "Uttarāyaṇa is when the sun moves northward - symbolically upward, toward higher realms. North is the direction of mount Meru, the cosmic axis, the upward journey. It represents ascending consciousness."

Sadhak: "Should I try to time my death to occur in these conditions?"

Guru: "Better to embody these conditions always. Be fire - burning with aspiration. Be light - clarity in all dealings. Be day - awake, not dreaming. Be the ascending path - always growing upward."

Sadhak: "And then the external timing will follow?"

Guru: "Or become irrelevant. The highest teaching is: one who is fully established in Brahman-knowledge is already beyond time's conditions. These paths apply to those still in process."

Sadhak: "What about great masters who died in seemingly inauspicious times?"

Guru: "They had transcended the conditions. These verses describe the natural laws; realized beings operate beyond natural laws through grace."