A core teaching · reflective in mood · a little context helps
“Without trust, the highest teaching cannot carry you beyond repetition.”
O conqueror of foes, people without trust in this dharma do not reach Me and keep returning on the path of repeated death and rebirth.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Hover a word to focus on it.
Read literallywithout trust · people · of dharma · of this · O conqueror of foes · not reaching · Me · return · on the path of the cycle of death and rebirth
People who lack trust in this sacred teaching do not reach Krishna and remain trapped in repeated birth and death.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga" (The Royal Knowledge).
Verse 3 sits in Chapter 9 of the Bhagavad Gita — Raja Vidya Raja Guhya Yoga, "The Royal Knowledge". The chapter has 34 verses in total.
You stand at the edge of a hard choice and keep asking for one more guarantee, one more sign. Doubt can become a loop that sends you back to the same fear instead of forward into action.
Did you like this verse?
It shifts the mind from treating trust as optional to seeing it as the condition for transformation.
What this verse means
People who lack trust in this sacred teaching do not reach Krishna and remain trapped in repeated birth and death.
Context & commentary
Krishna is still speaking to Arjuna on the battlefield, where a whole life is being decided in one frozen moment. After praising this teaching as the highest and purest knowledge, he warns that disbelief keeps a person turning in the cycle of death and rebirth instead of reaching him.
Why this verse still matters
You stand at the edge of a hard choice and keep asking for one more guarantee, one more sign. Doubt can become a loop that sends you back to the same fear instead of forward into action.
“Trust is not decoration here; it is the doorway out of repetition.”
Explore related themes: shraddha (34 verses), krishna (31 verses)