A declaration · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“The highest home is beyond every ordinary light and beyond return.”
The sun, moon, and fire do not illumine that place. Having reached it, one does not return. That supreme abode is Mine.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallynot · that · illumines · the sun · not · the moon · not · fire · which · having gone · not · they return · that · abode · supreme · Mine
Krishna says his highest abode cannot be illuminated by ordinary light, and anyone who reaches it does not come back to the cycle of return.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Purushottama Yoga" (The Yoga of the Supreme Person).
Verse 6 sits in Chapter 15 of the Bhagavad Gita — Purushottama Yoga, "The Yoga of the Supreme Person". The chapter has 20 verses in total.
You leave a hospital room after a final goodbye, and the fluorescent lights feel weak against what just changed. Some thresholds are not about more effort — they are about crossing into a life that cannot be undone.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts attention from temporary sources of guidance to the unchanging goal that ends return.
What this verse means
Krishna says his highest abode cannot be illuminated by ordinary light, and anyone who reaches it does not come back to the cycle of return.
Context & commentary
Arjuna stands shaken on the battlefield, and Krishna has been describing the highest reality beyond decay and return. Now Krishna names that goal directly: a supreme abode beyond sun, moon, and fire, reached by those who will not fall back into the cycle.
Why this verse still matters
You leave a hospital room after a final goodbye, and the fluorescent lights feel weak against what just changed. Some thresholds are not about more effort — they are about crossing into a life that cannot be undone.
“There is relief in knowing the highest goal is beyond ordinary measures and beyond coming back to the same struggle.”
Explore related themes: purushottama (14 verses)