Chapter 15, Verse 4
ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूयः | तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये | यतः प्रवृत्तिः प्रसृता पुराणी ||१५-४||
tataḥ padaṃ tatparimārgitavyaṃ yasmingatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ . tameva cādyaṃ puruṣaṃ prapadye . yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī ||15-4||
Meaning
15.4 Then That goal should be sought for, whither having gone none returns again. I seek refuge in that Primeval Purusha Whence streamed forth the ancient activity or energy.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Once the tree of bondage is felled, the seeker must not be left adrift — Krishna points to the destination. There is a pada, a supreme state, that must be earnestly sought, and its defining mark is finality: yasmin gatā na nivartanti — those who reach it never return to the cycle of birth and death. This is the liberation that all the spiritual effort has been aiming toward.
The verse then models the very attitude that takes us there: prapadye, 'I take refuge.' The path is not only one of cutting away, but of surrender to the ādyam puruṣam, the primeval Person from whom this ancient cosmic activity has streamed forth since beginningless time. Detachment clears the ground; refuge in the Divine completes the journey. Krishna shows that liberation is not a cold negation but a warm homecoming to our eternal source.
💡 Key Takeaway
After releasing what binds you, seek refuge in the eternal source from which all life flows.
Related Verses
न रूपमस्येह तथोपलभ्यते नान्तो न चादिर्न च सम्प्रतिष्ठा | अश्वत्थमेनं सुविरूढमूलं असङ्गशस्त्रेण दृढेन छित्त्वा ||१५-३||
na rūpamasyeha tathopalabhyate nānto na cādirna ca sampratiṣṭhā . aśvatthamenaṃ suvirūḍhamūlaṃ asaṅgaśastreṇa dṛḍhena chittvā ||15-3||
15.3 Its form is not perceived here as such, neither its end nor its origin, nor its foundation nor resting place: having cut asunder this firmly rooted peepul tree with the strong axe of non-attachment.
न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः | यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ||१५-६||
na tadbhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ . yadgatvā na nivartante taddhāma paramaṃ mama ||15-6||
15.6 Neither doth the sun illumine there nor the moon, nor the fire; having gone thither they return not; that is My supreme abode.
यदादित्यगतं तेजो जगद्भासयतेऽखिलम् | यच्चन्द्रमसि यच्चाग्नौ तत्तेजो विद्धि मामकम् ||१५-१२||
yadādityagataṃ tejo jagadbhāsayate.akhilam . yaccandramasi yaccāgnau tattejo viddhi māmakam ||15-12||
15.12 That light which residing in the sun illumines the whole world, that which is in the moon and in the fire know that light to be Mine.