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Bhagwad Gita (English) | Chapter 6 | Verse 38

Chapter 6, Verse 38

Sankhya-yoga

O mighty-armed Krsna, does not such a man, being deviated from the path of Transcendence, perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere?

Verse

कच्चिन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति।
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि।।6.38।।


kachchin nobhaya-vibhraṣhṭaśh chhinnābhram iva naśhyati
apratiṣhṭho mahā-bāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi

Meaning of each word

kachchit — whether;
na — not;
ubhaya — both;
vibhraṣhṭaḥ — deviated from;
chhinna — broken;
abhram — cloud;
iva — like;
naśhyati — perishes;
apratiṣhṭhaḥ — without any support;
mahā-bāho — mighty-armed Krishna;
vimūḍhaḥ — bewildered;
brahmaṇaḥ — of God-realization;
pathi — one on the path

Interpretation

In this verse, Arjuna is asking Lord Krishna a very heartfelt question. He is concerned about what happens to someone who starts on a spiritual path but then loses their way. You can think of it like this: there are two roads you can take in life. One road is all about getting material things—like wealth, status, or power. People who take this road often forget about deeper, spiritual matters. They focus on making a living, having nice things, and climbing the social ladder.

The other road is spiritual. When you choose this path, you must let go of material desires. This means you have to give up chasing after things that may seem pleasing, but in reality, are temporary. It's like being on a diet; once you decide to eat healthy, you cannot keep indulging in junk food if you want to succeed.

Now, if someone starts on the spiritual road but doesn’t stick with it, Arjuna wonders if they end up losing out on both fronts. They might find they don’t really achieve spiritual growth, and at the same time, they don't get the material happiness they might have had if they had focused solely on that. This can leave them feeling lost and confused, just like a broken or scattered cloud drifting away in the sky.

To give you a visual: imagine a cloud that breaks apart. If it can merge with another cloud, it can regain some strength. But if it can’t, it may just be blown around by the wind, becoming nothing more than vapor, losing its form and purpose. In life, if a person can't connect with something higher—like the Supreme God or a deeper truth—they risk losing their place and feeling disconnected.

The true path to success, as mentioned here, is realizing your spiritual self. This is about understanding that you are not just your body or your achievements; you are also part of something greater, a divine spirit that connects you to everything. This idea is explained through three concepts: Brahman (the ultimate reality), Paramatma (the Supreme Soul within everyone), and Bhagavan (the personal aspect of God, represented by Krishna). If you sincerely try to connect with this ultimate truth, you are on the right track.

Krishna, being the fullest expression of this ultimate truth, is the best person to guide anyone on this spiritual journey. It may take many lifetimes to fully understand these concepts and to realize them, but that’s okay. The journey is what matters. The best way to connect with this divine reality is through bhakti—devotion and love toward Krishna, which is seen as the most direct and effective way to achieve spiritual fulfillment. So, in essence, while the spiritual path may seem challenging, sticking to it and focusing on a loving relationship with Krishna can lead to ultimate success and happiness.

