Gita 09.21 – Blindness to mortality, even if it be in heaven, is still blindness
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ
kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti
evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā
gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante (Bg 9.21)
Word-to-word:
te — they; tam — that; bhuktvā — having enjoyed; svarga-lokam — heaven; viśālam — vast; kṣīṇe — being exhausted; puṇye — the results of their pious activities; martya-lokam — to the mortal earth; viśanti — fall down; evam — thus; trayī — of the three Vedas; dharmam — doctrines; anuprapannāḥ — following; gata-āgatam — death and birth; kāma-kāmāḥ — desiring sense enjoyments; labhante — attain.
Translation:
When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of the three Vedas achieve only repeated birth and death.
Explanation:
Kṛṣṇa continues here to analyze the nature of material happiness. He is not speaking about sinful sense gratification; rather, He is referring to pious sense gratification of the kind available in the heavenly planets. He says that life there is enjoyable—divi deva-bhogān, as mentioned in the previous verse—but it comes with a time limit, and that time limit restricts everything. Even if the happiness is immense, it remains ultimately constrained by the expiry date that accompanies it.
Kṛṣṇa says:
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ: After enjoying vast heavenly happiness,
kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti: when their pious credits are exhausted, they return to the earthly realm.
evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā: Thus, by following the path prescribed in the three Vedas,
gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante: they attain repeated coming and going, driven by the desire for sense enjoyment.
Martya-loka, the earthly planetary system, is characterized by death. In the heavenly planets, because the lifespan is extremely long, the occurrence of death is not very frequent, and awareness of death is not prominent in the consciousness of the residents—unless, of course, they are spiritually awakened and spiritually aware
In contrast, for the residents of the earthly realm, the occurrence of death is frequent and pervasive. Everyone has to die, and in that sense, the death rate is one hundred percent.
When we speak of the frequency of death, we mean that simply by living in this world, we repeatedly encounter death in various forms—through the news, within our social circle, among relatives and immediate family. Because life here is so temporary and short-lived, death becomes pervasive and even prominent. Therefore, this world is called martya-lokaṁ. As the verse states, when their pious credits are exhausted, they return to this realm: kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti.
Kṛṣṇa further says, evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannāḥ. One who follows trayī-dharma—dharma, artha, and kāma—simply returns to the cycle of repeated birth and death (gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmāḥ labhante).
Here, Kṛṣṇa describes a single cycle of elevation from earth to heaven through piety, followed by degradation from heaven back to earth when that piety is exhausted. By highlighting this repeated pattern, Kṛṣṇa emphasizes that even the enjoyment of heaven is temporary. Consequently, those who attain such enjoyment are not accomplishing anything tangible, in the ultimate sense, toward solving the real problems of life.
Śrīla Prabhupāda would give the example of goats standing in line, about to be slaughtered. As long as they are given some sense gratification—such as nice grass to munch on—the goats do not care about what will happen to them in the future. Such obliviousness to the future is suicidal. Unfortunately, this is what happens not only to goats, but also to goat-like humans, and even to goat-like humans who rise to the level of heavenly residents.
In this way, those who follow trayī-dharma simply come and go; they attain nothing lasting. The Bhagavad-gītā was spoken at a time when the kṣatriyas had a strong ethos of laying down their lives in heroic battle and ascending to the heavenly planets. Within the mainstream kṣatriya community, ascent to heaven was considered the greatest achievement of life.
Kṛṣṇa alludes to this mindset when He says, kutas tvā kaśmalam idaṁ viṣame samupasthitam anārya-juṣṭam asvargyam akīrti-karam arjuna (Bg. 2.2). “Where has this weakness (kaśmalam) come from? At such a critical moment, this conduct does not befit an Ārya; it is asvargyam, leading away from heaven, and akīrti-karam, the cause of infamy.”
Fame and heaven were considered the crown jewels in the celebrated career chart of the kṣatriyas. Here, Kṛṣṇa is telling Arjuna that success within such a framework is not true success at all; it is simply another form of failure. Real success lies in using the temporary to attain the eternal. Using the temporary to attain another, relatively better temporary is not genuine success. It is, in fact, an underutilization that results in the loss of a precious opportunity.
In this verse, Kṛṣṇa stresses that the attainment of the heavenly planets yields only a temporary result, and therefore a wise person should not engage in karma-kāṇḍa with the aim of reaching heaven. What such a person should do is explained in the next verse, where Kṛṣṇa states that His devotees attain an eternal destination.
The essential theme of these two verses on karma-kāṇḍa, 9.20 and 9.21, is that by performing puṇya through Vedic rituals, one can attain the heavenly planets and enjoy immense pleasures. However, even those pleasures are temporary, and one must eventually return to the earthly realm. Therefore, such an aspiration is not worthy of a wise person.
Thank you.
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