BG 6.38 — Dhyāna-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 6.38Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Mahābāho · anuṣṭubh

कच्चिन् नोभयविभ्रष्टश् छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति ।

अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि ॥

kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś chinnābhram iva naśyati

apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Arjuna asks whether one who abandons ritual duty but fails to reach Brahman simply dissolves, groundless and bewildered, like a scrap of cloud torn from its mass and unable to join another.

ekras · bhāṣya

Does he not, doubly fallen, dissolve like a torn cloud — apratishtha, vimudha on the path of Brahman? The simile is exact. A scrap of cloud sheared off from its mass does not rejoin a new mass and does not rain; it dissolves in mid-air. The seeker who has left karma but not reached jnana is held in the same image.

Shankara reads the fear precisely. The sadhaka who abandons karma-marga but fails to reach jnana-marga is like the cloud-fragment severed from its source-mass — apratishtha, without foundation, without refuge. He is stripped of both shrauta-karma and the steady vision of Brahman; vimudha on the brahmanah path. The doubt is real because the position is real: the verse is naming a structural worry, not an imagined one.

Ramanuja dwells on the simile itself. A cloud-fragment torn from a maha-megha never reaches the next cloud either; it perishes in the interval. The yogi in question has relinquished karma's fruit-bearing power — he can no longer accumulate svarga — but has not yet stabilized in the brahmanah pathi, the path toward Bhagavan as Brahman. The interval is the danger.

Shridhara unpacks the logical structure with precision. The yogi has surrendered karma to Ishvara — Ishvara-arpita-karma — and thus foregone svarga. Simultaneously, yoga is yet incomplete — yoga-anishpatti — so moksha is also unavailable. Both fruits have slipped; he is nirashraya, refugeless.

Vallabha frames the verse as Arjuna disclosing his own inner intention: the double falling — from both aihika and paralaukika sukha — is the crisis Arjuna names, the worry of having renounced both pleasure-streams without Krishna's prasada sustaining the path.

Madhusudana names the verse the samshaya-bija, the seed of the doubt; the address maha-baho indicates Krishna's capacity to dispel afflictions of his devotees.

Context

where

Chapter 6 · Dhyāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Mahābāho

preceded by — BG 6.37

Arjuna asks: what becomes of the sincere seeker who started yoga with real faith, but whose effort slackened and who died before the practice bore fruit?

What's going on

Arjuna asks whether one who abandons ritual duty but fails to reach Brahman simply dissolves, groundless and bewildered, like a scrap of cloud torn from its mass and unable to join another.

Sūtras through this verse (63)

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here6.38───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.39Practice seam begins.───→here6.38───→6.46The yogi outranks every other path.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

6.9Souls differ by nature not by accident alone.───→here6.38───→13.23Soul and Lord coexist in the body, not as one.

show all 63

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

6.1Renouncer and yogi together───→here6.38───→9.22Yogakshema as offering returned

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one under two views.───→here6.38───→7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

6.1Renouncing too lives by purity of mind.───→here6.38───→16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

6.1The fruit-unattached one is yogi and renouncer.───→here6.38───→9.22The undivided ones the Lord himself sustains.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

6.1Calling a karma-yogi 'renouncer' is only a courtesy.───→here6.38───→18.1At the very end, the line still holds.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here6.38───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesapproach

───→here6.38───→7.1The chapter elaborates the prior bhajana-line.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherapproach

───→here6.38───→7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

3.8Even keeping the body alive requires action.───→here6.38───→6.40A fallen seeker still keeps the human birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

6.24Renounce every desire born of will.───→here6.38───→18.49Free of longing everywhere — same goal.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

6.32Sees others' pain and joy as his own.───→here6.38───→9.29I am equal to all; lovers live in Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roombetween

5.4Insight and practice are not two paths.───→here6.38───→6.46The lover outranks every other yogi.

RamsukhdasclassicalI

The Lord already inside the heartbetween

6.30See Me everywhere, I am never lost.───→here6.38───→8.22The highest Person, reached by the undivided.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursbetween

6.3Body, senses, and mind: none of them yours.───→here6.38───→13.20Nature causes the act; you only experience.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here6.38───→

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

6.1The renouncer and yogi are the same person.───→here6.38───→7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

6.1The renouncer is the one who acts for Me.───→here6.38───→9.27Whatever you do, do it as offering.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

6.9Devas, asuras, mortals are three native kinds.───→here6.38───→14.27Brahman has gradations within its own form.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

6.6Maitrāyaṇī defines the stilled mind.───→here6.38───→7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one person, two names.───→here6.38───→18.2The ritualists' śruti fixes the closing definition.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causebetween

6.7The stilled mind sees the seated supreme self.───→here6.38───→6.46The five-rung ladder ends in love, not knowledge.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

