Bhagavad Gita 9.21ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति।एव त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ॥
te taṁ bhuktvā swarga-lokaṁ viśhālaṁ kṣhīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ
viśhanti evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante
Sanskrit recitation
How people reach for God · 9.11–9.25 · Teaching
Translation
They, having enjoyed the vast heaven, enter the world of mortals when their merit is exhausted; thus abiding by the injunctions of the three (Vedas) and desiring objects of desires, they attain to the state of coming and going.
Hindi translation
वे उस विशाल स्वर्गलोकके भोगोंको भोगकर पुण्य क्षीण होनेपर मृत्युलोकमें आ जाते हैं। इस प्रकार तीनों वेदोंमें कहे हुए सकाम धर्मका आश्रय लिये हुए भोगोंकी कामना करनेवाले मनुष्य आवागमनको प्राप्त होते हैं।
Meaning
When the accumulated merit (the cause of heavenly pleasures) is exhausted, they descend to this world. They come and go. They have no independence.The Dharma of the three Mere Vedic ritual, enjoined by the three Vedas. KamaKamah The people whose minds are filled with Vasanas or worldly tendencies.
After Swami Sivananda
How people reach for God· 9.11–9.25→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 9.11Fools disregard Me, clad in human form, not knowing My higher Being as the great Lord of…
- 9.12They are possessed of the deceitful nature of demons and undivine beings, filled with vain…
- 9.13But the great souls, O Arjuna, partaking of My divine nature, worship Me with a…
- 9.14Always glorifying Me, striving, firm in their vows, prostrating themselves before Me, they…
- 9.15Others also, sacrificing with the wisdom-sacrifice, worship Me, the All-Faced, as one,…
- 9.16I am Kratu; I am Yajna; I am the offering to the manes; I am the medicinal herbs and all…
- 9.17I am the father of this world, the mother, the dispenser of the fruits of actions, and the…
- 9.18I am the goal, the supporter, the Lord, the witness, the abode, the shelter, the friend,…
- 9.19As the sun, I give heat; I withhold and send forth the rain; I am immortality and also…
- 9.20The knowers of the three Vedas, the drinkers of Soma, purified of all sins, worshipping Me…
9.21They, having enjoyed the vast heaven, enter the world of mortals when their merit is…
- 9.22For those men who worship Me alone, thinking of no one else, for those ever-united, I…
- 9.23Even those devotees who, endowed with faith, worship other gods, worship Me alone, O…
- 9.24For I alone am the enjoyer and Lord of all sacrifices; but they do not know Me in reality,…
- 9.25The worshippers of the gods go to them; the ancestor-worshippers go to the manes; the…
Word-by-word→
- te
- they
- tam
- that
- evam
- thus
- puṇye
- stock of merits
- bhuktvā
- having enjoyed
- labhante
- attain
- viśhanti
- return
- viśhālam
- vast
- kṣhīṇe
- at the exhaustion of
- gata-āgatam
- repeated coming and going
- martya-lokam
- to the earthly plane
- swarga-lokam
- heaven
- trayī dharmam
- the karm-kāṇḍ portion of the three Vedas
- anuprapannāḥ
- follow
- kāma-kāmāḥ
- desiring objects of enjoyments
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- 5.23He who is able, while still here in this world, to withstand the impulse born out of…
- 18.42Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness, as well as…
- 11.24On seeing Thee, touching the sky, shining in many colors, with mouths wide open, with…
- 12.15He whom the world does not agitate, and who cannot be agitated by the world, and who is…