Why does such valuable knowledge go unused?

In the previous two verses, Kṛṣṇa introduced the knowledge of Bhagavān and described its extraordinary value. It can free a person from inner suffering, give lasting security, and bring liberation in this very life. One might expect everyone to seek such knowledge eagerly. Yet many do not. This verse explains why and what they lose by neglecting it.

When something sounds too good to be true

People often judge the value of an opportunity by how much it costs. They may readily pay large sums for a professional course while treating freely offered spiritual classes with suspicion. If a teaching promises the highest benefit without an expensive fee, they wonder whether it can possibly work. The deeper problem is not the price; it is their lack of confidence that this particular knowledge can deliver the promised result.

This is what Kṛṣṇa calls aśraddhā [lack of trust in the efficacy of the teaching]. He describes such people as aśraddadhānāḥ [those without that trust]. They hear about the highest knowledge but do not take it seriously enough to pursue it. This is different from honestly asking questions. Doubts can be examined through study. Here the obstacle is a settled disbelief in the value of studying at all.

Which teaching are they rejecting?

Kṛṣṇa calls it asya dharmasya [this teaching]. In ordinary conversation, dharma may mean duty, righteous conduct, or religious observance. Here it means none of those specifically. It refers to the Vedāntic knowledge of Bhagavān just introduced: the knowledge that leads to liberation. Nor does dharma here mean gaining merit through good deeds. The warning concerns a failure to appreciate the power of liberating knowledge itself.

The opportunity they miss

Those who neglect this knowledge fail to attain Bhagavān. Attainment here means mokṣa [liberation], the discovery of infinite happiness, freedom, and security. The loss is therefore not merely missing an interesting class or an additional spiritual accomplishment. It is missing the opportunity to be free from the fundamental insecurity that accompanies worldly existence.

It is tempting to say that this inquiry can always be undertaken in another life. But who can guarantee another human birth, or suitable circumstances, or access to a teacher and the capacity to study? The opportunity available now is precious precisely because its future availability is uncertain. Postponement can quietly become the refusal to pursue knowledge at all.

What continues without this knowledge?

The verse says that such people remain on the path of birth and death. They repeatedly acquire things and lose them, form relationships and face separation, experience pleasure and then its disappearance. This continuing struggle is saṃsāra [the recurring condition of bondage, birth, and death]. The term nivartante [they continue] is used here to indicate continued existence in that condition, not simply returning from one physical place to another.

The phrase mṛtyusaṃsāravartmani emphasizes that mortality is the defining insecurity of this condition. Aging, illness, and loss are painful; death is especially frightening because it brings the uncertainty of all worldly arrangements into sharp focus. Possessions, achievements, and relationships cannot make an embodied life permanently secure.

Kṛṣṇa's warning is therefore compassionate and urgent. The knowledge praised in the preceding verses is available, but those who do not trust its liberating value fail to seek it and miss the opportunity for mokṣa. They continue in saṃsāra, endlessly meeting gain and loss under the shadow of mortality. The verse asks us to recognize the seriousness of this rare opportunity, investigate the teaching with openness, and not assume that a better chance will always come later.