TEXT 33
अथ चेत्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि ।
ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं ञ्च हित्वा पाप-मवात्स्यसि ।। 33 ।।
atha cet tvam imaṁ dharmyaṁ
saṅgrāmaṁ na kariṣyasi
tataḥ sva-dharmaṁ kīrtiṁ ca
hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi
atha – therefore; cet – if; tvam – you; imam – this; dharmyam – as a religious duty; saṅgrāmam – fighting; na – do not; kariṣyasi – perform; tataḥ – then; sva-dharmam – your religious duty; kīrtim – reputation; ca – also; hitvā – losing; pāpam – sinful reaction; avāpsyasi – will gain.
TRANSLATION
If, however, you do not perform your religious duty of fighting, then you will certainly incur sins for neglecting your duties and thus lose your reputation as a fighter.
PURPORT
Arjuna was a famous fighter, and he attained fame by fighting many great demigods, including even Lord Śiva. After fighting and defeating Lord Śiva in the dress of a hunter, Arjuna pleased the lord and received as a reward a weapon called pāśupata-astra. Everyone knew that he was a great warrior. Even Droṇācārya gave him benedictions and awarded him the special weapon by which he could kill even his teacher. So he was credited with so many military certificates from many authorities, including his adoptive father Indra, the heavenly king. But if he abandoned the battle, not only would he neglect his specific duty as a kṣatriya, but he would lose all his fame and good name and thus prepare his royal road to hell. In other words, he would go to hell not by fighting but by withdrawing from battle.
TEXT 34
अकीर्तिं ञ्चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् ।
संभावितस्य चाकीर्ति-र्मरणा-दतिरिच्यते ।। 34 ।।
akīrtiṁ cāpi bhūtāni
kathayiṣyanti te ’vyayām
sambhāvitasya cākīrtir
maraṇād atiricyate
akīrtim – infamy; ca – also; api – over and above; bhūtāni – all people; kathayiṣyanti – will speak; te – of you; avyayām – forever; sambhāvitasya – for a respectable man; ca – also; akīrtiḥ – ill fame; maraṇāt – than death; atiricyate – becomes more.
TRANSLATION
People will always speak of your infamy, and for a respectable person, dishonor is worse than death.
PURPORT
Both as friend and philosopher to Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa now gives His final judgment regarding Arjuna’s refusal to fight. The Lord says, “Arjuna, if you leave the battlefield before the battle even begins, people will call you a coward. And if you think that people may call you bad names but that you will save your life by fleeing the battlefield, then My advice is that you’d do better to die in the battle. For a respectable man like you, ill fame is worse than death. So, you should not flee for fear of your life; better to die in the battle. That will save you from the ill fame of misusing My friendship and from losing your prestige in society.”
So, the final judgment of the Lord was for Arjuna to die in the battle and not withdraw.
TEXT 35
भयाद्रणा-दुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः ।
येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ।। 35 ।।
bhayād raṇād uparataṁ
maṁsyante tvāṁ mahā-rathāḥ
yeṣāṁ ca tvaṁ bahu-mato
bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam
bhayāt – out of fear; raṇāt – from the battlefield; uparatam – ceased; maṁsyante – they will consider; tvām – you; mahā-rathāḥ – the great generals; yeṣām – for whom; ca – also; tvam – you; bahu-mataḥ – in great estimation; bhūtvā – having been; yāsyasi – you will go; lāghavam – decreased in value.
TRANSLATION
The great generals who have highly esteemed your name and fame will think that you have left the battlefield out of fear only, and thus they will consider you insignificant.
PURPORT
Lord Kṛṣṇa continued to give His verdict to Arjuna: “Do not think that the great generals like Duryodhana, Karṇa and other contemporaries will think that you have left the battlefield out of compassion for your brothers and grandfather. They will think that you have left out of fear for your life. And thus their high estimation of your personality will go to hell.”
TEXT 36
अवाच्य-वादांश्च बहून् वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः ।
निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दुःखतरं नु किम् ।। 36 ।।
avācya-vādāṁś ca bahūn
vadiṣyanti tavāhitāḥ
nindantas tava sāmarthyaṁ
tato duḥkha-taraṁ nu kim
avācya – unkind; vādān – fabricated words; ca – also; bahūn – many; vadiṣyanti – will say; tava – your; ahitāḥ – enemies; nindantaḥ – while vilifying; tava – your; sāmarthyam – ability; tataḥ – than that; duḥkha-taram – more painful; nu – of course; kim – what is there.
TRANSLATION
Your enemies will describe you in many unkind words and scorn your ability. What could be more painful for you?
PURPORT
Lord Kṛṣṇa was astonished in the beginning at Arjuna’s uncalled-for plea for compassion, and He described his compassion as befitting the non-Āryans. Now in so many words, He has proved His statements against Arjuna’s so-called compassion.
TEXT 37
हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् ।
तस्मा-दुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः ।। 37 ।।
hato vā prāpsyasi svargaṁ
jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm
tasmād uttiṣṭha kaunteya
yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ
hataḥ – being killed; vā – either; prāpsyasi – you gain; svargam – the heavenly kingdom; jitvā – by conquering; vā – or; bhokṣyase – you enjoy; mahīm – the world; tasmāt – therefore; uttiṣṭha – get up; kaunteya – O son of Kuntī; yuddhāya – to fight; kṛta – determined; niścayaḥ – in certainty.
