Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 8, Verse 26
शुक्लकृष्णे गती ह्येते जगतः शाश्वते मते।
एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययाऽऽवर्तते पुनः।।
एकया यात्यनावृत्तिमन्ययाऽऽवर्तते पुनः।।
śukla-kṛṣṇe gatī hyete jagataḥ śāśvate mate
ekayā yātyanāvṛttim anyayāvartate punaḥ
also searched as "shukla krishne gati hyete jagatah shashvate mate"
Translation
These two paths of the world, which are white and black, are indeed considered eternal. Through one, a person goes to the state of non-return; through the other, they return again.
Vāṇi's rendering
Bright and dark — the world's two everlasting roads. By one, no returning; by the other, return again.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| शुक्लकृष्णेśukla-kṛṣṇe | bright and dark — the two (paths), white and black |
| गतीgatī | the two goings, the two roads of passage |
| हिhi | indeed (joined by sandhi with the next word as hyete) |
| एतेete | these two |
| जगतःjagataḥ | of the world, belonging to all that moves |
| शाश्वतेśāśvate | everlasting, without beginning |
| मतेmate | are held to be, are considered |
| एकयाekayā | by the one |
| यातिyāti | one goes (joined by sandhi with the next word as yātyanāvṛttim) |
| अनावृत्तिम्anāvṛttim | to no-return, to the state from which there is no coming back |
| अन्ययाanyayā | by the other (joined by sandhi with the next word as anyayāvartate) |
| आवर्ततेāvartate | one turns back, comes round again |
| पुनःpunaḥ | again |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 8 Verse 26 mean?
It names two everlasting passages out of this world — śukla, bright, and kṛṣṇa, dark. One ends the returning. The other returns you to birth. Krishna is not ranking two kinds of people. He is describing two directions that have always been open, and telling Arjuna that both are real.
What does shukla krishne gati hyete jagatah shashvate mate mean?
Bright and dark, these two goings of the world are held to be without beginning. Śāśvate — everlasting. The roads were not made for you and will not close after you. They are the shape of how anything leaves here, and one of them is already under your feet.
Does this verse mean some souls are doomed to return forever?
No. Krishna calls the roads eternal, not the traveller's place on them. The dark road returns you — and returning is another life, another chance to turn. Nothing here is a sentence. What decides the road is not birth or fate but where the mind has been living, day after ordinary day.
How do I know which path I am on?
Not by asking at the end. The road is made of what your attention rests on when nothing is demanding it. Krishna says elsewhere that whatever you dwell on, you go to. So watch the idle mind, not the ceremonial one. That is the honest reading of your direction.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Krishna has just described two departures — fire and light, smoke and night. Now he names them as roads, and says they are old as the world itself. Not two rewards for good and bad behaviour. Two directions. One goes out and does not come back; the other circles home to another birth, and another. Arjuna is being shown that leaving is not the same as arriving. The question is never whether you will move — you are always moving. The question is which road your attention has been walking while you were busy with other things. Look at where the last year has taken you.