Chapter VI · Śloka 38
कच्चिन्नोभयविभ्रष्टश्छिन्नाभ्रमिव नश्यति ।
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि ॥
अप्रतिष्ठो महाबाहो विमूढो ब्रह्मणः पथि ॥
kaccin nobhaya-vibhraṣṭaś
chinnābhram iva naśyati |
apratiṣṭho mahābāho
vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi ||
chinnābhram iva naśyati |
apratiṣṭho mahābāho
vimūḍho brahmaṇaḥ pathi ||
Does he not perish like a rent cloud, O mighty-armed one — fallen from both paths, without support, deluded on the path to Brahman?
The image of a cloud torn apart — belonging neither to the sky above nor the earth below — captures the terror of spiritual homelessness. Arjuna fears a fate worse than worldly failure: being stranded between the householder's world and liberation.