Sanskrit
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालम् क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति । एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्नाः गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ॥
te taṃ bhuktvā svargalokaṃ viśālam kṣīṇe puṇye martyalokaṃ viśanti evaṃ trayīdharmam anuprapannāḥ gatāgataṃ kāmakāmā labhante
Translation
They, having enjoyed the spacious heaven-world, their holiness withered, come back to this world of death. Following the virtues enjoined by the three, desiring desires, they obtain the transitory.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 20’s transactional ritualists get their answer: heaven, but metered. Puṇya behaves like a balance that depletes with use — once exhausted (kṣīṇe puṇye), the return to the mortal world is as automatic as the ascent was, which is why the verse names the whole loop gatāgatam, “the going and the coming,” rather than simply a going. Nothing here suggests punishment; the ritual worked exactly as advertised. The real target is the desire underneath it — kāma-kāmāḥ, wanting particular wants — which guarantees a bounded, repeatable outcome rather than the unconditional arrival Krishna describes for undivided devotion in the very next verse. Gatāgataṃ kāma-kāmā labhante — “wanting wants, they earn the round trip” — names the mechanism: a motive that is bounded (a specific want) can only buy a bounded result. BG 9.22’s unconditional care is the contrast.
Study deeper
Word by word
- te taṃ bhuktvā svargalokaṃ viśālamते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं
- they, having enjoyed that vast world of heaven (te + tam + bhuktvā + svarga-lokam + viśālam)
- kṣīṇe puṇye martyalokaṃ viśantiक्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति
- when merit is spent, enter the mortal world (kṣīṇe + puṇye + martya-lokam + viśanti)
- evaṃ trayīdharmam anuprapannāḥएवं त्रयीधर्मं अनुप्रपन्नाः
- thus, following the law of the three [Vedas] (evam + trayī-dharmam + anuprapannāḥ)
- gatāgataṃ kāmakāmā labhanteगतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते
- desiring desires, they get [only] going and coming (gata-āgatam + kāma-kāmāḥ + labhante)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Krishna doesn’t call this exile or punishment — he calls it gatāgatam, “the going and the coming,” a term that names the entire round trip rather than either leg of it. Choosing to label the loop rather than the fall is itself the point: what looks like a setback from inside the story is, from Krishna’s vantage, just the last mile of a transaction closing exactly as it was priced.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When a reward you worked hard for eventually runs out, resist treating the ending as betrayal — if you understood its terms going in, the depletion was priced into the deal from the start; question what you wanted originally, not how it ended.
Professional
- Before chasing a bounded reward like a bonus cycle or a promotion, understand its shelf life upfront — running out later isn't a failure of the system, it's the shape of what you signed up for.
Family & Social
- If a relationship pattern gives exactly what was asked for and then predictably fades, don't blame the ending — examine honestly what you were asking for in the first place.
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