📿 Shloka Collection

Kim Punar Brahmanah Punyah

Gita 9.33 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 9 — Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga
किं पुनर्ब्राह्मणाः पुण्या भक्ता राजर्षयस्तथा ।
अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम् ॥
Kim punar brahmanah punyah bhakta rajarshyas tatha
Anityam asukham lokam imam prapya bhajasva mam
किम् पुनः
how much more, then
ब्राह्मणाः पुण्याः
virtuous brahmins
भक्ताः राजर्षयः
devoted royal sages
अनित्यम्
impermanent
असुखम्
without lasting happiness
लोकम् इमम्
this world
प्राप्य
having reached, having been born into
भजस्व माम्
worship me

Krishna completes the argument. If even those considered lowly by society can reach the supreme goal through devotion, then what of virtuous brahmins and devoted rajarshis? For them, the path is that much more natural.

Then Krishna makes his personal appeal to Arjuna: 'Anityam asukham lokam imam prapya bhajasva mam.' Having been born into this world — which is impermanent and without lasting joy — devote yourself to me. It is not a command. It is an invitation from a friend who sees the full picture.

The words 'anityam asukham' are not pessimism. They are a diagnosis. A doctor who tells you the truth about your condition is not being negative — they are giving you the information you need to heal. Krishna describes the world accurately so that Arjuna can choose wisely.

This shloka bridges 9.32 and 9.34. On one side, the universality of bhakti. On the other, the chapter's closing call. 'Anityam asukham' echoes Gita 8.15: 'duhkhalayam ashashvatam' — this world is a place of suffering and impermanence.

The tradition does not read 'anityam asukham' as a call to flee the world. It is a call to wake up within it — to direct one's life toward what endures.

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