6.30Devotion brings what the seeker cannot earn.───→here6.38───→7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoirebetween

6.32'Self' as mind, not soul, when symmetry is needed.───→here6.38───→8.3'Imperishable' redirects to the supreme person.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

6.1Real renouncing keeps the act alive.───→here6.38───→18.1The closing chapter reopens this question.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

6.1Prelude binds yoga to puṣṭi-bhakti.───→here6.38───→7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

6.1The two paths are one through fruit-renouncing act.───→here6.38───→6.46The lover outranks the wise and the disciplined.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordbetween

2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.───→here6.38───→6.46The yogi closing the ṣaṭka is a mind-stiller.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)approach

───→here6.38───→7.4Two natures of the Lord: matter and selves.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionapproach

───→here6.38───→7.17I am dearest to him.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaapproach

───→here6.38───→7.4Lower nature: matter.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata simileapproach

───→here6.38───→7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markapproach

───→here6.38───→7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryapproach

───→here6.38───→6.47Six chapters of aphorism close at this verse.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsbetween

6.11Mudra and posture. 'Shuchau deshe pratishthapya sthiram asanam atmanah.' Establi───→here6.38───→9.26Puja and havan. 'Patram pushpam phalam toyam yo me bhaktya prayachchhati.' Whoev

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here6.38───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipbetween

6.35'Asamshayam maha-baho mano durnigraham chalam, abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena ───→here6.38───→12.13'Adveshta sarva-bhutanam maitrah karuna eva cha.' Without enmity, friendly, comp

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

5.5'Yat sankhyaih prapyate sthanam tad yogair api gamyate.' The place reached by sa───→here6.38───→6.46'Tapasvibhyo'dhiko yogi jnanibhyo'pi mato'dhikah, karmibhyash chadhiko yogi tasm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

6.29'Sarva-bhuta-stham atmanam sarva-bhutani cha'tmani, ikshate yoga-yuktatma sarvat───→here6.38───→13.32'Anaditvan nirgunatvat paramatma'yam avyayah, sharira-stho'pi Kaunteya na karoti

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here6.38───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.───→here6.38───→6.46Yogin vs. jñānin: not synonyms.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentbetween

2.39Wisdom section wound up here.───→here6.38───→6.46Dhyāna section sealed: yogin is supreme.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelapproach

───→here6.38───→7.1Upāsya and tat-pada in apposition. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousapproach

───→here6.38───→7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

6.1Soft sense of renouncer───→here6.38───→18.49Naishkarmya-siddhi by sannyāsa

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

6.1The fire-keeper is renouncer only in a soft sense.───→here6.38───→18.49Action-freedom comes from full renunciation.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here6.38───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

6.1The renouncer and yogi are one figure.───→here6.38───→6.46The yogi outranks tapasvi, jñāni, karmin.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spinebetween

6.1Pure mind is not yet release: now meditate.───→here6.38───→8.1Now, the questions of Brahman and self.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personapproach

───→here6.38───→7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsapproach

───→here6.38───→7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyaapproach

───→here6.38───→7.21Deity-worship: His self-arrangement of grace.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homeapproach

───→here6.38───→6.47Be a devotee: that is the meaning.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessapproach

───→here6.38───→7.14Undivided love crosses the great mist.

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here6.38───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here6.38───→

Ekrasmodernmeditation

Meditation — the dhyāna tourbetween · v2

6.29Self in all beings───→here6.38───→8.12Om at the close

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentbetween · v2

6.35Practice and dispassion───→here6.38───→13.8Field-knowledge as virtues

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathapproach · v2

───→here6.38───→7.16Four kinds of bhakta

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

6.1Householder is not figurative saṁnyāsin.───→here6.38───→7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

6.1Karma-yoga is outer; samādhi-yoga inner.───→here6.38───→7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 14 occurrences)

नश्यति √naś — to perish, be lost (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
ब्रह्मणः brahman — Brahman (the Absolute); also: the Veda; sacred utterance · genitive neuter singular noun

show all 14

कच्चित् kaccit — perhaps, I hope (interrog. particle)
ना na — not (negation particle)
उभय ubhaya — both, of both kinds · compound
विभ्रष्टः vi-√bhraṃś — to fall away, be lost (vi- + √bhraṃś) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
छिन्न √chid — to cut, sever (verbal root) · compound participle (compound member)
अभ्रम् abhra — cloud · nominative neuter singular noun
इव iva — like, as if
अप्रतिष्ठः apratiṣṭha — without foundation, unstable (a- + pratiṣṭhā) · nominative masculine singular noun
महा mahat — great, large; the cosmic intellect (mahattattva) · compound
बाहो bāhu — arm · vocative masculine singular noun
विमूढः vi-√muh — to be utterly deluded (vi- + √muh) · nominative masculine singular participle noun
पथि pathin — path, way · locative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If incomplete spiritual practice is worse than no practice (because it severs both supports without securing either), does the Gītā counsel against beginning a path one cannot complete — and if so, what constitutes 'enough' commitment to start?
02Madhusūdana uses this verse to dismantle jñāna-karma-samuccaya. Does the scattered-cloud image logically require that conclusion, or is that a school-specific interpretation imposed on an open question?

