Chapter 1 · Verse 40 · Arjuna Visada Yoga
Bhagavad Gita 1.40
Sanskrit
कुलक्षये प्रणश्यन्ति कुलधर्माः सनातनाः। धर्मे नष्टे कुलं कृत्स्नमधर्मोऽभिभवत्युत।।1.40।।
Transliteration
kula-kṣhaye praṇaśhyanti kula-dharmāḥ sanātanāḥ dharme naṣhṭe kulaṁ kṛitsnam adharmo ’bhibhavaty uta
In plain words
When you watch the bonds that hold your family together dissolve—the trust, the shared values, the way you were taught to show up for each other—it feels like the ground itself is disappearing. The lesson for you: the decay you see is real, and your anguish at watching it is real too, but you are not powerless. You are being called to be the one who remembers what matters, who acts with integrity even when no one else does, who rebuilds what has fallen apart by tending to your own dharma first.
हिंदी अर्थ
कुल का विनाश होने से कुल के शाश्वत धर्म नष्ट हो जाते हैं और धर्म के नष्ट होने से पूरा कुल अधर्म में डूब जाता है। जब धर्म मिट जाता है तो बुराई और पाप सब जगह फैल जाते हैं।
Word by Word
When the structures that hold a family together crumble—its values, its practices, its living connection to dharma—something ancient dies that cannot easily be reborn. The eternal laws that guide conduct dissolve, and in their absence, chaos and unrighteousness flood in like water through a broken dam.
This is not merely about genealogy or inheritance; it speaks to the slow erosion of integrity within any institution, community, or even the inner family of our own mind and heart. Today, when we see traditions abandoned without understanding their roots, relationships fractured without effort to heal, or principles compromised for convenience, we witness this same descent—and we are invited to become the guardian who remembers what matters and acts to restore it.
Listen
Bhagavad Gita 1.40 — BG 1.40
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