Sanskrit
ततः पदं तत्परिमार्गितव्यम् यस्मिन्गता न निवर्तन्ति भूयः । तमेव चाद्यं पुरुषं प्रपद्ये यतः प्रवृत्तिः प्रसृता पुराणी ॥
tataḥ padaṃ tatparimārgitavyam yasmin gatā na nivartanti bhūyaḥ tam eva cādyaṃ puruṣaṃ prapadye yataḥ pravṛttiḥ prasṛtā purāṇī
Translation
That path beyond may be sought, treading which there is no return. I go indeed to that Primal Man, whence the ancient energy forth-streamed.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The felling completes here: beyond the cut tree lies “that path,” reached by those who do not return, and the verse names the destination directly as the Primal Person (ādyaṃ puruṣam) from whom the ancient current of activity originally streamed. This is the chapter’s first use of Purusha language, and it functions as a preview of the threefold classification — kshara, akshara, and the Purushottama beyond both — that verses 16-18 will formalize later. “No return” (na nivartanti) echoes the same phrase used for Krishna’s supreme abode in verse 6 and recurs elsewhere in the Gita (8.21, 8.26) as the technical marker for genuine liberation as opposed to a temporary heavenly stay.