Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 3
अश्रद्दधानाः पुरुषा धर्मस्यास्य परन्तप।
अप्राप्य मां निवर्तन्ते मृत्युसंसारवर्त्मनि।।
अप्राप्य मां निवर्तन्ते मृत्युसंसारवर्त्मनि।।
aśraddadhānāḥ puruṣā dharmasyāsya parantapa
aprāpya māṁ nivartante mṛtyu-samsāra-vartmani
also searched as "ashraddadhanah purusha dharmasyasya parantapa"
Translation
Men devoid of faith in this Dharma, O scorcher of foes, ever remain without attaining Me, on the mortal path of Samsara.
Vāṇi's rendering
Those without faith in the sacred path do not reach me. They circle back onto the road of death and rebirth.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अश्रद्दधानाःaśraddadhānāḥ | those who carry no faith, who will not trust |
| पुरुषाःpuruṣāḥ | people, men (appears as puruṣā by sandhi before dharmasya) |
| धर्मस्यdharmasya | of the sacred path, of this teaching |
| अस्यasya | this (joined to dharmasya by sandhi as dharmasyāsya) |
| परन्तपparantapa | O scorcher of foes — Arjuna |
| अप्राप्यaprāpya | not having reached, failing to arrive at |
| माम्māṁ | me |
| निवर्तन्तेnivartante | they turn back, they return |
| मृत्युmṛtyu | death |
| संसारsamsāra | the turning round of birth and death |
| वर्त्मनिvartmani | on the road, in the rut, along the track |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 3 mean?
Krishna says that those who bring no śraddhā to this teaching never arrive at him, and so return again to the track of death and rebirth. The obstacle is not sin or ignorance of the words. It is the closed ear that will not let the teaching in far enough to work.
What does ashraddadhanah purusha dharmasyasya parantapa teach us?
It teaches that the sacred path asks something before it gives anything: your trust. Not blind belief, but the willingness to act as though it might be true. Krishna calls Arjuna parantapa, scorcher of foes, in the same breath — the enemy here is your own withheld consent.
Is Krishna saying non-believers are punished?
No. There is no sentence handed down in this verse. The verb is nivartante — they turn back. Having not reached, they simply continue on the road they were already walking. Saṁsāra is not a punishment inflicted; it is the default motion of a life that never turned toward him.
What is shraddha in the Bhagavad Gita?
Śraddhā is not certainty. It is the trust that lets you begin before you have proof, the way you swallow medicine you cannot analyse. Krishna makes it the doorway to everything taught in this chapter. Without it the words are heard, considered, admired — and left outside.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Faith comes first, and that is the hard part. Krishna has just called this teaching the highest secret, easy, joyful — and then names the one thing that keeps it out of reach: aśraddhā, the refusal to trust. He does not say the faithless are punished. He says they circle. Nothing is done to them; they simply go round again, the road of death and birth carrying them back to where they started. Arjuna is being warned about a closed ear, not a closed gate. Notice what you have already decided cannot be true. That decision is the wheel.