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Bhagwad Gita (English) | Chapter 15 | Verse 6

Chapter 15, Verse 6

The Yoga of the Supreme Person

That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.

Verse

न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः।यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम।।15.6।।


na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śhaśhāṅko na pāvakaḥ
yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama

Meaning of each word

na — neither;
tat — that;
bhāsayate — illumine;
sūryaḥ — the sun;
na — nor;
śhaśhāṅkaḥ — the moon;
na — nor;
pāvakaḥ — fire;
yat — where;
gatvā — having gone;
na — never;
nivartante — they return;
tat — that;
dhāma — abode;
paramam — supreme;
mama — mine

Interpretation

In this verse, Lord Krishna is talking about a special place, often referred to as the spiritual world or Goloka. This place is different from our physical world because it doesn't need sunlight, moonlight, or electricity to be bright. In our everyday experience, we rely on the sun and moon for light. However, in the spiritual world, every planet gives off its own light, making it naturally bright and beautiful without any of the lights we are used to.

You can imagine our universe like a big house with one window that lets in sunlight; that window is like our sun. But in the spiritual world, every room has its own lighting, so it’s always bright and never dark. This self-lighting quality of the planets in the spiritual realm means they are filled with joy and love, unlike our material world, which can feel heavy and full of troubles.

The most brilliant of these spiritual places is called Goloka Vrndavana, where Lord Krishna resides. It’s like the best room in a big house filled with happy feelings. This place is described as having a lovely, radiant sky made of light; this is known as the 'brahmajyoti.' This light comes primarily from Goloka and signifies its importance in the spiritual hierarchy.

In our world, when people go from one place to another, they often come back again. For example, when you visit a friend’s house, you eventually return to your own home. But if someone reaches this special spiritual place, they don’t come back to the material world filled with struggles and suffering; they stay in this joyful, luminous existence. This is a promise given by Krishna, indicating that once you reach this spiritual abode, you're free from the cycle of coming and going in the material world.

So, this verse emphasizes the unique, self-sustaining light of the spiritual planets and assures us that those who reach this divine realm enter a state of eternal happiness and never have to return to the difficulties of our everyday lives.

Other Verses of Chapter 15
Verse 1
The Blessed Lord said: There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down and whose leaves are the Vedic hymns. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas.
Verse 2
The branches of this tree extend downward and upward, nourished by the three modes of material nature. The twigs are the objects of the senses. This tree also has roots going down, and these are bound to the fruitive actions of human society.
Verse 3
Its form is not perceived here as such, nor its end, origin, foundation, or resting place; having cut asunder this firmly rooted peepul tree with the strong axe of non-attachment.
Verse 4
Then, that goal should be sought for, to which, having gone, none returns again. I seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha, from whence streamed forth the ancient activity or energy.
Verse 5
One who is free from illusion, false prestige, and false association, who understands the eternal, who is done with material lust and is freed from the duality of happiness and distress, and who knows how to surrender unto the Supreme Person, attains to that eternal kingdom.
Verse 7
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal, fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind.
Verse 8
The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas.
Verse 9
The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, tongue, and nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects.
Verse 10
The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this.
Verse 11
The endeavoring transcendentalist, who is situated in self-realization, can see all this clearly. But those who are not situated in self-realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to.
Verse 12
The splendor of the sun, which dissipates the darkness of this whole world, comes from Me. And the splendor of the moon and the splendor of fire are also from Me.
Verse 13
I enter into each planet, and by My energy they stay in orbit. I become the moon and thereby supply the juice of life to all vegetables.
Verse 14
I am the fire of digestion in every living body, and I am the air of life, outgoing and incoming, by which I digest the four kinds of foodstuff.
Verse 15
I am seated in everyone's heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness. By all the Vedas am I to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.
Verse 16
There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every entity is called infallible.
Verse 17
Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Lord Himself, who has entered into these worlds and is maintaining them.
Verse 18
Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and the infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person.
Verse 19
Whoever knows Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without doubting, is to be understood as the knower of everything, and he therefore engages himself in full devotional service, O son of Bharata.
Verse 20
This is the most confidential part of the Vedic scriptures, O sinless one, and it is disclosed now by Me. Whoever understands this will become wise, and his endeavors will know perfection.
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