Liberation & spiritual aim • Gītā 8.15
Mokṣa
Read the cited source passages on this page →
Study liberation through Bhagavad Gītā 8.15–16, with English translations, a comparison with rebirth, practical reading questions and answer feedback.
What you will learn
By the end of this reading, you should be able to explain the relationship between attaining Kṛṣṇa and freedom from renewed birth in Gītā 8.15–16, then compare that goal with the garment image in 2.22. Allow about ten minutes. English translations are supplied alongside the originals.
- 8.15: highest perfection — identify the goal and what no longer occurs.
- 8.16: return and no rebirth — follow the contrast between the two halves.
- 2.22: changing bodies — compare bodily change with the goal of the first two verses.
Read the source
Source passages to read on this page
Read the selected passages in English below. Translation, commentary and handbook guidance are labeled separately; the adjacent links let you check the source.
Bhagavad Gītā 8.15
Kṛṣṇa speaks to Arjuna in the Gītā’s dialogue. The surrounding chapter remains linked for context.
Reference: Swami Swarupananda; Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati (1909); Ramakrishna Order / Advaita Vedānta. Check the cited passage or chapter →
English translation
Reaching the highest perfection and having attained Me, the great-souled ones are no more subject to rebirth — which is the home of pain, and ephemeral.
Public-domain 1909 English translation. Line breaks and evident OCR errors corrected against the passage; translator’s comments are not included. Original Sanskrit is identified separately.
Read the original Sanskrit
Original Sanskrit · Devanāgarī
मामुपेत्य पुनर्जन्म दुःखालयमशाश्वतम् ।
नाप्नुवन्ति महात्मानः संसिद्धिं परमां गताः ॥ १५ ॥
Bhagavad Gītā 8.16
Kṛṣṇa speaks to Arjuna in the Gītā’s dialogue. The surrounding chapter remains linked for context.
Reference: Swami Swarupananda; Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati (1909); Ramakrishna Order / Advaita Vedānta. Check the cited passage or chapter →
English translation
All the worlds, O Arjuna, including the realm of Brahma, are subject to return, but after attaining Me, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth.
Public-domain 1909 English translation. Line breaks and evident OCR errors corrected against the passage; translator’s comments are not included. Original Sanskrit is identified separately.
Read the original Sanskrit
Original Sanskrit · Devanāgarī
आब्रह्मभुवनाल्लोका: पुनरावर्तिनोऽर्जुन ।
मामुपेत्य तु कौन्तेय पुनर्जन्म न विद्यते ॥ १६ ॥
Bhagavad Gītā 2.22
Kṛṣṇa speaks to Arjuna in the Gītā’s dialogue. The surrounding chapter remains linked for context.
Reference: Swami Swarupananda; Śrīmad-Bhagavad-Gītā, Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati (1909); Ramakrishna Order / Advaita Vedānta. Check the cited passage or chapter →
English translation
Even as a man casts off worn-out clothes, and puts on others which are new, so the embodied casts off worn-out bodies, and enters into others which are new.
Public-domain 1909 English translation. Line breaks and evident OCR errors corrected against the passage; translator’s comments are not included. Original Sanskrit is identified separately.
Read the original Sanskrit
Original Sanskrit · Devanāgarī
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।
तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥ २२ ॥
8.15: keep the devotional relationship visible
Swami Swarupananda’s English connects highest perfection and attaining “Me” with being no longer subject to rebirth. Kṛṣṇa is the speaker addressing Arjuna. The verse describes renewed birth as a home of pain and as ephemeral; “ephemeral” here means temporary or non-enduring.
Handbook reading question: which words describe the goal, and which describe the condition that no longer recurs? A summary that mentions only absence of rebirth would leave out the verse’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa.
8.16: another realm and freedom from return
The next verse explicitly includes the realm of Brahma among worlds subject to return. Its second half says that after attaining Kṛṣṇa there is no rebirth. Read the two halves together: the contrast is between realms where return remains possible and attaining Kṛṣṇa, where the verse says renewed birth does not occur.
This supports a focused distinction for the lesson: reaching another world subject to return and attaining the freedom described here are different goals. The verse does not provide a map of every realm or describe any individual’s destination.
Compare the goal with Gītā 2.22
2.22 supplies the garment image: the embodied leaves worn bodies and enters new ones. In 8.15–16 the emphasis shifts to renewed birth no longer occurring after attaining Kṛṣṇa. The comparison helps distinguish the subject of rebirth from a teaching about freedom from it.
Notice that neither of these chapter 8 verses uses the noun mokṣa in the supplied Sanskrit. This guide studies them under the topic of liberation because of their stated freedom from renewed birth. A guide title and the exact vocabulary of its selected verses need not be identical.
Translation and a named interpretation
The on-page English is Swami Swarupananda’s 1909 Advaita Ashrama translation, associated with the Ramakrishna Order and Advaita Vedānta. For optional commentary study, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda’s purport to 8.15 develops a Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava account centered on devotion to Kṛṣṇa and Kṛṣṇa’s association.
That account is attributed to Prabhupāda rather than presented as the only Hindu explanation of liberation. His full modern translation and purport are linked, not reproduced. These selected verses and this brief commentary note do not settle every tradition’s account of knowledge, devotion, conduct, or liberation during life.
Questions readers often bring
Does liberation here mean a better next birth?
The supplied chapter 8 verses say no renewed birth after attaining Kṛṣṇa. That differs from the garment image’s entry into another body.
Can this page tell me whether a loved one attained liberation?
The passages give no procedure for making that personal judgment. The guide supplies a reading of the text, not an assessment of anyone’s spiritual state.
Is liberation the same as feeling calm for a moment?
The selected verses describe highest perfection, attaining Kṛṣṇa and freedom from renewed birth. They do not define that goal as a temporary mood. A personal reflection on calmness should remain separate from their stated teaching.
Check your understanding
In 8.16, is the realm of Brahma exempt from return? Who is the speaker referred to by “Me”? What changes when you compare 2.22 with 8.15–16?
Read the answer feedback
The realm of Brahma is included among worlds subject to return. Kṛṣṇa is the speaker. 2.22 describes the embodied entering new bodies; 8.15–16 describe freedom from renewed birth after attaining Kṛṣṇa. Keep that devotional relationship in your answer.
Optional reflection: make two short notes headed “What the verse states” and “What I still want to ask.” Put questions about the experience of liberation or differences among traditions in the second note until a named source addresses them.
Continue your reading
Read Saṃsāra for the stages-of-life comparison in 2.13, Bhakti for a devotional reading, or the Gītā guide. All passages required here are on this page. Explanation, reflection and feedback are handbook guidance. Sources checked October 9, 2026; independent Sanskrit and philosophical review remains pending.