Bhagavad Gita BG 4.40
Chapter 4, Verse 40 — Meaning, Translation & Explanation
अज्ञश्चाश्रद्दधानश्च संशयात्मा विनश्यति । नायं लोकोऽस्ति न परो न सुखं संशयात्मनः ॥
ajnas cashraddadhanash ca samsayatma vinashyati nayam loko 'sti na paro na sukham samsayatmanah
Meaning
The ignorant, the faithless, and the doubting self perish. For the doubting self, there is neither this world, nor the next, nor happiness.
Understanding
Three types who perish: ajna (ignorant — lacking discriminative knowledge), ashraddadhana (faithless — closed to truth), and samsayatma (the doubting self — paralysed by unresolved doubt). The last is emphasised: samsaya (doubt) is the destroyer. Not intellectual questioning (pariprasna from verse 34 — that is welcome), but the corrosive, unresolved doubt that prevents commitment. Such a person finds no peace in this world or the next.
Word by Word
| Word | IAST | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| अज्ञः | ajnah | ignorant, without discriminative knowledge |
| अश्रद्दधानः | ashraddadhanah | faithless, without shraddha |
| संशयात्मा | samsayatma | the doubting self, one whose self is doubt |
| विनश्यति | vinashyati | perishes, is destroyed |
| च | ca | and (both ignorant and faithless) |
| न | na | not (no world, no happiness exists for him) |
| अयम् | ayam | this (world — does not exist for the doubter) |
| लोकः | lokaḥ | world / this world |
| अस्ति | asti | is / exists |
| परः | paraḥ | the other / the next world (beyond) |
| सुखम् | sukham | happiness / joy / well-being |
| संशयात्मनः | samsayātmanaḥ | for the doubting soul / for one full of doubts |