BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:3

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 2:3

 

klaibyam ma sma gamah partha

naitat tvayy upapadyate

ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam

tyaktvottistha parantapa

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

klaibyam--impotence; ma sma--do not; gamah--take to; partha--O son of

Prtha; na--never; etat--this; tvayi--unto you; upadyate--is befitting;

ksudram--petty; hrdaya--of the heart; daurbalyam--weakness;

tyaktva--giving up; uttistha--get up; param-tapa--O chastiser of the

enemies.

 

TRANSLATION

 

O son of Prtha, 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 Prtha, 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 brahmana acts

impiously, he is a brahmana in name only. Such ksatriyas and brahmanas

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.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.