TRANSLATION
O son of Kuntī, either you will be killed on the battlefield and attain the heavenly planets, or you will conquer and enjoy the earthly kingdom. Therefore, get up with determination and fight.
PURPORT
Even though there was no certainty of victory for Arjuna’s side, he still had to fight; for, even being killed there, he could be elevated into the heavenly planets.
TEXT 38
सुखदुः खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ ।
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पाप-मवाप्स्यसि ।। 38 ।।
sukha-duḥkhe same kṛtvā
lābhālābhau jayājayau
tato yuddhāya yujyasva
naivaṁ pāpam avāpsyasi
sukha – happiness; duḥkhe – and distress; same – in equanimity; kṛtvā – doing so; lābha-alābhau – both profit and loss; jaya-ajayau – both victory and defeat; tataḥ – thereafter; yuddhāya – for the sake of fighting; yujyasva – engage (fight); na – never; evam – in this way; pāpam – sinful reaction; avāpsyasi – you will gain.
TRANSLATION
Do thou fight for the sake of fighting, without considering happiness or distress, loss or gain,
victory or defeat – and by so doing you shall never incur sin.
PURPORT
Lord Kṛṣṇa now directly says that Arjuna should fight for the sake of fighting because He desires the battle. There is no consideration of happiness or distress, profit or loss, victory or defeat in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That everything should be performed for the sake of Kṛṣṇa is transcendental consciousness; so there is no reaction to material activities. He who acts for his own sense gratification, either in goodness or in passion, is subject to the reaction, good or bad. But he who has completely surrendered himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness is no longer obliged to anyone, nor is he a debtor to anyone, as one is in the ordinary course of activities. It is said:
devarṣi-bhūtāpta-nṛṇāṁ pitṝṇāṁ
na kiṅkaro nāyam ṛṇī ca rājan
sarvātmanā yaḥ śaraṇaṁ śaraṇyaṁ
gato mukundaṁ parihṛtya kartam
“Anyone who has completely surrendered unto Kṛṣṇa, Mukunda, giving up all other duties, is no longer a debtor, nor is he obliged to anyone – not the demigods, nor the sages, nor the people in general, nor kinsmen, nor humanity, nor forefathers.” (Bhāg. 11.5.41) That is the indirect hint given by Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna in this verse, and the matter will be more clearly explained in the following verses.
TEXT 39
एषा तेऽभिहिता सांख्ये बुद्धिर्योगे त्विमां श्रृणु ।
बुद्घया युक्तो यया पार्थ कर्मबन्धं प्रहास्यसि ।। 39 ।।
eṣā te ’bhihitā sāṅkhye
buddhir yoge tv imāṁ śṛṇu
buddhyā yukto yayā pārtha
karma-bandhaṁ prahāsyasi
eṣā – all this; te – unto you; abhihitā – described; sāṅkhye – in analytical study; buddhiḥ – intelligence; yoge – in work without fruitive result; tu – but; imām – this; śṛṇu – just hear; buddhyā – by intelligence; yuktaḥ – dovetailed; yayā – by which; pārtha – O son of Pṛthā; karma-bandham – bondage of reaction; prahāsyasi – you can be released from.
TRANSLATION
Thus far I have described this knowledge to you through analytical study. Now listen as I explain it in terms of working without fruitive results. O son of Pṛthā, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works.
PURPORT
According to the Nirukti, or the Vedic dictionary, saṅkhyā means that which describes things in detail, and sāṅkhya refers to that philosophy which describes the real nature of the soul. And yoga involves controlling the senses. Arjuna’s proposal not to fight was based on sense gratification. Forgetting his prime duty, he wanted to cease fighting, because he thought that by not killing his relatives and kinsmen he would be happier than by enjoying the kingdom after conquering his cousins and brothers, the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra. In both ways, the basic principles were for sense gratification. Happiness derived from conquering them and happiness derived by seeing kinsmen alive are both on the basis of personal sense gratification, even at a sacrifice of wisdom and duty. Kṛṣṇa, therefore, wanted to explain to Arjuna that by killing the body of his grandfather he would not be killing the soul proper, and He explained that all individual persons, including the Lord Himself, are eternal individuals; they were individuals in the past, they are individuals in the present, and they will continue to remain individuals in the future, because all of us are individual souls eternally. We simply change our bodily dress in different manners, but actually we keep our individuality even after liberation from the bondage of material dress. An analytical study of the soul and the body has been very graphically explained by Lord Kṛṣṇa. And this descriptive knowledge of the soul and the body from different angles of vision has been described here as Sāṅkhya, in terms of the Nirukti dictionary. This Sāṅkhya has nothing to do with the Sāṅkhya philosophy of the atheist Kapila. Long before the imposter Kapila’s Sāṅkhya, the Sāṅkhya philosophy was expounded in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by the true Lord Kapila, the incarnation of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who explained it to His mother, Devahūti. It is clearly explained by Him that the puruṣa, or the Supreme Lord, is active and that He creates by looking over the prakṛti. This is accepted in the Vedas and in the Gītā. The description in the Vedas indicates that the Lord glanced over the prakṛti, or nature, and impregnated it with atomic individual souls. All these individuals are working in the material world for sense gratification, and under the spell of material energy they are thinking of being enjoyers. This mentality is dragged to the last point of liberation when the living entity wants to become one with the Lord. This is the last snare of māyā, or sense gratificatory illusion, and it is only after many, many births of such sense gratificatory activities that a great soul surrenders unto Vāsudeva, Lord Kṛṣṇa, thereby fulfilling the search after the ultimate truth.
