मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् | नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ||१५||
mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam | nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ || 15 ||
The great-souled who reach the highest perfection and come to Me are not reborn in this home of pain and impermanence.
Word by word (3)
- mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam nāpnuvanti
- — Having come to Me, they do not attain rebirth — (this world being) a home of sorrow, impermanent · mām = Me. upetya = having come to, having attained (upa + √i = to approach, to attain — upetya = gerund, 'having attained'). punar = again (rebirth — literally 'again'). janma = birth (janman = birth, coming into existence). punar janma = rebirth, coming again into birth. duḥkhālayam = a home of sorrow (duḥkha = pain, sorrow; ālaya = abode, home — duḥkhālaya = the abode/home of pain). aśāśvatam = impermanent, non-eternal (a = not; śāśvata = eternal, perpetual — aśāśvata = not eternal, transient). nāpnuvanti = they do not attain (na + āpnuvanti — na = not; āpnuvanti = they attain, from √āp = to reach, to attain; nāpnuvanti = they do not reach). So: having attained Me, they do not again reach rebirth — which is characterized as (1) duḥkhālaya = a home of pain, and (2) aśāśvata = impermanent. This is the only explicit characterization of worldly life in this negative form in Ch.8 (though V7.23's antavat phala — 'finite result' — was similar). V15 is not pessimistic philosophy — it is the contrast that establishes why reaching Krishna (mad-bhāva) is the highest goal.
- mahātmānaḥ saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ gatāḥ
- — The great-souled, having reached the highest perfection · mahātmānaḥ = the great-souled (mahā = great; ātman = soul — mahātmā = great soul, a person whose ātman has expanded to its full greatness; the term is used for the highest spiritual practitioners and was later applied to Gandhi). saṃsiddhiṃ = perfection, complete accomplishment (sam = completely; siddhi = accomplishment, attainment, perfection — saṃsiddhi = complete perfection, the fullness of spiritual accomplishment). paramāṃ = the highest, supreme. gatāḥ = having gone, having attained (past participle of √gam = to go — gatāḥ = those who have gone/attained; in apposition with mahātmānaḥ). The complete picture: the mahātmānaḥ (great-souled) who have attained the supreme perfection (saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ) — reaching Me (mām upetya) — do not undergo rebirth in this world (punar janma). V15 establishes the definitive nature of the attainment: not a temporary improvement but the permanent ending of the cycle. The 'great soul' (mahātmā) designation dignifies all who practice toward V14's ananya-cetāḥ quality — they are already moving toward the mahātmā realization.
- duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam — the Gita's view of embodied existence
- — World characterized as home of pain and impermanence — NOT nihilism but the precise motivation for the highest practice · V15's description of the world as 'duḥkhālaya' (home of pain) and 'aśāśvata' (impermanent) is sometimes read as world-negating pessimism. It is not. The Gita's position throughout (especially Ch.3-4's karma yoga and Ch.6's embodied practice) affirms that the world is the field of practice and that action in the world is the path. V15's characterization is not a rejection of the world but a precise recognition of its nature: the world IS a home of pain (duḥkhālaya) and IS impermanent (aśāśvata). Acknowledging this is not pessimism — it is the motivation for seeking what is NOT a home of pain and IS permanent (the akṣara Brahman of V3 and V11). V15's contrast (world = pain + impermanent / Krishna = no rebirth + supreme perfection) is not 'the world is bad, escape it' but 'the world has these features — know them accurately — and orient accordingly.' This is the Gita's form of the Buddhist First Noble Truth (dukkha = suffering is the nature of conditioned existence) rephrased as a liberation motive rather than a philosophical position.
V15 states the result of V13's paramāṃ gatim (supreme destination) in concrete terms: the mahātmānaḥ (great-souled) who have attained the highest perfection (saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ) and reached Me (mām upetya) do not undergo rebirth (punar janma) in this world — which is characterized as duḥkhālayam (a home of pain) and aśāśvatam (impermanent). V15 closes the first section of Ch.8's teaching (V1-V15: the prayāṇa-kāle teaching) before Ch.8 moves to the cosmic-time teaching (V16-V20) and the two paths (V23-V28).
A modern analogy
A traveler who has been on a difficult journey (rain, delays, discomfort) finally arrives home. V15 is the description of 'home' vs. 'the journey': the journey (world = duḥkhālaya, aśāśvata) has these features; home (arriving at Krishna = no rebirth) has these different features. The traveler doesn't hate the journey — they just know it isn't home.
What it does NOT mean
V15's duḥkhālaya (home of pain) is NOT a rejection of life or a prescription for withdrawal from the world. The entire Gita has been teaching engagement with the world through karma yoga. V15 is acknowledging the accurate nature of the world (pain + impermanence) as context for seeking what transcends it — not as a reason to despair of the world but to not make the world one's final destination.
