अश्रद्दधानाः पुरुषा धर्मस्यास्य परन्तप | अप्राप्य मां निवर्तन्ते मृत्युसंसारवर्त्मनि ||३||
aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa | aprāpya māṃ nivartante mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani || 3 ||
Those without faith in this teaching do not attain Me — they return to the path of rebirth fraught with death.
Word by word (3)
- aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣāḥ dharmasya asya parantapa
- — Persons without śraddhā for this dharma (teaching), O scorcher of foes · aśraddadhānāḥ = those without śraddhā (a = not; śrad-dadhāna = placing heart-faith; śraddadhāna = present participle of śrad + √dhā = to place one's heart; śraddadhāna = having śraddhā, faithful; aśraddadhānāḥ = lacking śraddhā, faithless — but śraddhā is not 'blind faith'; it is the living, engaged trust that comes from genuine reflection and exposure to teaching; aśraddadhāna is one who cannot or will not engage this way). puruṣāḥ = persons (people in general). dharmasya asya = for this dharma (dharma here = the teaching/path just described in V1-V2; the 'dharma' of Ch.9's rāja-vidyā). parantapa = O scorcher of foes (para = enemies; tapa = one who burns/scorches; parantapa = 'O scorcher of enemies'; honorific address to Arjuna indicating his power). V3 is the teaching's 'shadow side': after the seven-fold praise of V2, V3 identifies who CANNOT receive the teaching and what happens to them.
- aprāpya māṃ nivartante mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani
- — Not attaining Me, they return on the path of the death-bound saṃsāra · aprāpya = not attaining (a = not; prāpya = gerund of √āp = to attain — 'not having attained'). māṃ = Me (accusative of aham — 'Me, Krishna'). nivartante = they return (ni + √vṛt = to turn back; nivartante = they turn back, return). mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani = on the path of the death-bound saṃsāra (mṛtyu = death; saṃsāra = the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth; vartman = path, way — mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman = the path of the death-cycle; locative — 'on the path of death-fraught saṃsāra'). The construction is precise: aprāpya māṃ (not attaining Me — the missed destination) → nivartante (they return — the inevitable consequence) → mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani (on/to the death-fraught path — the place they return to). This is the dark-path outcome of V8.25 now seen from the Ch.9 perspective: without the rāja-vidyā of V1-V2, without śraddhā for the teaching, one naturally returns to the cycle of death and rebirth.
- śraddhā vs. aśraddā — the root distinction that determines spiritual trajectory
- — V3's aśraddadhānāḥ (without śraddhā) is not mere disbelief but the absence of the engaged, living trust that allows the teaching to be received · Śraddhā is one of the Gita's most important and most misunderstood terms. It does NOT mean blind faith or belief without evidence. The Sanskrit root is śrad + √dhā: śrad = heart (cognate with Latin cor = heart, Greek kardia = heart); dhā = to place. Śraddhā = 'placing one's heart' — the genuine, engaged orientation of the whole being toward something as worthy of trust and practice. This is different from: (1) intellectual assent (I agree this is logically coherent); (2) emotional feeling (I want this to be true); (3) blind faith (I believe because someone told me to). Śraddhā is the whole-person engagement that results from genuine reflection, exposure to the teaching, and personal investigation. It is what allows the teaching to enter and transform. Aśraddadhānāḥ (those without śraddhā) are those who cannot or will not engage this way — whether from intellectual pride, habitual cynicism, or simple disinterest. For them, the teaching cannot land regardless of how clearly it is stated. V3 is thus the Gita's acknowledgment that not all teachings reach all people — the limitation is in the receptor, not the transmission.
V3 is Ch.9's warning: those who approach the rāja-vidyā without śraddhā (genuine engaged trust) — aśraddadhānāḥ — do not attain the Supreme (aprāpya māṃ). Instead, they return (nivartante) to the mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman — the path of the death-fraught cycle of rebirth. V3 is the shadow of V1's promise: V1 said 'knowing it frees you from aśubha'; V3 says 'without śraddhā, you don't attain Me and return to the death-cycle.' The two verses together frame the stakes of Ch.9's teaching.
A modern analogy
A medicine that is not taken cannot heal. V3's aśraddadhānāḥ are those who encounter the medicine (Ch.9's teaching) but cannot or will not take it — whether from disbelief in its efficacy, resistance to the discipline, or simply lack of readiness. The consequence: the illness continues (mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman — the cycle of suffering continues). V3 is not condemning the non-taker but stating the natural result of not taking the medicine.
What it does NOT mean
V3's judgment of the aśraddadhānāḥ is not condemnation. Those without śraddhā return to the cycle — they are not punished but simply continue the default trajectory of unresolved karma (V8.19's avaśaḥ cycling). V3 is descriptive, not punitive: this is what happens without the teaching's reception, naturally and mechanically. The compassionate reading: V3 motivates śraddhā-cultivation. Knowing the consequence of aśraddhā (return to the death-cycle) is the motivation to cultivate śraddhā through practice, reflection, and exposure to the teaching.
Take with you
- V3 is the Gita's honest acknowledgment that not every teaching works for every person at every moment. Śraddhā is required for the teaching to land. If you find yourself resistant to Ch.9's teaching (doubting, defensive, dismissive), V3 is the moment to ask: 'What is blocking my śraddhā here? What in me is preventing the engaged, whole-person reception?' The block is worth examining — it is the aśraddhā that V3 identifies.
