Bhagavad Gita 6.38
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 38 of 47 · Arjuna's Journey
कच्चिन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति | अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि ||३८||
kaccin nobhayavibhraṣṭaś chinnābhram iva naśyati | apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi || 38 ||
Fallen from both worlds, without support — does the wandering yogi simply perish, like a torn cloud, O mighty-armed?
Word by word (3)
- kaccit na ubhaya-vibhraṣṭaḥ chinna-abhram iva naśyati
- — does the one fallen from both not perish like a rent cloud? · kaccit = whether (interrogative). na = not (question form). ubhaya-vibhraṣṭa = fallen from both (ubhaya = both; vibhraṣṭa = fallen from, fallen away). The 'both' refers to the two paths Arjuna sees: (1) worldly life (karma/dharma path, which the yogi has abandoned) and (2) the yogic path (which they have also failed to complete). Chinna-abhram iva = like a rent/broken cloud (chinna = torn, broken; abhra = cloud). The cloud that breaks apart doesn't water the earth (it had left the ocean) and doesn't form rain (it didn't reach the other shore). The fallen yogi, in Arjuna's fear, is like that — belonging to neither world. naśyati = perishes.
- apratiṣṭhaḥ mahābāho vimūḍhaḥ brahmaṇaḥ pathi
- — without support, O mighty-armed, deluded on the path of Brahman · apratiṣṭha = without support, without foundation, having no fixed position (a-pratiṣṭhā — pratiṣṭhā means foundation, support, established position). mahābāho = O mighty-armed (Krishna's epithet here). vimūḍha = bewildered, deluded, confused (vi-mūḍha — deeply disoriented). brahmaṇaḥ pathi = on the path of Brahman. Arjuna's fear: the fallen yogi is foundationless (apratiṣṭha) and confused (vimūḍha) on the very path they were seeking (brahmaṇaḥ pathi). Neither in ordinary life (which they left) nor in Brahman (which they didn't reach) — lost between two worlds.
- chinna-abhram (the torn-cloud simile)
- — a cloud rent apart — belonging to neither ocean nor rain — the fallen yogi's feared state · The torn-cloud metaphor is Arjuna's most poetic and most anxious image in Ch.6. A cloud forms over the ocean (its origin), rises high, travels far, but then tears apart before delivering rain. It doesn't water the earth; it evaporates, seemingly without purpose. Arjuna fears the fallen yogi is like this: they left the ordinary world, they aspired to Brahman, but they fell apart in the middle. The metaphor expresses the fear of purposeless loss — effort that leads to nothing, belonging to nothing. V40's answer directly addresses this fear.
Fallen from both, with nothing to stand on, does he not perish like a riven cloud, O mighty-armed one — bewildered on the path of Brahman?
A modern analogy
Someone leaves a stable career to pursue a calling — an artistic path, a spiritual vocation, something that requires full commitment. Then life intervenes: illness, family obligation, self-doubt. They haven't succeeded in the new path, but they've also given up the old one. Are they simply lost? Arjuna gives this fear its most vivid expression — the torn cloud. Krishna's coming reassurance, that no doer of good perishes, gives the answer.
What it does NOT mean
This expresses Arjuna's fear, not the actual truth. The torn-cloud image is Arjuna's anxious projection of the worst-case outcome for the sincere-but-imperfect practitioner. Krishna's answer will directly address this fear: no, the good-doer does not perish like a torn cloud.
Take with you
- The torn-cloud image is psychologically precise — the fear of being 'between two worlds' is a real experience for serious practitioners who have somewhat renounced ordinary life but haven't attained the yogic life they sought.
- The quality of the image (torn cloud) reflects the depth of Arjuna's anxiety: this is not a casual question. It is existential dread given poetic form. Krishna's answer must be equally direct and equally strong.
- This teaches that it's okay to voice even the most anxious fears in the spiritual relationship (student-teacher, or practitioner-to-the-Divine). Arjuna doesn't suppress his worst-case scenario — he gives it full voice. This honesty receives full attention in Krishna's complete two-verse answer that no doer of good perishes and the fallen yogi is reborn to resume practice.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
O mighty-armed — does the one fallen from both not perish like a rent cloud, without support, confused on the path of Brahman? [1]
Does he not, fallen from both, perish, without support, hke a rent cloud, O mighty-armed, deluded in the path of Brah- man? [4]
O mighty-armed, fallen from both, without support, deluded on the path of the Eternal — does he not perish as a riven cloud? [5]
O mighty-armed one, is he not lost to both paths, like a small cloud dispersed by the wind, without support, deluded as to the path of the Eternal? [6]
Arjuna: Does he not, without support and confused in the path of Brahman, perish like a rent cloud, fallen from both worlds, O mighty-armed? [7]
Arjuna said: O mighty-armed, does he not, fallen from both, without support, perish like a rent cloud, deluded on the path of Brahman? [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
O Krishna — the faithful yogi who fell short of yoga's perfection through wandering mind: what is their destination?
O Krishna — cut this doubt of mine completely, without remainder. No one other than You can resolve what I am asking.
O Pārtha — no destruction for that one, neither here nor hereafter. For never does any doer of good come to an evil end.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
Peaceful, fearless, vowed to brahmacharya, mind on Krishna — yoked in practice, with the Supreme as the final goal.
Close all nine gates, hold mind in heart, fix prāṇa in the head — the body's yoga posture for final departure.
Verse 38 of 47 · back to Chapter 6