Chapter 8 verse 3

Akshram is that which is not subject to decay or destruction

This is further explained in verse 11.
Meaning given by Bhagwan Ramanujacharya..


Lord Krishna explains the padam or state for the aspirants who wish for atma tattva or realisation of the soul and the secure and permanent destination of moksa or liberation from material existence. This state is aksaram or imperishable. It is the state which the ascetics of the world attempt to gain accent to. It is that ardent longing for which men strictly follow the vow of brahmacharyam or voluntary celibacy. Padam is that which one mentally proceeds to achieve the goal of their endeavours. Padyate here means the method adopted by the mind..

Prabhasmi sasi suryayoh. (Chapter 7 verse 8.)

Raso 'ham apsu kaunteya prabhasmi sasi suryayoh
Pranavah sarva vedesu sabdah khe paurusam nrsu.

O Arjuna, I am the sweetness of flavour in water, the radiant lusture of the sun and the moon. The primordial root syllable Om, within all the vedas. The subsonic element of sound in ether and the ability in man.

rasohamapsu kaunteya prabhaasmi shashisooryayoho |
pranavaha sarvavedeshu shabdaha khe paurusham nrishu || 8 ||
 
I am the taste in water, O Kaunteya. I am the light of the sun and moon, Om in all the Vedas, sound in space, valour in men.
 
rasaha : taste
aham : I
apsu : in water
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
prabhaa : light
asmi : I am
shashihi : moon
sooryayoho : sun
pranavaha : Om
sarvavedeshu : in all the Vedas
shabdaha : sound
khe : in space
paurusham : valour
nrishu : in men
 
We are exploring the topic of bhakti yoga in this chapter, where we learn to channel our thoughts towards a single ideal, which is Ishvara. Ishvara is in everything, and everything is in Ishvara – these statements were proclaimed by Shri Krishna previously. Even if we intellectually understand Ishvara as the ultimate cause, our senses do not literally “see” Ishvara. So then, how do we learn to remember Ishvara at all times?
 
Shri Krishna helps us in this regard by giving us a list of Ishvara’s vibhootis or glories. He recognizes that our mind tends to see wonder and glory in some aspects of the universe. If we can train ourselves to remember Ishvara whenever we see his glories, it will help us advance towards our goal of learning to see Ishvara everywhere.
 
The first example of Ishvara’s vibooti is the taste in water. Water is an important part of everyone’s life. Over 60% of our body is made up of water. Shri Krishna says that Ishvara is the taste or essence of water. In other words, Ishvara is what makes water behave like water. So whenever we have a glass of water when we are extremely thirsty, it is Ishvara that is refreshing us. This is a wonderful meditation that we can practice.
 
Similarly, whenever we are dazzled by the brilliance of the sun, or the soothing light of the moon, we should remember that it is Ishvara that is providing the brightness or the effulgence. Whenever we hear a sound, we should know that it is Ishvara that provides the ability for sound to travel through air. Moreover, when we read stories about people who selflessly protect their country or their fellow human beings, we should remember that it is Ishvara that provides valour to them.
 
Finally, Shri Krishna says that Ishvara represents the word “Om” among the Vedas. Om takes a special place in the Vedas. It symbolically represents the eternal essence out of which this entire universe is created. Meditation on the word “Om” is considered one of the highest meditations possible.

aksaram brahma paramam svabhavo

aksaram brahma paramam svabhavo dhyatmam ucyate
bhutabhavodbhava karo visargah karma samjnitah.     8. 3.

Sri Ramanuja's commentary.
What is designated in the first verse as tad brahma or the supreme spiritual substratum pervading all existence is the aksaram brahma or the supreme indestructible atma or soul. Aksaram is that which is not subject to decay or imperishable and is the collective given by the ksetrajnanis or those knowledgeable of the field of action or the informers of uninformed matter and atma embodied beings. The Subrala Upanishad  II states avyakta the indiscemible compound of spirit and matter merges into the aksara the indivisable compound which descends into tamas or nescience. Parama aksaram is the supreme indestructible atma nature which is completely disengaged from prakriti or the material substratum and not connected to even the aksaram, which comprises even the embodied beings and combines both. the word svabhavo is also called adhyatma and indicates subtle material and its accompanying erratic tendencies. these subtle elements are what adheres to the atma in the descent of the supra subtle quintuple process.
to be continued.

Intellectual Hygienics

Interest yourself chiefly in the progress of your journey and do not look forward to its end with eagerness. Then when you look back you will notice the great distance you have advanced. If you have advanced say only three miles a day at the end of a year you would have covered a 1000 which is considerable. a little added constantly will go a long way to sustain and progress in the bigger picture. Yes we ought to interest ourselves chiefly in the progress of our work, and not to look forward to its end with eagerness for it not only spoils work but spoils life itself.
A truly intellectual philosophy must begin by recognizing the fact that the intellectual paths are infinitely long, that there will always be new horizons beyond the horizon that is before us, and that we must accept a gradual advance as the law of our intellectual life. It is our business to move forward, but we ought to do so without any great feeling of hurry. Our impatiences come mainly from an amateurish doubt about our own capacity, which is accompanied by a fevered eagerness to see the work done, because we are tormented by both hopes and fears so long as the work is in progress. We have fears that it may not turn out as it ought to do, and we have at the same time hopes for its success. Both these causes produce eagerness, and deprive one of tranquility which distinguishes a through workman and which is necessary to thoroughness in the work itself.
This can be experienced in the conduct of most experienced painters in the management of their work, the masterly coolness they exhibit in the management of their work. He will usually have several pictures at a time on the easels a will pass an hour upon one and move to another simply as the state of the pigment invites him. It should be an art in cultivation and not travelling. 

