Shloka 38
कच्चिन्नो भय वि भ्रष्टश्छिन्ना भ्रमिव नश्यति । अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मण: पथि
kaccin no bhaya-vibhraṣṭaś chinnā-bhram iva naśyati | apratiṣṭho mahābāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi ||
Arjuna said: “Has he not, having fallen away through fear, perished like a severed cloud—left without any footing, O mighty-armed one, bewildered on the path of Brahman?”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral-spiritual anxiety: if a seeker begins the discipline aimed at Brahman but becomes afraid and loses steadiness, does he end up ruined—unsupported and deluded? It highlights the ethical importance of courage, steadiness, and not abandoning the spiritual path midway.
Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa with a pointed doubt about the fate of one who undertakes the higher path (brahmaṇaḥ pathi) but then falters from fear and loses inner grounding. The imagery of a ‘severed cloud’ conveys drifting without support and the fear of spiritual failure.