TEXT 3
klaibyam ma sma gamah partha
naitat tvayy upapadyate
ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam
tyaktvottistha parantapa
naitat tvayy upapadyate
ksudram hrdaya-daurbalyam
tyaktvottistha parantapa
SYNONYMS
klaibyam--impotence; ma--do not; sma--take it; gamah--go in;partha--O son of
Prtha; na--never; etat--like this; tvayi--unto you;upadyate--is
befitting; ksudram--very little; hrdaya--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 aksatriya in name
only, and if the son of a brahmana acts
impiously, he is abrahmana 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 not approved by authority. Therefore, such magnanimity or so-called
nonviolence should be given up by persons like Arjuna under the direct guidance
of Krsna.
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