434
Bhagavad-gītā  As It ls
[Ch. 8]
PURPORT
The unalloyed devotees of the Supreme Lord who are totally surrendered souls do not care when they leave their bodies or by what method. They leave everything in Kṛṣṇa's hands and so easily and happily return to Godhead. But those who are not unalloyed devotees and who depend instead on such methods of spiritual realization as  karma-yoga ,  jñāna-yoga ,  haṭha-yoga , etc., must leave the body at a suitable time and thereby be assured whether or not they will return to the world of birth and death.
If the  yogī  is perfect, he can select the time and place for leaving this material world, but if he is not so perfect, then he has to leave at nature's will. The most suitable time to leave the body and not return is being explained by the Lord in these verses. According to Ācārya Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, the Sanskrit word  kāla  used herein refers to the presiding deity of time.
TEXT 24
अग्निर्ज्योतिरहः शुक्लः षण्मासा उत्तरायणम् । तत्र प्रयाता गच्छन्ति ब्रह्म ब्रह्मविदो जनाः ॥२४॥
agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam tatra prayātā gacchanti brahma brahma-vido janāḥ
agniḥ —fire;  jyotiḥ —light;  ahaḥ —day;  śuklaḥ —white;  ṣaṭ-māsāḥ —six months;  uttarāyaṇam —when the sun passes on the northern side;  tatra —there;  prayātāḥ —one who goes;  gacchanti —passes away;  brahma —the Absolute;  brahma-vidaḥ —one who knows the Absolute;  janāḥ —person.
TRANSLATION
Those who know the Supreme Brahman pass away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment, during the fortnight of the moon and the six months when the sun travels in the north.