Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 8, Verse 25

धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् । तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते

dhūmo rātristathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanam | tatra cāndramasaṃ jyotiryogī prāpya nivartate

Translation

Smoke, night-time, and the dark fortnight, the six months of the southern solstice — attaining by these to the lunar light, the Yogin returns.

— Alladi Mahadeva Sastri

Word meanings

dhūmaḥ

smoke

rātriḥ

night

tathā

so

kṛṣṇaḥ

dark (fortnight)

ṣaṇmāsāḥ

six months

dakṣiṇāyanam

the southern going (of the sun)

tatra

there

cāndramasam

of the moon, this

jyotiḥ

light

yogī

the yogi

prāpya

having obtained

nivartate

returns

Śaṅkarācārya's commentary

'Smoke,' 'night-time,' the 'dark fortnight,' and the 'six months of the southern solstice,' are all deities presiding over smoke and periods of time spoken of. By this path, the Yogin — the Karmin who performs sacrifices to Gods and other works — attains to the lunar light, and, on the exhaustion thereof, returns again to earth.