Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya

Bg 8.24

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ
ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam
tatra prayātā gacchanti
brahma brahma-vido janāḥ

Word for word: 

agniḥ — fire; jyotiḥ — light; ahaḥ — day; śuklaḥ — the white fortnight; ṣaṭ–māsāḥ — the six months; uttara–ayanam — when the sun passes on the northern side; tatra — there; prayātāḥ — those who pass away; gacchanti— go; brahma — to the Absolute; brahma–vidaḥ — who know the Absolute; janāḥ — persons.

Translation: 

Those who know the Supreme Brahman attain that Supreme by passing away from the world during the influence of the fiery god, in the light, at an auspicious moment of the day, during the fortnight of the waxing moon, or during the six months when the sun travels in the north.

agnir jyotir ahaḥ śuklaḥ, agnir, fire, jyoti, light, ahaḥ, days, śuklaḥ, refers to the phases of the moon so śuklaḥ paksha and Krishna paksha, 

ṣaṇ-māsā uttarāyaṇam, so we know that from the point of view of earth, the sun depending on the way the earth’s angle is tilted 23 ½ degrees relative position to moon and relative position of sun there is Uatarayan and Dakshiyayana, the whole celestial appearance including sun appears to be moving Utar or the Dakshina,  

tatra prayātā gacchanti, if one goes away during that period of brahma brahma-vido janāḥ, such a person is brahma-vido and such a person attains the Brahma, Srila Prabhupada translated they attain the Supreme.

Srila Prabhupada Purport: When fire, light, day and the fortnight of the moon are mentioned, it is to be understood that overall of them there are various presiding deities who make arrangements for the passage of the soul.

So Sri Krishna is not talking about devotees over here, Sri Krishna is talking primarily about yogis.

What is going in this chapter is a comparison on the path of yoga and comparison on the path of Bhakti, Yoga refers to Astang Yoga so Krishna recommends fixing of mind on Him but He also analyses the path of Yoga and His goal is to compare and establish how bhakti yoga is easier. So here when He is talking on the process of Yoga, He is describing how the Yogis depart, so when the soul departs within the path of Yoga it is described in Vedas in Shrutis primarily that there are various devatas who supervise the pathways that are used by the departing soul just like if a person is going in a train then there are different railway stations along the way and there are station masters of each railway stations and they look after the rails over there, the passage of trains over there, similarly after death when the soul departs then how the soul goes which pathway the soul takes, these different pathways are seen by the presiding deities. So here when Sri Krishna is referring to day, night, light or such things, He is not referring to not just the cosmic phenomena, He is also referring to the deities in charge of that phenomena, that when a person is brahma-vido i.e. the person knows the absolute truth, and then once consciousness is such that one propitiated such deities, those particular deities guide the person along the path ultimately to Brahman, the focus the taking the soul to Brahman that is the focus, and how is that focus fulfilled? That is by purification. So yoga also involves some level of purification. And with the qualification yogis goes in that way. So now if the yogi is not so advanced then these set of presiding deities does not guide that person but another set of deities guide that person. Who are those deities that is described in the next verse.

End of transcription.