Sanskrit
अज्ञश्चाश्रद्दधानश्च संशयात्मा विनश्यति । नायं लोकोऽस्ति न परो न सुखं संशयात्मनः ॥
ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca saṃśayātmā vinaśyati nāyaṃ loko 'sti na paro na sukhaṃ saṃśayātmanaḥ
Translation
But the ignorant, faithless, doubting self goeth to destruction; nor this world, nor that beyond, nor happiness, is there for the doubting self.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Verse 39’s positive case gets its negative mirror: the person without knowledge, without faith, and eaten by doubt, saṃśayātmā, is destroyed — denied this world, the next, and happiness in either. The compound saṃśaya-ātmā is pointed: doubt isn’t described as a mood passing through a person but as something that becomes their very selfhood when left unresolved, which is precisely the condition the chapter’s closing verses are about to prescribe surgery for.