The goal every seeker shares

yadakṣaraṃ vedavido vadanti viśanti yadyatayo vītarāgāḥyadicchanto brahmacaryaṃ caranti tatte padaṃ saṃgraheṇa pravakṣye

What the knowers of the Veda call imperishable, what the dispassionate enter, what seekers live disciplined lives for, that goal I will tell you briefly.

What it means

Scholars name it. Renunciants enter it. Students give up ordinary pleasures to reach it. Krishna says all of them are aiming at the same imperishable goal. He promises to describe it simply. Different lives, different disciplines, one destination.

The story

In the epic, Arjuna himself once spent months alone on a Himalayan mountainside, fasting and praying, seeking a gift from Shiva. He knows what discipline costs. Now Krishna points him past every gift, to the goal behind them all.

In your life

Picture a runner training for her first marathon, out in the rain at six every morning. Ask yourself what your own early mornings are really for, and name the goal behind your goal.