Other Verses of Chapter 6
Verse 1
The Blessed Lord said: One who is unattached to the fruits of his work and who works as he is obligated is in the renounced order of life, and he is the true mystic: not he who lights no fire and performs no work.
Verse 2
What is called renunciation is the same as yoga, or linking oneself with the Supreme, for no one can become a yogi unless he renounces the desire for sense gratification.
Verse 3
For someone just starting to practice yoga, working without attachment is what helps them progress. But for someone who is already advanced in yoga, the key to their growth is to let go of all material activities.
Verse 4
A person is said to have attained to yoga when, having renounced all material desires, he neither acts for sense gratification nor engages in fruitive activities.
Verse 5
A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well.
Verse 6
For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy.
Verse 7
For one who has conquered the mind, the Supersoul is already reached, for he has attained tranquility. To such a man, happiness and distress, heat and cold, honor and dishonor are all the same.
Verse 8
A person is said to be established in self-realization and is called a yogi [or mystic] when he is fully satisfied by virtue of acquired knowledge and realization. Such a person is situated in transcendence and is self-controlled. He sees everything—whether it be pebbles, stones or gold—as the same.
Verse 9
A person is said to be still further advanced when he regards all—the honest well-wisher, friends and enemies, the envious, the pious, the sinner and those who are indifferent and impartial—with an equal mind.
Verse 10
A transcendentalist should always try to concentrate his mind on the Supreme Self; he should live alone in a secluded place and should always carefully control his mind. He should be free from desires and feelings of possessiveness.
Verse 11
In a clean spot, having established a firm seat of his own, neither too high nor too low, made of cloth, skin, and kusha grass layered one over the other.
Verse 12
There, having made the mind one-pointed, with the actions of the mind and senses controlled, let him, seated on the seat, practice Yoga for the purification of the self.
Verse 13
Let him firmly hold his body, head, and neck erect and still, gazing at the tip of his nose without looking around.
Verse 14
Serene-minded, fearless, firm in the vow of a Brahmachari, having controlled their mind, thinking of Me and balanced in mind, let them sit, having Me as their supreme goal.
Verse 15
Thus practicing control of the body, mind and activities, the mystic transcendentalist attains to the kingdom of God [or the abode of Krsna] by cessation of material existence.
Verse 16
There is no possibility of one's becoming a yogi, O Arjuna, if one eats too much, or eats too little, sleeps too much or does not sleep enough.
Verse 17
He who is temperate in his habits of eating, sleeping, working and recreation can mitigate all material pains by practicing the yoga system.
Verse 18
When the yogi, by practice of yoga, disciplines his mental activities and becomes situated in Transcendence—devoid of all material desires—he is said to have attained yoga.
Verse 19
As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self.
Verse 20
When the mind, restrained by the practice of yoga, attains quietude, and when one sees the Self by the Self, they are satisfied in their own Self.
Verse 21
When a yogi experiences an infinite happiness that goes beyond ordinary senses and can only be understood by the mind, they become settled in that happiness and do not waver from true reality.
Verse 22
Having obtained it, he thinks there is no other gain superior to it; established in it, he is not moved even by heavy sorrow.
Verse 23
Let this be known by the name of Yoga, the severance from union with pain. This Yoga should be practiced with determination and with an undespairing mind.
Verse 24
One should engage oneself in the practice of yoga with undeviating determination and faith. One should abandon, without exception, all material desires born of false ego and thus control all the senses on all sides by the mind.
Verse 25
Gradually, step by step, with full conviction, one should become situated in trance by means of intelligence, and thus the mind should be fixed on the Self alone and should think of nothing else.
Verse 26
From whatever and wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.
Verse 27
The yogi whose mind is fixed on Me verily attains the highest happiness. By virtue of his identity with Brahman, he is liberated; his mind is peaceful, his passions are quieted, and he is freed from sin.
Verse 28
Steady in the Self, being freed from all material contamination, the yogi achieves the highest perfectional stage of happiness in touch with the Supreme Consciousness.
Verse 29
A true yogi observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere.
Verse 30
For one who sees Me everywhere and sees everything in Me, I am never lost, nor is he ever lost to Me.
Verse 31
The yogi who knows that I and the Supersoul within all creatures are one worships Me and remains always in Me in all circumstances.
Verse 32
He is a perfect yogi who, by comparison to his own self, sees the true equality of all beings, both in their happiness and distress, O Arjuna!
Verse 33
Arjuna said: O Madhusudana, the system of yoga which you have summarized appears impractical and unendurable to me, for the mind is restless and unsteady.
Verse 34
For the mind is restless, turbulent, obstinate and very strong, O Krsna, and to subdue it is, it seems to me, more difficult than controlling the wind.
Verse 35
The Blessed Lord said: O mighty-armed son of Kunti, it is undoubtedly very difficult to curb the restless mind, but it is possible by constant practice and by detachment.
Verse 36
For one whose mind is unbridled, self-realization is difficult work. But he whose mind is controlled and who strives by right means is assured of success. That is My opinion.
Verse 37
Arjuna said: What happens to a person who has faith but doesn’t stick with their practice? They might start on the path to understanding themselves but then get distracted by life and don’t reach their goal?
Verse 39
This is my doubt O Krsna, and I ask You to dispel it completely. But for Yourself, no one is to be found who can destroy this doubt.
Verse 40
The Blessed Lord said: Son of Prtha, a transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with destruction either in this world or in the spiritual world; one who does good, My friend, is never overcome by evil.
Verse 41
The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy.
Verse 42
Or he takes his birth in a family of transcendentalists who are surely great in wisdom. Verily, such a birth is rare in this world.
Verse 43
On taking such a birth, he again revives the divine consciousness of his previous life, and he tries to make further progress in order to achieve complete success, O son of Kuru.
Verse 44
By virtue of the divine consciousness of his previous life, he automatically becomes attracted to the yogic principles—even without seeking them. Such an inquisitive transcendentalist, striving for yoga, stands always above the ritualistic principles of the scriptures.
Verse 45
But when the yogi engages himself with sincere endeavor in making further progress, being washed of all contaminations, then ultimately, after many, many births of practice, he attains the supreme goal.
Verse 46
A yogi is greater than the ascetic, greater than the empiricist and greater than the fruitive worker. Therefore, O Arjuna, in all circumstances, be a yogi.
Verse 47
And of all yogis, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.
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