Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 6, Verse 37
अर्जुन उवाच
अयतिः श्रद्धयोपेतो योगाच्चलितमानसः।
अप्राप्य योगसंसिद्धिं कां गतिं कृष्ण गच्छति।।
अयतिः श्रद्धयोपेतो योगाच्चलितमानसः।
अप्राप्य योगसंसिद्धिं कां गतिं कृष्ण गच्छति।।
arjuna uvāca
ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc calita-mānasaḥ
aprāpya yoga-sansiddhiṁ kāṅ gatiṁ kṛṣṇa gacchati
also searched as "ayatih shraddhayopeto yogac calitamanasah"
Translation
Arjuna said, "If a person who is possessed of faith but has put in only inadequate effort finds his mind wandering away from Yoga, and then fails to attain perfection—what way does he go, O Krishna?"
Vāṇi's rendering
What of the one with faith whose effort slips — who falls from the path before reaching its end?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अर्जुनःarjuna | Arjuna |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| अयतिःayatiḥ | one who does not hold himself steady; slack in effort |
| श्रद्धयाśraddhayā | with faith |
| उपेतःupetaḥ | endowed, accompanied (joined to the previous word by sandhi: śraddhayā + upetaḥ) |
| योगात्yogāt | from yoga, from the path |
| चलित-मानसःcalita-mānasaḥ | whose mind has wandered off |
| अप्राप्यaprāpya | not having reached |
| योग-संसिद्धिम्yoga-sansiddhiṁ | the full completion of yoga |
| काम्kāṅ | what, which |
| गतिम्gatiṁ | way, destination, end |
| कृष्णkṛṣṇa | O Krishna |
| गच्छतिgacchati | does he go, does he reach |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 37 mean?
It is Arjuna's question, not Krishna's answer. He asks about the sincere beginner — one who has śraddhā but cannot hold the discipline, whose mind slides off the path before anything is completed. What becomes of such a person? The verse names the fear of wasted effort and hands it directly to Krishna.
What happens when ayatih shraddhayopeto yogac calitamanasah is asked?
Arjuna is naming a very particular person: faithful but slack, willing but unsteady. He assumes such a one falls between worlds — too committed for ordinary life, too scattered for the path. Krishna's reply in the verses that follow dismantles the assumption entirely. Nothing turned toward this is ever lost.
Does the Gita say incomplete spiritual practice is wasted?
The opposite. Arjuna raises the worry here so that Krishna can answer it plainly: no one who does good work meets a bad end. Practice is not a wall that either stands or collapses. It is more like ground that has been broken. The next season begins from there, not from nothing.
Why does Arjuna ask about failure right after learning meditation?
Because he has just been told to sit alone, still the mind, and hold it there — and he knows himself. The instruction has landed as a measure he might not meet. His question is honest self-recognition dressed as a question about someone else. Most seekers ask it in exactly the same way.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Arjuna asks the question every practitioner eventually asks, and he asks it about someone else. Not the failure of the faithless — the failure of one who believed, sat down, tried, and drifted. Notice the shape of his worry: he assumes effort must reach its end or count for nothing. Krishna will answer that nothing turned this way is ever lost. But the answer only lands if the question was honest. Yours is. The mind wandered; the practice thinned; the cushion gathered dust. Ask what becomes of you now — and notice that the asking is faith, still standing after the effort slipped.