Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 6, Verse 38
कच्चिन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति।
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि।।
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि।।
kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś cchinnābhram iva naśyati
apratiṣṭho mahā-bāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi
also searched as "kaccin nobhaya-vibhrashtash cchinnabhram iva nashyati"
Translation
Without any support, confused in the path leading to the Brahman, and thus having fallen from both, does he not perish, O mighty-armed one, like a rent cloud?
Vāṇi's rendering
Fallen from both worlds, does he simply scatter like a torn cloud — lost, with nothing to stand on?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कच्चित्kaccit | is it that — the anxious 'surely not?' |
| नna | not (joined by sandhi with the next word) |
| उभयविभ्रष्टःubhaya-vibhraṣṭaḥ | fallen away from both — the worldly and the spiritual |
| छिन्नाभ्रम्chinna-abhram | a torn cloud, a cloud ripped apart |
| इवiva | like |
| नश्यतिnaśyati | perishes, comes to nothing |
| अप्रतिष्ठःapratiṣṭhaḥ | with no footing, nothing to stand on |
| महाबाहोmahā-bāho | O mighty-armed one — Arjuna |
| विमूढःvimūḍhaḥ | bewildered, gone astray |
| ब्रह्मणःbrahmaṇaḥ | of Brahman, of the vast reality |
| पथिpathi | on the path |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6 Verse 38 mean?
It is Arjuna's fear said plainly: what becomes of the seeker who leaves the ordinary life behind and never reaches the other shore? He names the dread of falling between two worlds and scattering like a cloud ripped open — effort spent, nothing gained, nowhere to stand.
What does kaccin nobhaya-vibhrashtash mean in the Gita?
Ubhaya-vibhraṣṭaḥ means fallen from both — from the rewards of the world one renounced and from the fulfilment one sought. Arjuna asks it as a question because he does not yet know the answer. Krishna will tell him, two verses on, that no such falling is final.
Why does Arjuna compare a failed seeker to a torn cloud?
A cloud has weight, direction, the promise of rain. Torn apart, it becomes haze — nothing arrives, nothing waters the ground. That is what Arjuna fears for the half-finished seeker: not punishment, but dispersal. The image is exact, and it is why he is frightened.
Is it wrong to doubt whether spiritual effort will work?
Arjuna doubts, and the Gītā keeps the doubt in the text. He does not hide it or manage it; he says it to Krishna and waits. That is the whole method. Doubt carried alone becomes paralysis; doubt spoken becomes the next question, and the next answer.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna is asking about failure. Not the failure of the man who never tried — the failure of the one who set out, left the ordinary road behind, and did not arrive. He has lost the world's rewards and not gained the other. A torn cloud is the image: something that was going somewhere, now shredded across the sky, watering nothing. If you have begun anything inward, you know this fear — that the whole effort will simply disperse. Krishna has not answered yet. Notice that the question itself is honest, spoken aloud to someone who can hear it. Asking it aloud is already a kind of standing.