Of Education.

Everything we learn affects the whole character of the mind. and so it is with different ingredients of knowledge which are  so eagerly and indiscriminately recommended. Now how incalculably important becomes the question of proportion in our knowledge, and how that which we are is dependent as much upon our ignorance as our science. example An English author who by great care and labour had succeeded in forming a style which harmonized quiet perfectly with the character of his thinking, and served as an unfailing means of communication with his readers. Every one recognized its simple ease and charm, and he might have gone on writing with that enviable facility had he not studied Locke's philosophical compositions. shortly after this his style changed and lost all its grace, he began to write with difficulty and what he wrote was no more appreciated. another example is of a painter landscapist at that who'es pictorial excellence diminished by too much interest in geology.
Mature life brings so many professional or social duties that it leaves scant time for culture; and those who care for culture most earnestly and sincerely, are the very persons who will economize time to the utmost. Now to read a language that has been very imperfectly mastered is felt to be a bad economy of time. Suppose the case of a man occupied in business who has studied Greek rather assiduously in youth and yet not enough to read it with facility. suppose that this man wants to get at the mind of Plato. He can read the original, but he reads it so slowly that it  would cost him more hours than he can spare, and this is why he has recourse to a transcription. In this case there is no indifference to Greek culture; on the contrary, the reader desires to assimilate what he can of it , but the very earnestness of his wish to have free access to ancient thought makes him prefer it in modern language. The estimate of ancient thinking is not often expressed quiet so clearly or rather openly and yet it is very generally prevalent even among st the most thoughtful people, especially if modern science has had any conspicuous influence in the formation of their minds.

The Physical basis of T I L

Men of great imaginative power are commonly addicted to a habit which is peculiarly dangerous. They work as race horses work, with the utmost intensity of effort during short spaces of time, taxing all their powers whilst the brilliant effort lasts. Eg. Beckford while writing the tale "Vathek" when he was 20 years of age did it in a single sitting spanning three days and two nights. this costhim a serious illness. Some of the best poems by Byron were also written in a similar manner. Most often nature provides a remedy for the recuperative process. the same law can be seen in the carnivora too,  which maintain or recover their capacity for extraordinary effort by intervals of absolute repose. Wordsworth too while composing "White Doe of Rylstone" received a wound in his foot and he observed that the continuation of his literary labour  increased the irritation of the wound, and suspending the work diminished it and complete mental rest produced perfect cure. But Wordsworth health at seventy two was excellent. Another example is Kant the philosopher was in excellent health for nearly 30 years he rose at precisely the same time(minute) his physical machine worked in such regular order. He knew that the regularity of his intellectual life depended entirely on the regularity of the bodily function. Kant's breakfast, which he took at 5 in the morning consisted of a cup of tea and a pipe of tobaco. On this he worked eight hours, he either lectured or wrote and had his lunch at 1 and this was his only meal. he read from six in the evening till a quarter past ten. a second meal would have interfered with his power of attention. He also withdrew his mind from everything requiring effort fifteen minutes before he went to bed. The regularity of his daily walk taken during the afternoon in all weathers and a strict limitations of hours of rest helped in the soundness of his sleep. Few lives can be so minutely regulated without risk of future inconvenience.
Goethe used to work till 11 without taking anything. when he took a cup of chocolate and worked till 1 at 2 he dined and this was an important meal of the day.
Physical exercise, when the constitution is strong to endure it, is by far the best tranquillizer of the nervous system

The Intellectual life.

Intellectual living is not so much an accomplishment as a state or condition of the mind in which it seeks earnestly for the highest and purest truth. It is the continual exercise of a firmly noble choice between the larger truth and the lesser, between that which is perfectly just and that which falls a little short of justice. The ideal life would be to choose thus firmly and delicately always, yet if we often blunder and fail for want of perfect wisdom and clear light, have we not the inward assurance that our aspiration has not been all in vain, that it has brought us a little nearer to the Supreme Intellect whose effulgence draws us whilst it dazzles? Here is the true secret of that fascination which belongs to intellectual pursuits, that they reveal to us a little more, of the eternal order of the Universe, establishing us so firmly in what is known, that we acquire an unshakable confidence in the laws which govern what is not, and never can be, known. 

It appears that all who are born with considerable intellectual faculties are urged towards the intellectual life by irresistible instincts. Many of the intellectual lives known have been hampered by vexatious impediments of the most various and complicated kinds, we are almost always quiet sure to find that they had some great Thwarting difficulty to contend against. An intellectual life is always a contest or a discipline, and the art or skill of living intellectually does not so much consists in surrounding ourselves with what is reputed to be advantageous as in compelling every circumstance and condition of our lives to yield us some tribute of intellectual benefit and force. The school of the intellectual man is the place where he happens to be, and his teachers are the people, books, animals, plants, stones and earth round about him.
The essence of intellectual living does not reside in the extent of science or in perfection of expression, but in a constant preference for higher thoughts over lower thoughts, and this preference may be the habit of a mind which has not any very considerable amount of information. Men have lived intellectually in ages when science had scarcely begun to exist, and when there was but little literature that could be of use as an aid to culture. for example whoever reads English is richer in the aids to culture than Plato was, yet Plato thought intellectually. It is not erudition that makes the intellectual man, but a sort of virtue which delights in vigorous and beautiful thinking. just as moral virtue delights in vigorous and beautiful conduct.