Sanskrit
मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् । नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ॥
mām upetya punarjanma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ
Translation
Having come to Me, these Mahâtmâs come not again to birth, the place of pain, non-eternal; they have gone to the highest bliss.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The payoff for reaching Krishna is stated in explicitly negative terms: not some described state to be attained, but freedom from returning to “this transient home of pain.” That negative framing sets up the sharper contrast in the next verse, where even reaching the world of Brahma turns out not to be exempt from return. Duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam — “the impermanent house of pain” — is the Gita’s bleakest description of embodied existence, and liberation is defined as simply not coming back to it. BG 8.16 raises the stakes.
Study deeper
Word by word
- mām upetya punarjanmaमां उपेत्य पुनर्जन्म
- having reached Me, rebirth (mām + upetya + punaḥ-janma)
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatamदुःखालयं अशाश्वतं
- the impermanent abode of sorrow (duḥkha-ālayam + aśāśvatam)
- nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥनाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः
- the great souls do not attain (na + āpnuvanti + mahā-ātmānaḥ)
- saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥसंसिद्धिं परमां गताः
- having reached the supreme perfection (saṃsiddhim + paramām + gatāḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna could describe what the liberated state actually feels like; instead the payoff is defined entirely by what it isn’t — no return to “this transient home of pain.” Describing a destination by what a traveler will finally be free of, rather than by what awaits them, works because freedom from a known pain is easier to want clearly than an unfamiliar bliss is to picture.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- When a goal you're working toward feels vague or unmotivating, try describing it instead by what you'll finally be free of — a known frustration removed is often easier to want clearly than an unfamiliar future state is to picture.
Professional
- When pitching a change to a skeptical team, framing the benefit as what pain it removes often lands harder than describing the new positive state abstractly — a concrete relief is easier to picture and want than an unfamiliar improvement.
Family & Social
- When encouraging someone through a hard change, naming the specific pain they'll finally be free of can motivate more than describing the new, unfamiliar good meant to replace it — concrete relief is easier to hold onto.
Ask yourself
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