The highest light is beyond sun, moon, and fire.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
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||
Use this verse when worldly success feels ultimate.
Meaning
Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire illumines that supreme abode of Mine; having reached it, one does not return.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Krishna’s supreme abode is beyond worldly light and beyond return.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse points to a reality beyond material illumination. The supreme abode is self-luminous, eternal, and the final destination for the liberated soul.
Read the traditional commentary
Krishna describes the supreme destination in a way that transcends all our ordinary categories of light. The sun, the moon, and fire are the three great sources of illumination in our world, yet none of them shines in that realm. This is not darkness but its opposite — a self-luminous reality that needs no external light because it is the very source of all light. As the Upanishads echo, 'by its shining all this shines.'
The phrase paramaṃ dhāma mama — 'My supreme abode' — is deeply tender. Krishna does not point to an abstract void but to His own home, intimate and personal. And once again the seal of finality is set: yad gatvā na nivartante — those who arrive there never fall back into the cycle of birth and death.
This verse lifts the seeker's gaze from the effort of detachment toward the luminous, unending goal that makes all that effort worthwhile.
In daily life
Do not seek ultimate security in temporary lights.
A person may realize that status, money, and recognition cannot provide the final light of peace.
Try this today
Reflect on one temporary source of security and release its final claim.
I seek Krishna’s self-luminous abode.Reflect
What temporary light am I mistaking for the final light?
Private — only you can see this
Quick check
What does ‘न तत् भासयते’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on moksha, in other chapters
- Verse 2.51The wise who abandon attachment to the fruits of action attain liberation from the cycle of birth and death.
- Verse 8.16Even the highest heaven is temporary; aim not for a better place within the cycle but for freedom from it altogether.
- Verse 14.2When you anchor your identity in the eternal rather than the changing, neither beginnings nor endings can shake you.
- Verse 5.24Find your happiness, delight, and guiding light within — that inward self-sufficiency is the very gateway to liberation.
Swipe left for 15.7 · You are Krishna’s eternal part.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 15.6
Who says Bhagavad Gita 15.6, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 15.6, in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga (Purushottama Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 15.6 mean?
Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire illumines that supreme abode of Mine; having reached it, one does not return. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 15.6 for daily life?
Do not seek ultimate security in temporary lights. A person may realize that status, money, and recognition cannot provide the final light of peace.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 15.6 mean?
न तत् भासयते — that does not illumine; सूर्यः — the sun; न शशाङ्कः — nor the moon; न पावकः — nor the fire; यत् गत्वा — having gone where.
Where does verse 15.6 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 6 of 20 in Chapter 15, Purushottama Yoga. The next verse is 15.7.