Bhagawad Gita Ch2. Verses: 33-39 [Adi Shankara]

April 10, 2000

[Jagadguru Sri Adishankara's commentary Translated by Sri Warriar]

33.0 This war has offered itself to you as your duty; still,

33. On the other hand, if you refuse to fight this righteous war,

sacrificing both the law of your life and renown, you will incur sin.

33.1 'On the other hand' if you do not fight this war that is

righteous, i.e. the war that conforms with the rules of

righteousness, for that very reason, abandoning the 'law of your

life' and forfeiting the 'renown' gained in your duel with Siva and

the like, you will incur sin.

34.0 Not only will you have given up the righteous law of your

life and renown-

34. All will recount your everlasting infamy! For one honoured,

infamy is worse than death.

34.1 All will recount your everlasting 'infamy' for a long time to

come. For one honoured so far for virtues like righteousness,

bravery and so forth, infamy is worse than death. The sense is that

for an honourable man death is preferable to infamy.

Besides,

35. Great heroes will deem that out of fear you withdrew from

battle. You will fall in the esteem of those very heroes who have

honoured you (so far).

35.1 Due tofear of Karna and other syou have withdrawn from battle

and not due to compasiion-so will mighty heroes like Duryodhana

think. Who will think so? Those very heroes. Duryodhana etc., who

esteemed you as very rich in virtues. Now you will become light in

their esteem.

Also,

36. Your foes will hurl many unmentionable insults at you-foes

bent on downgrading your competence. What can be more painful than

that?

36.1 'Many unmentionable insults'-they are of many sorts that your

foes will hurl at you, pouring scorn over your competence,

established by your encounters with Nivata-kavaca and others. Is

there any pain worse than suffering such insults? That no pain can

be more miserable is the sense.

37.0 On the other hand, in the battle with Karna and the rest,

37. Getting slain, you will gain heaven; victorious, you will

enjoy the world. Therefore, O son of Kunti! stand up, determined to

fight.

37.1 If you are slain, you will win heaven. Victorious over

heroes like Karna and others, you willl enjoy this world. In either

case, you stand only to gain-this is the Lord's idea. Such being the

case, O son of Kunti! Get up, determined to fight i.e. having

resolved, "I shall either conquer my foes or perish." This is the

idea.

38.0 Listen to this instruction of Mine addressed to one who

fights with the idea, 'fighting is the law of my life'.

38. Looking with an equal eye on pleasure and pain, gain and loss,

victory and defeat, strive to fight; htus, will you incur no sin.

38.1 'Looking with an equal eye' on pleasure and pain, i.e. without

attachment to the former or aversion to the latter. Similarly in

respect of gain and loss, victory and defeat. Thus strive to fight.

Fighting thus, you will not incur sin. This counsel is incidental.

39.0 Considerations of worldly wisdom in (2.31-36) were cited with a

view to despelling grief and delusion, and not as ends in themselves.

But what is relevant in this context is the perception of the

ultimate Reality. What has already been remarked about it is

concluded here (2.39) in order to set forth clearly the valid

divisions of the Sastra. For, once this division is set forth here,

the later recurrence to it in 3.3 will easily make this Sastra,

comprising the two disciplines, fully operative, and the listeners

will grasp it smoothly in all its details. Hence the Lord says:

39. This knowledge of the Samkhya has so far been imparted to you.

Now, listen to (a statement of) the knowledge of Yoga by acquiring

which, O Arjuna! you will discard the bondage of works.

39.1 This knowledge of the Samkhya or discrimination of

metaphysical reality has been imparted to you. It is the cause of

the removal of that flaw, attachment, aversion, and so forth, which

engenders the transmigratory life. Yoga leads to the knowledge of

the Samkhya. Yoga is karma yoga whose immediate purpose is the

worship of God. It is to e performed after discarding, by the force

of detachment, the pairs of opposites like heat and cold. Also it

includes the achievement of samadhi or concentration. Now listen to

the immediatley following exposition of the knowledge of Yoga. This

knowledge of Yoga is lauded to heighten the interest of the

listeners. Acquiring this knowledge, O Arjuna! you will surely cast

off the bondage of works. Note that action, righteous or

unrighteous, is bondage and that Arjuna was to discard their bondage

by virtue of knowledge attained through God's grace. This is the

idea.

40. Here in the sphere of Karma Yoga there is no loss of good

beginnings; nor is ther any sin involved. Even a little of this

righteous law delivers one from great peril.

40.1 Here, in Karma Yoga, the path leading to Liberation, there is

no loss of the beginnings one makes; unlike in the case of

agriculture etc., the effects of these beginnings are conserved. And

unlike what may happen in undergoing a medical treatment adverse

reactions will not result from the practice of Karma Yoga. On the

other hadn, even a little of this Yogic discipline delivers one from

the great peril of transmigratory life with its births, deaths, and

so forth.

41.0 In regard to knowledge of the Samkhya already set forth, and

of Yoga about to set forth, note the following:

41. The conviction as regards this (twofold Yoga), marked by

resolution, is single; the convictions of the irresolute are indeed

many-branched and endless, O Arjuna!

41.1 Regarding the path of to the supreme good, know O Arjuna!

that there is only one conviction, marked by a firm resolution. It

abolishes the plurality of other and oppsed notions, because this

conviction has been engendered by the right means of cognition.

Because of the pursuit of this play of multiplicity has arisen the

infinite, shoreless, and ceaseless transmigratory life perpetually

spread out before us. But upon their cessation, due to the

discrimination that the right means of cognition engenders,

trnasmigratory life comes to a halt. The differences among them

being a legion, those opposed notions are many-branched. Each branch

gives rise to infinite notions. For whom does this hold good? For

the irresolute, who lack the conviction marked by discrimination and

born o fthe means of right cognition.