Chapter 8, Verse 16
आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोकाः पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन | मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ||८-१६||
ābrahmabhuvanāllokāḥ punarāvartino.arjuna . māmupetya tu kaunteya punarjanma na vidyate ||8-16||
Meaning
8.16 (All) the worlds including the world of Brahma are subject to return again, O Arjuna; but he who reaches Me, O son of Kunti, has no rirth.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna draws a sharp distinction between heavenly attainment and true liberation. Even the highest realms — up to Brahmaloka, the world of the creator himself — are subject to return (punaravartinah). However exalted and long-lasting these heavens may be, they remain within the cycle of time; their residents eventually fall back into rebirth. Only the one who reaches Krishna escapes this cycle entirely.
This teaching gently corrects a common spiritual ambition. Many seek heaven as the final reward, but Krishna reveals that even the loftiest paradise is temporary. The merit that lifts one there is eventually exhausted, and the soul descends again. Liberation (moksha) is of a wholly different order: not a higher place within samsara but freedom from the entire wheel. Krishna thus redirects Arjuna's aspiration from any attainment that can be lost to the one union with the Divine that can never be undone.
💡 Key Takeaway
Even the highest heaven is temporary; aim not for a better place within the cycle but for freedom from it altogether.
Related Verses
अन्तकाले च मामेव स्मरन्मुक्त्वा कलेवरम् | यः प्रयाति स मद्भावं याति नास्त्यत्र संशयः ||८-५||
antakāle ca māmeva smaranmuktvā kalevaram . yaḥ prayāti sa madbhāvaṃ yāti nāstyatra saṃśayaḥ ||8-5||
8.5 And whosoever, leaving the body, goes forth remembering Me alone, at the time of death, he attains My Being: there is no doubt about this.
यदक्षरं वेदविदो वदन्ति विशन्ति यद्यतयो वीतरागाः | यदिच्छन्तो ब्रह्मचर्यं चरन्ति तत्ते पदं संग्रहेण प्रवक्ष्ये ||८-११||
yadakṣaraṃ vedavido vadanti viśanti yadyatayo vītarāgāḥ . yadicchanto brahmacaryaṃ caranti tatte padaṃ saṃgraheṇa pravakṣye ||8-11||
8.11 That which is declared Imperishable by those who know the Vedas, that which the self-controlled (ascetics or Sannyasins) and passion-free enter, that desiring which celibacy is practised that goal I will declare to thee in brief.
ओमित्येकाक्षरं ब्रह्म व्याहरन्मामनुस्मरन् | यः प्रयाति त्यजन्देहं स याति परमां गतिम् ||८-१३||
omityekākṣaraṃ brahma vyāharanmāmanusmaran . yaḥ prayāti tyajandehaṃ sa yāti paramāṃ gatim ||8-13||
8.13 Uttering the one-syllabled Om the Brahman and remembering Me, he who departs, leaving the body, attains to the Supreme Goal.