Taking to a spiritual practice entails exercising a progressive and healthy detachment from the objects of pleasure within this material world. Understanding the difficulty of spiritual practice, and feeling uncertain about the ultimate success, Arjuna raises an important question, “What is the destination of an unsuccessful transcendentalist? Could such a yogi lose the merits of both the material and the spiritual progress? Just like a riven cloud when disconnected from a cloudbank and unable to attach itself to another cloudbank is simply blown away by the wind, would an unsuccessful yogi lose everything?” (BG 6.37–39)
Lord Krishna gives an encouraging response. He first states an important principle: “A transcendentalist engaged in auspicious activities does not meet with evil either in this life or next. One who does good is never overcome by evil.” (BG 6.40) Then, Krishna elaborates further by considering two kinds of unsuccessful yogis – one who is unsuccessful after a short period of practice, and the other who is unsuccessful after a prolonged period of practice.
The yogi who gives up after a short span of practice becomes fortunate to be born into a pious and rich family, where one does not have to struggle for bare necessities of life and the conditions are suitable for reactivating the spiritual journey. (BG 6.41) A yogi is even more fortunate if he or she had practiced for a long period but desisted. Such a fortunate soul takes birth in a family endowed with transcendental wisdom by dint of culture and practice. Such a birth is indeed very rare and one gets the highest opportunity for the revival of spiritual consciousness. (BG 6.42)
What does it mean by being unsuccessful on a spiritual journey? It means that we stop inquiring into the Absolute Truth (e.g. asking fundamental questions like, “who am I?”, “What is the goal of life?”, “Who is God?”, “What is my relationship with God?”, “Why am I suffering?”, “How can I eradicate suffering once and for all?”, “What is the significance of this world?”, “What is the relationship between God and this world?”, etc.). The success of human life is dependent on the liveness of this spirit of inquiry. Upon getting a fortunate birth in a wisdom-equipped family, one revives the divine consciousness (buddhi-saṁyogaṁ) of the previous body (paurva-dehikam), and again (bhūyaḥ) endeavors for perfection (saṁsiddhau). (BG 6.43) One is innately attracted (hriyate) to the previous life’s practices (pūrvābhyāsena) and restores one’s inquisitive spirit (jijñāsur). (BG 6.44) In this way, there is no dearth of opportunity for us to make our life successful.
