📿 Shloka Collection

Tatah Padam Tat

Gita 15.4 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 15 — Purushottama Yoga
ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यं यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूयः ।
तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यतः प्रवृत्तिः प्रसृता पुराणी ॥
Tatah padam tat parimargitavyam yasmin gata na nivartanti bhuyah,
Tam eva chadyam purusham prapadye yatah pravrittih prasrita purani.
ततः
after that (after cutting the tree)
पदम् तत्
that state / abode
परिमार्गितव्यम्
should be sought
यस्मिन् गताः
having reached where
न निवर्तन्ति भूयः
one does not return again
तम् एव
to that very
आद्यम् पुरुषम्
the primordial being
प्रपद्ये
I take refuge
यतः
from whom
प्रवृत्तिः
the flow of creation
प्रसृता पुराणी
has streamed forth since ancient times

Once the inner attachment is cut, what comes next? Krishna answers: seek that state from which, once reached, a person never has to return to the cycle of birth and death. This is not some far-off land. It is an inner stillness, a homecoming.

And how does one reach it? By taking refuge in the primordial being — the one from whom all of creation has flowed since the beginning of time. The seeker turns toward the very source from which everything emerged.

Elders in families often say: go back to the one who made you. This shloka carries that same spirit. Cut the ties that bind, and then walk toward the origin — the supreme being in whom the entire universe has its root.

Shlokas 15.3 and 15.4 form a complete instruction together: first cut the bondage, then seek the goal. The phrase 'yasmin gata na nivartanti' (from which there is no return) has been cited in tradition as a definition of moksha. 'Adyam purusham prapadye' (I take refuge in the primordial being) is a classic expression of prapatti, the act of surrender.

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