अर्जुन उवाच -
अयतिः श्रद्धयोपेतो योगाच्चलितमानसः ।
अप्राप्य योगसंसिद्धिं कां गतिं कृष्ण गच्छति ।। ६.३७ ।।

कच्चिन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति ।
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि ।। ६.३८ ।।

एतन्मे संशयं कृष्ण छेत्तुमर्हस्यशेषतः ।
त्वदन्यः संशयस्यास्य छेत्ता न ह्युपपद्यते ।। ६.३९ ।।

arjuna uvāca -
ayatiḥ śraddhayopeto yogāc-calita-mānasaḥ |
aprāpya yoga-saṁsiddhiṁ kāṁ gatiṁ kṛṣṇa gacchati || 6.37 ||

kaccin-nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś-chinnābhram-iva naśyati |
apratiṣṭho mahā-bāho vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi || 6.38 ||

etan-me saṁśayaṁ kṛṣṇa chettum-arhasy-aśeṣataḥ |
tvad-anyaḥ saṁśayasyāsya chettā na hy-upapadyate || 6.39 ||

Fate of the seeker fallen from spiritual path

In three verses, he sets forth his thoughts. These constitute a very significant facet in the Bhagavad Gita gospel. What confronts the seeker and how Krishna redresses it, needs to be studied and ascertained in all clarity and fullness:

Though with faith and attention, if one, unable to make the necessary striving, slips from the path, and does not reach his goal, what fate will befall him? Losing both, the erstwhile rituals with their promises as well as the new yogic reward and fruition, will he not, like the wind-blown clouds, be driven to destruction, deluded and lost in the Brahmic path? This indeed is my grave doubt, Krishna. You have to dispel it for me. I cannot find a better instructor for the purpose.

Arjuna’s words are clear; his apprehension quite genuine. He sets forth his reasons also. Yoga is a unitary path. It calls for exclusive reliance on its wholesomeness and conclusiveness. Whereas other religious paths have multiple aims and means (bahu-sakha: hyanantasca), as Krishna puts it (2.41), path of yoga is undoubtedly different. Exclusiveness till the end is something the desultory mind finds hard to preserve. Quite possibly it cannot avoid disruption.

Is not such a ‘neither here nor there’ plight disheartening? Arjuna’s question is quite relevant thus. There is, no doubt, a time lag between leaving everything else and getting at the yoga fruition. If during this period, yoga-pursuit becomes abortive, either due to lack of exclusiveness or shortage of life span, what will be the outcome? Will not the seeker, wonders Arjuna, be a spiritual destitute, bereft of earlier religious anchor and the subsequent spiritual prop? Such a plight, denied by the rewards of either is terrible to encounter.

The clouds lifting water from the expanse of the seas, waiting to shed on the plains, suddenly get blown by powerful wind! Getting scattered, failing in their mission, they get lost abruptly! Is not the plight of the unsuccessful yoga-seeker alike? It is this doubt that Arjuna wants Krishna to dispel.