Topic

Destruction

3 verses from the Bhagavad Gita on destruction. Explore teachings across 3 chapters.

All Verses

Chapter 4 • Verse 40 →The Yoga of Knowledge and Renunciation
Ajnas cashraddadhanas ca samsayatma vinashyati, nayam loko 'sti na paro na sukham samsayatmanah

The ignorant, the faithless, and the doubting soul perish. For the doubting soul there is neither this world, nor the next, nor happiness.

  • •Faith is indispensable on the spiritual path
  • •Chronic doubt destroys the possibility of progress
  • •Neither worldly nor spiritual fulfillment reaches the perpetually doubtful
doubtfaithignorancehappiness
Chapter 11 • Verse 29 →The Yoga of the Vision of the Universal Form
Yathā pradīptaṁ jvalanaṁ pataṅgā vishanti nāshāya samṛiddha-vegāḥ, tathaiva nāshāya vishanti lokās tavāpi vaktrāṇi samṛiddha-vegāḥ

As moths rush swiftly into a blazing fire to their own destruction, so do all these creatures rush swiftly into Your mouths to their own destruction.

  • •Beings rush into dissolution, compelled by fate
  • •Ignorance drives creatures toward destruction
  • •The moth and flame: desire leading to ending
moths and flamefaterushingdissolution
Chapter 16 • Verse 9 →The Yoga of the Divine and Demoniac Natures
Etam drishtim avashthabhya nashtatmano 'lpa-buddhayah, prabhavanty ugra-karmanah kshayaya jagato 'hitah

Following such a view, these lost souls — of small intelligence and cruel deeds — arise as enemies of the world, bent on its destruction. Holding a godless and nihilistic worldview inevitably leads to destructive action; those who adopt such a vision become instruments of harm rather than upliftment in the world.

  • •A wrong worldview directly produces wrong and destructive action
  • •Those of demoniac vision become enemies of the world through their harmful deeds
  • •Small intelligence combined with ruthlessness is the destructive fruit of godless thinking
demoniac actionworldviewenemies of the worldintelligence