Take with you
- V15's mahātmā (great-souled) is available to all who practice toward V14's ananya-cetāḥ quality. The word mahātmā literally means 'great ātman' — and the ātman is great by its very nature (it is Brahman itself, V3's svabhāvo'dhyātmam). The mahātmā title is not reserved for exceptional individuals — it describes anyone who lives toward the recognition of the great ātman that they already are.
- V15's saṃsiddhiṃ paramāṃ (supreme perfection) as the highest standard: the Gita does not promise partial liberation or 'good rebirth' as its highest goal. V15's paramāṃ (supreme) marks the highest aspiration: complete liberation, no rebirth in the duḥkhālaya. Use this as the standard against which all lesser goals (success, happiness, comfort) are measured — not rejected but relativized.
- V15's duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam as a motivational re-framing: when the world's pleasures, achievements, or comforts feel less satisfying than expected, V15 provides the honest context: yes, because these belong to a domain that is duḥkhālaya (home of pain in its fundamental nature) and aśāśvata (not lasting). This recognition is not despair — it is clarity about where to orient the deepest aspiration.
V15 closes the first movement of Ch.8's teaching (V1-V15: the prayāṇa-kāle section) with a definitive statement of the result: attaining Krishna = no rebirth. The verse introduces the characterization of the world as duḥkhālaya + aśāśvata — a rare moment in the Gita where the material world is explicitly characterized in negative terms (Ch.9 V33 will also note the transience of worldly existence). The 'great-souled' (mahātmānaḥ) is V15's gift to the practitioner: the term elevates those who have attained the supreme perfection to the highest human status. But the preceding verse (V14) described exactly how this mahātmā quality develops: through ananya-cetāḥ + satataṃ + nityaśas constant remembrance. The mahātmā is not born — they are made through sustained practice. The transition to V16 (which begins the cosmic-time teaching) is made smooth by V15's closure: the prayāṇa-kāle question (V2b) is now fully answered (V5-V15). V16 begins with a statement about Brahma's world rolling back — establishing the cosmic framework for why the 'no-rebirth' attainment of V15 is uniquely final compared to even the highest 'world' (Brahmaloka).
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: mām upetya = Brahman attainment = mokṣa = the cessation of the cycle of saṃsāra. The mahātmānaḥ who have attained saṃsiddhi paramāṃ have dissolved the avidyā (ignorance) that generates the karma that produces rebirth. The duḥkhālaya characterization is accurate for the world of avidyā — when avidyā is dissolved (mām upetya), there is no generator for further rebirth.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, V15's mām upetya (having come to Me — coming to Krishna) is the fullness of the devotional journey: arriving at the Beloved, being with the Beloved permanently — not through death or escape from the world but through the attainment of Krishna's very Being (mad-bhāva of V5). The mahātmā is the devotee whose love has been the complete vehicle for this arrival.
Karma-Yoga lens
V15's mahātmānaḥ who have reached saṃsiddhi paramāṃ are the karma yogis who have completed the journey of action-without-attachment to its ultimate fruit: not the external results of action but the liberation of the actor. The 'great soul' is the karma yogi who has progressively shed the ego-identification that binds to the cycle of action-and-reaction.
Modern parallels
V15's duḥkhālaya + aśāśvata characterization of the world parallels the existentialist recognition of the 'groundlessness' of temporal existence (Heidegger's being-toward-death; Sartre's radical contingency). The difference: existentialism presents this as the final truth; the Gita presents it as the motivation to seek what is NOT groundless — the akṣara Brahman that V3 described as the Imperishable.
Practice
V15 closing dedication: end meditation with: 'May this practice contribute to the saṃsiddhi paramāṃ (supreme perfection) — the attainment of the akṣara that V15 describes. I practice not to escape the world but to live in the recognition of what is not impermanent within it.' This orients the practice toward V15's highest aspiration.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Reaching the highest perfection and having attained Me, the great-souled ones are no more subject to rebirth — which is the home of pain, and ephemeral. [4]
Having come unto me, these great-souled ones are no more born into this impermanent, painful world. [5]
Coming to me, those high-souled ones do not again take birth in that transient state of sorrow; they have arrived at the highest perfection. [6]
And, attaining Me, They fall not--those Mahatmas--back to birth, To life, which is the place of pain, which ends, But take the way of utmost blessedness. [7]
The high-souled ones, who achieve the highest perfection, attaining to me, do not again come to life, which is transient, a home of woes. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Uttering OM — the single syllable of Brahman — departing while meditating on Me, one reaches the highest goal.
All worlds up to Brahma's realm are subject to return — but those who attain Me, O Arjuna, are not reborn.
How much more the holy brāhmaṇas and devoted royal sages! This world is transient and joyless — worship Me.
Unborn. Undying. Ancient. Eternal. Not slain when the body is slain — this is what you are.
You've changed your clothes a thousand times — this is all that death is.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?