Bhagavad Gita -Srila Prabhupada 38

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita As It Is -Shri Shrimad A.C Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Prev.png
Contents of the Gita Summarized
Chapter 2: Verse-3

klaibyam mä sma gamah pärtha
naitat tvayy upapadyate
ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam
tyaktvottistha parantapa[1]

TRANSLATION

O son of Prthä, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.

PURPORT

Arjuna was addressed as the son of Prthä, who happened to be the sister of Krsna’s father Vasudeva. Therefore Arjuna had a blood relationship with Krsna. If the son of a ksatriya declines to fight, he is a ksatriya in name only, and if the son of a brähmana acts impiously, he is a brähmana in name only. Such ksatriyas and brähmanas are unworthy sons of their fathers; therefore, Krsna did not want Arjuna to become an unworthy son of a ksatriya. Arjuna was the most intimate friend of Krsna, and krsna was directly guiding him on the chariot; but in spite of all these credits, if Arjuna abandoned the battle he would be committing an infamous act. Therefore krsna said that such an attitude in Arjuna did not fit his personality. Arjuna might argue that he would give up the battle on the grounds of his magnanimous attitude for the most respectable Bhisma and his relatives, but krsna considered that sort of magnanimity mere weakness of heart. Such false magnanimity was not approved by any authority. Therefore, such magnanimity or so-called nonviolence should be given up by persons like Arjuna under the direct guidance of Krsna.


Next.png

References

  1. klaibyam=impotence; mä sma=do not; gamah=take to; pärtha=O son of Prthä; na=never; etat=this; tvayi=unto you; upadyate=is befitting; ksudram=petty; hrdaya=of the heart; daurbalyam=weakness;
    tyaktvä=giving up; uttistha=get up; param-tapa=O chastiser of the enemies.

Related Articles