show all 7

03All six schools agree the abandoned sādhaka is apratiṣṭha (groundless) — yet they differ on what provides the ground: ātman-realisation (Advaita), bhakti-upāsanā (Viśiṣṭādvaita), Hari's will (Dvaita), Kṛṣṇa's prasāda (Vallabha), Brahman-path clarity (Śrīdhara), pure jñāna (Madhusūdana). Is 'ground' the same concept across these schools, or do they disagree about what apratiṣṭhā even means?
04Arjuna asks kaccit ('I wonder whether') — not 'this is certain.' What is the emotional register of this verse: genuine fear for his future self, compassionate concern for all aspirants, or rhetorical setup for Kṛṣṇa's reassurance in 6.40–45?
05The chinnābhram (scattered cloud) simile implies the fragment once belonged to a larger whole. Does this image encode a metaphysics of return — that the fallen sādhaka retains the potential to rejoin, as clouds can coalesce — or does it imply irreversible dissolution?
06In contemporary terms: if a person abandons conventional ambition (karma-mārga analog) to pursue contemplative or philosophical practice, then abandons that too, are they in the Gītā's 'scattered-cloud' situation — or does the verse require specifically ritual-and-yogic abandonment to apply?
07Śrīdhara specifies that surrendering karma to Īśvara (īśvarārpita-karma) blocks svarga as a side effect. Does performing niṣkāma-karma as a precaution against this double-falling work within the logic of the verse — or does Arjuna's question imply there is no safe middle position?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

If you have stepped away from conventional worldly achievement to pursue philosophical clarity, but genuine ātman-realisation (direct non-dual awareness) has not arisen, you are in the chinnābhram state. The Advaita prescription is to return to a qualified teacher (śrotriya brahmiṣṭha) rather than drift in private seeking — the scattered cloud needs a weather system (sat-saṅga, consistent practice) to coalesce. Half-renunciation without realisation is the precise danger; recommit fully or not at all.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

If you have quit ambition for salary and status (foregoing karma-phala) but your devotional practice — prayer, ritual, community worship — has grown inconsistent, you lack both supports simultaneously. Rāmānuja's practical counsel: before abandoning worldly duties, establish upāsanā (structured, daily devotional practice toward Bhagavān) as your new pratiṣṭhā. The sequence matters: build the new cloud before leaving the old one.

show all 6

Dvaita

The apratiṣṭha state arises from ayatna — insufficient effortful surrender to Hari's will. In daily terms: if spiritual practice has become passive ('I'll let things unfold') rather than active ('I submit each action to Hari'), you are drifting. Madhva's application is to reinstate prayatna (rigorous, effortful discipline) as Hari-worship — not casual but structurally committed — even when results are not visible.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's application is the most counter-intuitive: since only Kṛṣṇa's prasāda provides ground, the scattered-cloud state is not corrected by adding more effort but by deepening relationship — spending time in Kṛṣṇa's svarūpa (icon, kirtan, līlā-kathā) so that grace flows spontaneously. In practice: if formal meditation feels empty and worldly work has been renounced, do not redouble technique; instead, sit in the company of Kṛṣṇa's presence as primary activity.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's logical frame offers a practical diagnostic: are you in the chinnābhram state? Ask two questions — (1) Have I genuinely surrendered the fruits of my work to Īśvara, so that I no longer expect worldly reward from it? (2) Is my inner contemplative practice producing stable, progressive clarity, or stagnating? If yes to (1) and no to (2) simultaneously, you are apratiṣṭha. The corrective is not to un-surrender karma but to intensify the sādhana that builds yogāniṣpatti (yoga to completion).

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's application is specifically for the intellectually sophisticated practitioner who has studied non-dualism, tried to combine it with devotional practice, and feels neither is working. His diagnosis: 'samuccaya' thinking (doing both simultaneously as a hedge) is precisely the error — it prevents full commitment to either. The everyday application is to choose a primary path (jñāna or bhakti) and practice it as if the other were not a fallback. The address 'mahā-bāho' signals that Kṛṣṇa's grace can rescue even the mid-air state — but the student must name the fear honestly, as Arjuna does here.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 6, Verse 38: Krishna to Arjuna — Dhyāna-Yoga