Arjuna has already accepted Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master by surrendering himself unto Him: śiṣyas te ’haṁ śādhi māṁ tvāṁ prapannam. Consequently, Kṛṣṇa will now tell him about the working process in buddhi-yoga, or karma-yoga, or in other words, the practice of devotional service only for the sense gratification of the Lord. This buddhi-yoga is clearly explained in Chapter Ten, verse ten, as being direct communion with the Lord, who is sitting as Paramātmā in everyone’s heart. But such communion does not take place without devotional service. One who is therefore situated in devotional or transcendental loving service to the Lord, or, in other words, in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, attains to this stage of buddhi-yoga by the special grace of the Lord. The Lord says, therefore, that only to those who are always engaged in devotional service out of transcendental love does He award the pure knowledge of devotion in love. In that way the devotee can reach Him easily in the ever-blissful kingdom of God.
Thus the buddhi-yoga mentioned in this verse is the devotional service of the Lord, and the word Sāṅkhya mentioned herein has nothing to do with the atheistic sāṅkhya-yoga enunciated by the imposter Kapila. One should not, therefore, misunderstand that the sāṅkhya-yoga mentioned herein has any connection with the atheistic Sāṅkhya. Nor did that philosophy have any influence during that time; nor would Lord Kṛṣṇa care to mention such godless philosophical speculations. Real Sāṅkhya philosophy is described by Lord Kapila in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, but even that Sāṅkhya has nothing to do with the current topics. Here, Sāṅkhya means analytical description of the body and the soul. Lord Kṛṣṇa made an analytical description of the soul just to bring Arjuna to the point of buddhi-yoga, or bhakti-yoga. Therefore, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s Sāṅkhya and Lord Kapila’s Sāṅkhya, as described in the Bhāgavatam, are one and the same. They are all bhakti-yoga. Lord Kṛṣṇa said, therefore, that only the less intelligent class of men make a distinction between sāṅkhya-yoga and bhakti-yoga (sāṅkhya-yogau pṛthag bālāḥ pravadanti na paṇḍitāḥ).
Of course, atheistic sāṅkhya-yoga has nothing to do with bhakti-yoga, yet the unintelligent claim that the atheistic sāṅkhya-yoga is referred to in the Bhagavad-gītā.
One should therefore understand that buddhi-yoga means to work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, in the full bliss and knowledge of devotional service. One who works for the satisfaction of the Lord only, however difficult such work may be, is working under the principles of buddhi-yoga and finds himself always in transcendental bliss. By such transcendental engagement, one achieves all transcendental understanding automatically, by the grace of the Lord, and thus his liberation is complete in itself, without his making extraneous endeavors to acquire knowledge. There is much difference between work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and work for fruitive results, especially in the matter of sense gratification for achieving results in terms of family or material happiness. Buddhi-yoga is therefore the transcendental quality of the wor
k that we perform.
TEXT 40
नेहाभिक्रम-नाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ।। 40 ।।
nehābhikrama-nāśo ’sti
pratyavāyo na vidyate
sv-alpam apy asya dharmasya
trāyate mahato bhayāt
na – there is not; iha – in this yoga; abhikrama – in endeavoring; nāśaḥ – loss; asti – there is; pratyavāyaḥ – diminution; na – never; vidyate – there is; su-alpam – a little; api – although; asya – of this; dharmasya – occupation; trāyate – releases; mahataḥ – from very great; bhayāt – danger.
TRANSLATION
In this endeavor there is no loss or diminution, and a little advancement on this path can protect one from the most dangerous type of fear.
PURPORT
Activity in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, or acting for the benefit of Kṛṣṇa without expectation of sense gratification, is the highest transcendental quality of work. Even a small beginning of such activity finds no impediment, nor can that small beginning be lost at any stage. Any work begun on the material plane has to be completed, otherwise the whole attempt becomes a failure. But any work begun in Kṛṣṇa consciousness has a permanent effect, even though not finished. The performer of such work is therefore not at a loss even if his work in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is incomplete. One percent done in Kṛṣṇa consciousness bears permanent results, so that the next beginning is from the point of two percent, whereas in material activity without a hundred percent success there is no profit. Ajāmila performed his duty in some percentage of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but the result he enjoyed at the end was a hundred percent, by the grace of the Lord. There is a nice verse in this connection in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.5.17):
tyaktvā sva-dharmaṁ caraṇāmbujaṁ harer
Bhagavad-Gita As It Is Page 16
