What is human fallibility and redemption as per Bhagavad Gita?

A human is a spirit soul in a human body. The spirit soul or jivatma is always pure, but due to its tiny size it can fall into illusion and think it is its body. In its embodied state the jivatma is fallible. Once we are under the illusion that we are our ‘human’ body, we are restricted by the limitations of the body. We have imperfect senses, we make mistakes, we fall into deeper illusion, and we cheat. These are the basic failings of humans and the result of them is that we make errors.

The theological concept of redemption is to be forgiven and freed from the consequences of these errors. It’s more commonly used in Abrahamic religions. In Christianity I believe Christ is understood to be the redeemer of all mankind by his death. Judaism and Islam don’t agree with that understanding but the core principle of being forgiven and freed from bondage is still present and dependent on the Lord’s mercy.

The understanding in Sanatan Dharma is that the Lord can forgive and free the living entity by bhakti, devotional service to the Lord, which continues eternally in the spiritual world. Other paths are more arduous and don’t directly rely on the Lord’s mercy but depend on an individual’s ability to nullify the reactions to his past activities and in a ‘redeemed’ state, having realized his spiritual oneness with the Lord, achieve moksha by merging with the impersonal aspect of the Lord, often called Brahman.

Outside of theological thought, fallibility is the recognition that we screw up, and redemption is the chance to make things good again by taking responsibility and making amends. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s a universal theme because it affects us all and many stories throughout the ages up to the present day have it as their major theme.

In Bhagavad Gita Sri Krishna classifies the living entities as fallible and infallible depending on where they are.


There are two classes of beings, the fallible and the infallible. In the material world every living entity is fallible, and in the spiritual world every living entity is called infallible. Bhagavad Gita 15.16

According to the statement of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Kṛṣṇa, there are two classes of living entities. The Vedas give evidence of this, so there is no doubt about it. The living entities who are struggling in this world with the mind and five senses have their material bodies, which are changing. As long as a living entity is conditioned, his body changes due to contact with matter; matter is changing, so the living entity appears to be changing. But in the spiritual world the body is not made of matter; therefore there is no change.

In the material world the living entity undergoes six changes – birth, growth, duration, reproduction, then dwindling and vanishing. These are the changes of the material body. But in the spiritual world the body does not change; there is no old age, there is no birth, there is no death. There all exists in oneness. Kṣaraḥ sarvāṇi bhūtāni: any living entity who has come in contact with matter, beginning from the first created being, Brahmā, down to a small ant, is changing its body; therefore they are all fallible. In the spiritual world, however, they are always liberated in oneness.


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