8.15 A dwelling of pain that does not last Krishna speaks
मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम्
नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः
mām upetya punar janma duḥkhālayam aśhāśhvatam
nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ sansiddhiṁ paramāṁ gatāḥ
Having come to me, the great-souled ones do not return to birth, which is a dwelling of pain and does not last.
Explanation
What is escaped gets named, and it is not punishment.
duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam — a dwelling of pain, and not lasting. Two complaints, and the second is the sharper one.
The trouble with the round of birth is not only that it hurts. It is that nothing in it holds still long enough to be kept. The Gita's objection to ordinary existence rests more on impermanence than on suffering, which is a different diagnosis from the one usually attributed to it.
Word by word
- mām
- me
- upetya
- having attained
- punaḥ
- again
- janma
- birth
- duḥkha-ālayam
- place full of miseries
- aśhāśhvatam
- temporary
- na
- never
- āpnuvanti
- attain
- mahā-ātmānaḥ
- the great souls
- sansiddhim
- perfection
- paramām
- highest
- gatāḥ
- having achieved
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