- V3's mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman (path of death-fraught rebirth) as a daily motivator for śraddhā-cultivation: the alternative to receiving Ch.9's teaching is not neutral — it is a return to the cycle of suffering. This is not fear-based motivation but honest assessment of the stakes. V3 says: without śraddhā, the default continues. With śraddhā, V1's promise (freedom from aśubha) becomes available.
- V3 applied to teaching others: when you encounter someone who is genuinely aśraddadhāna (not yet ready for the teaching), V3 is the reminder that forcing the teaching will not work. The śraddhā must be prepared first — through exposure, through the person's own life-experience pointing toward the teaching's relevance, through the compassionate context that allows readiness to emerge.
V9.3 is the counterpart to V9.1-V9.2's seven-fold praise of the teaching: having described what the teaching IS (rāja-vidyā, rāja-guhyam, etc.) and its benefits, V3 describes what happens WITHOUT the teaching (or without śraddhā to receive it). The term aśraddadhānāḥ is philosophically important. Śraddhā in the Gita is the topic of all of Ch.17 (śraddhā-traya-vibhāga = the three types of śraddhā). But already in Ch.9, V3 uses the term in a precise sense: the śraddhā required for Ch.9 is specifically the engaged, whole-being trust in the dharma of V1's guhyatama teaching. This is not generic religious faith but the specific orientation of a mature spiritual seeker toward the deepest teaching. The consequence: aprāpya māṃ nivartante mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartmani. The mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman (path of death-fraught saṃsāra) is the dark path of V8.25 expressed as a continuous existential condition rather than a one-time departure route. Without the rāja-vidyā, one is permanently on the path of death-cycle — cycling through births and deaths without the orientation toward liberation. V3's teaching connects to Ch.8's discussion: V8.3 described the cosmic structure (akṣara = Brahman); V8.16-V8.19 described the cycle of return; V8.26 declared both paths eternal. V9.3 now shows the personal consequence of being without śraddhā in the teaching: continuous return to the mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman. V9.22's ananya-bhakti is precisely what prevents this — the śraddhā that makes the teaching land and produce its fruits.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: aśraddadhānāḥ = those in whom avidyā (ignorance) is so strong that they cannot engage with the teaching of ātman = Brahman identity. The mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman is the natural trajectory of avidyā — continuous cycling through birth and death. The śraddhā required is the willingness to investigate the teaching of identity (that I am the akṣara Brahman) rather than defending the ego-identification. Without that investigation (aśraddā), saṃsāra continues.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, the śraddhā required is specifically bhakti-śraddhā — the living, engaged love for the divine that allows V9.22-V9.34's practices to take hold. Without this śraddhā, even the simplest practice (offering a leaf with devotion, V9.26) cannot be done — the quality of devotion is absent. V3's aśraddadhānāḥ are those for whom devotion has not yet awakened; the bhakti tradition's response is to create the conditions for śraddhā-awakening through satsaṅga (company of devotees), kīrtana (devotional chanting), and other bhakti-preparatory practices.
Karma-Yoga lens
V3 shows the karma yogi what happens without the proper orientation: aprāpya māṃ (not attaining Me) → the actions remain within the cycle (mṛtyu-saṃsāra-vartman). The karma yogi who acts without the ananya orientation (not directed toward Me as the ground) generates merit but not liberation — exactly V8.28's contrast: Vedic merit vs. the paramāṃ sthānam ādyam that transcends merit. V3's aśraddā in the karma yoga context = performing actions without the ananya-orientation that makes them liberation-generating.
Modern parallels
V3's šraddhā requirement parallels modern psychology's understanding of therapeutic relationship: the therapeutic process cannot proceed without the client's genuine engagement and trust (the therapeutic alliance). Similarly, transformation through a teaching requires the practitioner's genuine engagement (šraddhā). Research on meditation and contemplative practice consistently shows that practitioners who engage with genuine motivation and trust show significantly greater benefits than those who approach skeptically or mechanically.
Practice
V3 śraddhā check meditation: before or after any spiritual practice, sit quietly and check: 'Am I doing this with śraddhā — genuine engaged trust? Or am I going through the motions (aśraddadhāna)?' If śraddhā is thin today, acknowledge it without judgment. Then ask: 'What would make this practice genuinely alive for me right now?' Let the answer orient the session. This is V3's self-compassionate application.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Persons without Shraddha for this Dharma, return, O scorcher of foes, without attaining Me, to the path of rebirth fraught with death. [4]
These who are unbelievers in this truth, O harasser of thy foes, find me not, but revolving in rebirth return to this world, the mansion of death. [6]
They that receive not this, failing in faith To grasp the greater wisdom, reach not Me, Destroyer of thy foes! They sink anew Into the realm of Flesh, where all things change! [7]
O terror of your foes! those men who have no faith in this holy doctrine, return to the path of this mortal world, without attaining to me. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
I shall declare the most secret knowledge with realization to you who do not cavil — knowing it frees you from all evil.
Arjuna asks: those who perform yajña with sincere śraddhā but without śāstric ordinance — what guṇa is their state?
Smoke, Night, dark fortnight, six months of the Southern sun — by this path the yogi attains the moon and returns.
O Krishna — the faithful yogi who fell short of yoga's perfection through wandering mind: what is their destination?
Śraddhā of the embodied is threefold — born of svabhāva (one's own nature): sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī. Hear this.
Whoever studies this sacred dialogue — by him I shall have been worshipped by jñāna-yajña; such is My conviction.