Sanskrit
धूमो रात्रिस्तथा कृष्णः षण्मासा दक्षिणायनम् । तत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिर्योगी प्राप्य निवर्तते ॥
dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥ ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanam tatra cāndramasaṃ jyotir yogī prāpya nivartate
Translation
Smoke, night-time, the dark fortnight also, the six months of the southern path—then the Yogî, obtaining the moonlight, returneth.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The second path, built as an exact mirror of verse 24: smoke, night, the dark fortnight, the sun’s southern course (dakshinayana). A yogi traveling this route reaches lunar light and then returns to rebirth. The moon here stands for the subtler body that survives death but not indefinitely — reaching it, unlike reaching brahman in verse 24, is still a stop on the way back to birth, not a final destination. Smoke, night, waning moon, sun sinking south — the mirror image of verse 24, and the pitṛyāna, the “path of the ancestors.” Its travellers reach the moon’s light and then nivartate, turn back. The figure’s dark branch.
Study deeper
Word by word
- dhūmo rātris tathā kṛṣṇaḥधूमो रात्रिस् तथा कृष्णः
- smoke, night, likewise the dark fortnight (dhūmaḥ + rātriḥ + tathā + kṛṣṇaḥ)
- ṣaṇmāsā dakṣiṇāyanamषण्मासा दक्षिणायनं
- the six months of the sun's southern course (ṣaṭ-māsāḥ + dakṣiṇāyanam)
- tatra cāndramasaṃ jyotirतत्र चान्द्रमसं ज्योतिः
- there, reaching the lunar light (tatra + cāndramasam + jyotiḥ)
- yogī prāpya nivartateयोगी प्राप्य निवर्तते
- the yogī, having attained [it], returns (yogī + prāpya + nivartate)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Every term here mirrors verse 24 exactly and oppositely — smoke against fire, night against day, the waning half-year against the waxing one — which makes the destination’s difference the more important to notice: reaching the moon looks like arriving somewhere, but the verse is explicit that it’s a stop before an eventual return, not an ending. The danger this verse describes isn’t failure, it’s mistaking a real, attained way-station for the actual destination.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Reaching a milestone that genuinely required real effort doesn't guarantee it's the destination rather than a way-station — check whether what you've attained is a stable end state or just a comfortable stop you'll eventually have to leave, before you relax as if you've arrived.
Professional
- Hitting an intermediate goal — a successful launch, a stabilized system — can look like arrival when it's actually a temporary plateau the system will drift away from without further work; verify which one you're looking at before declaring the project done.
Family & Social
- A period of real calm in a relationship after real effort can be a genuine milestone or just a temporary lull before old patterns return — notice which one you're in rather than assuming a good stretch means the underlying work is finished.
Ask yourself
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