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Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-yoga · 47 verses

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Questions & crisisChapter 6 · Dhyāna-yoga
6.376.39

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 6.38

Arjuna asks about spiritual failure

कच्च‍िन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति ।

अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मण: पथि ॥ ३८ ॥

kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś

chinnābhram iva naśyati

apratiṣṭho mahā-bāho

vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi

Translation

O mighty-armed Kṛṣṇa, does not such a man, who is bewildered from the path of transcendence, fall away from both spiritual and material success and perish like a riven cloud, with no position in any sphere?

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
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Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

Fear of Losing Both

  1. 1The verse asks Kṛṣṇa whether someone who strays from spiritual life loses both material and spiritual success, like a broken cloud.
  2. 2Prabhupāda explains that spiritual life requires giving up material pursuits and so-called material happiness, so failure seems to mean losing both.
  3. 3Follow bhakti-yoga, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, the direct spiritual path. One who surrenders to Kṛṣṇa achieves spiritual success.

Where we are

In the story

Chapter 6, Dhyāna-yoga: arjuna asks about spiritual failure.

What it teaches

Theme summary

Honest questions open the way to wisdom.

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Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: saṁśaya, viṣāda.

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Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 6.38 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to questions & crisis?

Practice

Write down the real question behind your current dilemma.

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Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 6.37Arjuna asks about spiritual failureBG 6.39Arjuna asks about spiritual failureBG 1.28Compassion entangled with attachmentBG 1.46The bow falls

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

Ask the study guide

Ask about BG 6.38 — get a simple answer linked to related ideas and verses.

Back to step 3The key ideasNext · Step 5 of 7 · 5 minLive the teachingsBring it into your day with a practice and a question, straight from Prabhupāda's purports.