न तद्भासयते सूर्यो न शशाङ्को न पावकः | यद्गत्वा न निवर्तन्ते तद्धाम परमं मम ||
na tad bhāsayate sūryo na śaśāṅko na pāvakaḥ yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama
Translation
Neither the sun, nor the moon, nor fire illumines that supreme abode of Mine. Having gone there, they do not return.
Interpretation
One of the Gita's most beautiful and oft-cited verses. The supreme abode of the Divine is self-luminous — it requires no external light because it is light itself. Sun, moon, and fire illuminate the physical and mental worlds but the Supreme Consciousness that is Krishna's ultimate abode is beyond all these secondary lights. It is the light by which even the sun is seen, the awareness that illumines all illumination. Those who reach this supreme self-luminous state never return to the wheel of conditioned existence. This verse is also found almost verbatim in the Upanishads.