Bhagavad Gita 9.21
ते तं भुक्त्वा स्वर्गलोकं विशालं क्षीणे पुण्ये मर्त्यलोकं विशन्ति | एवं त्रयीधर्ममनुप्रपन्ना गतागतं कामकामा लभन्ते ||
te taṁ bhuktvā svarga-lokaṁ viśālaṁ kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti | evaṁ trayī-dharmam anuprapannā gatāgataṁ kāma-kāmā labhante ||
Translation
Having enjoyed that vast heaven, when their merit is exhausted, they enter the world of mortals. Following the dharma of the three Vedas, desiring desires, they obtain only the coming and going.
Reflection
What rise-and-fall pattern have you been calling progress?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Nine
The completion of the previous verse. The merit runs out, and the heaven runs out with it. The soul returns to the mortal world. Krishna names this whole arc gatagatam, the coming and going. The Vedic ritualist who orients his life around earned reward is not damned. He is on a wheel. He goes up; he comes down; he goes up again. The wheel is real, the going up and coming down are real, but no point on the wheel is final. Kama-kamah, those who desire desires, is the diagnostic phrase. The orientation toward outcomes is what locks the practitioner inside the rotation. The verse is the chapter's most explicit critique of merit as a final aim.