Bhagavad Gita 6.40 · BG 6.40
Chapter 6Verse 40
Dhyana Yoga
पार्थ नैवेह नामुत्र विनाशस्तस्य विद्यते। न हि कल्याणकृत्कश्चिद्दुर्गतिं तात गच्छति॥
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatiṁ tāta gacchati
Translation
Arjuna, someone on this path is never destroyed, in this world or the next. No one who does good ever comes to a bad end, my friend.
The moment
Arjuna has just asked what happens to someone who starts this path sincerely but falls away before reaching the goal. Do they lose everything? This is Krishna's reassurance.
What it means
If you sincerely try to live well and fall short, you haven't lost anything. Krishna promises that someone who does good never ends up badly, in this life or after it.
Going deeper
Krishna calls Arjuna 'tāta' here, a warm word, roughly 'my dear'. It's one of the gentlest moments in the conversation.
The verses after this explain the promise. Someone who falls away is born again in good circumstances and picks up where they left off. No sincere effort is ever cancelled.
In your life
If you've abandoned a good effort, a habit or a change you were making, and feel like it was all wasted, it wasn't. Start again from where you are now. The verse's whole point is that the earlier work still counts.
No one who does good ever comes to a bad end.
Keep reading
6.26
The mind wanders. You notice, and you bring it back. That's the practice, repeated.
4.7
Wherever goodness fades, the strength to restore it rises again.
2.40
No sincere effort is ever wasted. Even a little of it protects you.
6.5
Lift yourself by your own mind. It can be your closest friend or your fiercest enemy.