Sanskrit
पार्थ नैवेह नामुत्र विनाशस्तस्य विद्यते । न हि कल्याणकृत्कश्चिद्दुर्गतिं तात गच्छति ॥
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate na hi kalyāṇakṛt kaścid durgatiṃ tāta gacchati
Translation
O son of Prithâ, neither in this world nor in the life to come is there destruction for him; never doth any who worketh righteousness, O beloved, tread the path of woe.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna’s answer to verses 37–39 is immediate and unconditional: no destruction, in this world or the next, for one who has sincerely worked toward the good. This is the reassurance the whole exchange has been building toward — Arjuna’s worst-case “rent cloud” scenario from verse 38 is explicitly denied, not hedged. Tāta — “my child,” a term of tenderness a teacher uses for a pupil — is the only place in the Gita Krishna addresses Arjuna this way. The consolation is delivered warmly, not as doctrine: na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṃ gacchati.
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Word by word
- pārtha naiveha nāmutraपार्थ नैवेह नामुत्र
- O Pārtha, neither here nor hereafter (pārtha + na + eva + iha + na + amutra)
- vināśas tasya vidyateविनाशस् तस्य विद्यते
- is there destruction for him (vināśaḥ + tasya + vidyate)
- na hi kalyāṇakṛt kaścidन हि कल्याणकृत् कश्चिद्
- for no doer of good (na + hi + kalyāṇa-kṛt + kaścit)
- durgatiṃ tāta gacchatiदुर्गतिं तात गच्छति
- comes to a bad end, my child (durgatim + tāta + gacchati)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The language stacks two things that don’t usually travel together: maximal certainty (neither here nor hereafter, never any) and maximal warmth (the address “tāta,” beloved, more intimate than the formal “Pārtha” the verse opens with). Krishna doesn’t soften the guarantee to make it gentle, and he doesn’t state it coldly to make it firm — he does both in the same breath, as if real reassurance requires exactly this combination.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When you need to reassure yourself about a real fear, don't choose between being firm with yourself and being gentle with yourself — the strongest reassurance holds both at once, the way this verse pairs an absolute guarantee with its warmest form of address.
Professional
- When reassuring a struggling teammate, don't pick between blunt confidence ('you're fine, this is solved') and warmth — deliver both together. Certainty without warmth reads as dismissive; warmth without certainty doesn't actually reassure.
Family & Social
- When someone close to you needs reassurance after a failure, give them both the direct, unhedged guarantee and the warmest tone you have — softening the certainty to seem gentler, or stating it coldly to seem firmer, both undersell what real reassurance needs.
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