Upanishads · Varāha 4.40
॥
Devanāgarī
अलब्ध्वापि फलं सम्यक्पुनर्भूत्वा महाकुले । पुनर्वासनयैवायं योगाभ्यासं पुनश्चरन्
Transliteration (IAST)
alabdhvāpi phalaṃ samyakpunarbhūtvā mahākule | punarvāsanayaivāyaṃ yogābhyāsaṃ punaścaran
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
अ-लब्ध्वा अपि फलं सम्यक्a-labdhvā api phalaṃ samyaknot having fully obtained the fruit
पुनः भूत्वा महा-कुलेpunaḥ bhūtvā mahā-kulebeing born again in a high family
पुनः वासनया एव अयंpunaḥ vāsanayā eva ayaṃagain, by the very tendency, this one
योग-अभ्यासं पुनः चरन्yoga-abhyāsaṃ punaḥ caranagain performing the practice of yoga
Translation
"Not having fully obtained the fruit, being born again in a high family, again — by the very tendency — this one again performing the practice of yoga…"
Version
2e93d37fa96a · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The verse is a retelling of a well-known passage of the Gita, and it is worth citing, for it is developed there in more detail. Arjuna asks: what becomes of one who took it up but did not arrive? Does he not perish, like a torn cloud, deprived of both — the world and the path? (6.37–38)
Krishna's answer is one of the most comforting in the whole book: na hi kalyana-krit kaschid durgatim tata gachchhati, "one who does good, my friend, does not come to a bad end" (6.40). And further it says exactly what is retold here: he is born in the house of the pure and prosperous, or directly in a family of the knowing; and there tatra tam buddhi-samyogam labhate paurva-dehikam, "he obtains union with the understanding of the former body" (6.43). That is, what was accumulated is not lost; and the word vasana, "tendency," here speaks of the same thing: it is not memory that returns, but inclination.
Let us add what the Vaishnava side especially stresses in this passage of the Gita. It says further that such a birth is durlabhataram loke janma, "a birth very hard to obtain in the world" (6.42); and yet it is given to one who did not succeed. That is, failure on this path is rewarded better than success on others; and verse 6.44 explains why: purvabhyasena tenaiva hriyate hy avasho'pi sah, "by that very former practice he is drawn along even against his will."
This is, in my view, the finest thing said anywhere about those left halfway.