Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 14, Verse 15
रजसि प्रलयं गत्वा कर्मसङ्गिषु जायते।तथा प्रलीनस्तमसि मूढयोनिषु जायते।।
rajasi pralayaṁ gatvā karma-saṅgiṣu jāyate
tathā pralīnas tamasi mūḍha-yoniṣu jāyate
also searched as "rajasi pralayam gatva karma-sangishu jayate"
Translation
(a) When Rajas is prevalent, one meets with dissolution and is born among those attached to work.
(b) Similarly, when Tamas prevails, one who has met with dissolution is born in the womb of beings lacking intelligence.
Vāṇi's rendering
Die in restlessness, and you are born among the driven. Die in darkness, and you are born among the deluded.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| रजसिrajasi | in restlessness — when the driving, agitated quality is dominant |
| प्रलयम्pralayaṁ | dissolution, the coming apart of the body; death |
| गत्वाgatvā | having gone to, having met |
| कर्मसङ्गिषुkarma-saṅgiṣu | among those glued to action, who cannot stop doing |
| जायतेjāyate | is born |
| तथाtathā | in the same way, likewise |
| प्रलीनःpralīnas | dissolved, undone — the final s here joins the next word by sandhi |
| तमसिtamasi | in darkness, in the heavy inert quality |
| मूढयोनिषुmūḍha-yoniṣu | in the wombs of the clouded, among forms that cannot see clearly |
| जायतेjāyate | is born |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 14 Verse 15 mean?
It means the quality dominant at death shapes what comes next. Die while rajas drives you, and you are born among the endlessly busy. Die sunk in tamas, and you are born among the clouded. Krishna is describing momentum, not a verdict — what has been carrying you continues to carry you.
What does rajasi pralayam gatva karma sangishu jayate teach?
That restlessness does not end when the body does. Whoever dies mid-chase is placed among those who also cannot stop chasing — the driven find the driven. Krishna states it plainly, without threat. The company you are born into is the company of your own dominant habit.
Is this verse saying I will be punished for dying badly?
No. There is no judge in this verse, only continuity. A stone thrown keeps its direction. Krishna is telling Arjuna that the last moment is not a separate event you can prepare for suddenly — it reveals what has been ruling you all along, and carries it forward.
How do I use this verse in daily life?
Stop treating the deathbed as the decisive hour. What settles in you now is what will be dominant then. Watch which quality you feed at ordinary moments — the compulsion to keep moving, the pull to go numb, or the clear stillness beneath both. That watching is itself the practice.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is not assigning punishment here. He is describing continuity. Whatever quality is running you at the last moment does not stop running you — it simply looks for a new place to run. Restlessness finds more to chase; darkness finds more to sleep through. And no one arrives at that hour as a stranger to himself. You die in whatever you have been practising. Arjuna is being told that the odds are set long before the final breath, in ordinary afternoons. So the question is not how you will die. It is what is moving your hands right now.