Bhagavad Gita 8.15
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 15 of 28
मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् | नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ||१५||
mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam | nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ || 15 ||
The great-souled who reach the highest perfection and come to Me are not reborn in this home of pain and impermanence.
Word by word (3)
- mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti
- — Having come to Me, they do not attain rebirth — (this world being) a home of sorrow, impermanent · mām = Me. upetya = having come to, having attained (upa + √i = to approach, to attain — upetya = gerund, 'having attained'). punar = again (rebirth — literally 'again'). janma = birth (janman = birth, coming into existence). punar janma = rebirth, coming again into birth. duḥkhālayam = a home of sorrow (duḥkha = pain, sorrow; ālaya = abode, home — duḥkhālaya = the abode/home of pain). aśāśvatam = impermanent, non-eternal (a = not; śāśvata = eternal, perpetual — aśāśvata = not eternal, transient). nāpnuvanti = they do not attain (na + āpnuvanti — na = not; āpnuvanti = they attain, from √āp = to reach, to attain; nāpnuvanti = they do not reach). So: having attained Me, they do not again reach rebirth — which is characterized as (1) duḥkhālaya = a home of pain, and (2) aśāśvata = impermanent. This is the only explicit characterization of worldly life in this negative form in Ch.8 (though V7.23's antavat phala — 'finite result' — was similar). V15 is not pessimistic philosophy — it is the contrast that establishes why reaching Krishna (mad-bhāva) is the highest goal.
- mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ
- — The great-souled, having reached the highest perfection · mahātmānaḥ = the great-souled (mahā = great; ātman = soul — mahātmā = great soul, a person whose ātman has expanded to its full greatness; the term is used for the highest spiritual practitioners and was later applied to Gandhi). saṃsiddhiṃ = perfection, complete accomplishment (sam = completely; siddhi = accomplishment, attainment, perfection — saṃsiddhi = complete perfection, the fullness of spiritual accomplishment). paramāṃ = the highest, supreme. gatāḥ = having gone, having attained (past participle of √gam = to go — gatāḥ = those who have gone/attained; in apposition with mahātmānaḥ). The complete picture: the mahātmānaḥ (great-souled) who have attained the supreme perfection (saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ) — reaching Me (mām upetya) — do not undergo rebirth in this world (punar janma). V15 establishes the definitive nature of the attainment: not a temporary improvement but the permanent ending of the cycle. The 'great soul' (mahātmā) designation dignifies all who practice toward V14's ananya-cetāḥ quality — they are already moving toward the mahātmā realization.
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam — the Gita's view of embodied existence
- — World characterized as home of pain and impermanence — NOT nihilism but the precise motivation for the highest practice · V15's description of the world as 'duḥkhālaya' (home of pain) and 'aśāśvata' (impermanent) is sometimes read as world-negating pessimism. It is not. The Gita's position throughout (especially Ch.3-4's karma yoga and Ch.6's embodied practice) affirms that the world is the field of practice and that action in the world is the path. V15's characterization is not a rejection of the world but a precise recognition of its nature: the world IS a home of pain (duḥkhālaya) and IS impermanent (aśāśvata). Acknowledging this is not pessimism — it is the motivation for seeking what is NOT a home of pain and IS permanent (the akṣara Brahman of V3 and V11). V15's contrast (world = pain + impermanent / Krishna = no rebirth + supreme perfection) is not 'the world is bad, escape it' but 'the world has these features — know them accurately — and orient accordingly.' This is the Gita's form of the Buddhist First Noble Truth (dukkha = suffering is the nature of conditioned existence) rephrased as a liberation motive rather than a philosophical position.
Having come to Me, these great souls who have reached the highest perfection are not born again into this fleeting house of sorrow.
A modern analogy
A traveler who has been on a difficult journey (rain, delays, discomfort) finally arrives home. This verse is the description of 'home' vs. 'the journey': the journey (world = duḥkhālaya, aśāśvata — home of pain, impermanent) has these features; home (arriving at Krishna = no rebirth) has these different features. The traveler doesn't hate the journey — they just know it isn't home.
What it does NOT mean
Duḥkhālaya (home of pain) is NOT a rejection of life or a prescription for withdrawal from the world. The entire Gita has been teaching engagement with the world through karma yoga. This verse is acknowledging the accurate nature of the world (pain + impermanence) as context for seeking what transcends it — not as a reason to despair of the world but to not make the world one's final destination.
Take with you
- The mahātmā (great-souled) is available to all who practice toward single-pointed consciousness (ananya-cetāḥ). The word mahātmā literally means 'great ātman' — and the ātman is great by its very nature, for Brahman is the Imperishable and Adhyātma is its presence in each body. The mahātmā title is not reserved for exceptional individuals — it describes anyone who lives toward the recognition of the great ātman that they already are.
- Saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ (supreme perfection) is the highest standard: the Gita does not promise partial liberation or 'good rebirth' as its highest goal. The word paramāṃ (supreme) marks the highest aspiration: complete liberation, no rebirth in the home of pain. Use this as the standard against which all lesser goals (success, happiness, comfort) are measured — not rejected but relativized.
- Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam offers a motivational re-framing: when the world's pleasures, achievements, or comforts feel less satisfying than expected, this verse provides the honest context: yes, because these belong to a domain that is duḥkhālaya (home of pain in its fundamental nature) and aśāśvata (not lasting). This recognition is not despair — it is clarity about where to orient the deepest aspiration.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Reaching the highest perfection and having attained Me, the great-souled ones are no more subject to rebirth — which is the home of pain, and ephemeral. [4]
Having come unto me, these great-souled ones are no more born into this impermanent, painful world. [5]
Coming to me, those high-souled ones do not again take birth in that transient state of sorrow; they have arrived at the highest perfection. [6]
And, attaining Me, They fall not--those Mahatmas--back to birth, To life, which is the place of pain, which ends, But take the way of utmost blessedness. [7]
The high-souled ones, who achieve the highest perfection, attaining to me, do not again come to life, which is transient, a home of woes. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Uttering OM — the single syllable of Brahman — departing while meditating on Me, one reaches the highest goal.
All worlds up to Brahma's realm are subject to return — but those who attain Me, O Arjuna, are not reborn.
How much more the holy brāhmaṇas and devoted royal sages! This world is transient and joyless — worship Me.
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
You've changed your clothes a thousand times — this is all that death is.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Verse 15 of 28 · back to Chapter 8