Bhagavad Gita 18.59
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 59 of 78
यद् अहंकारम् आश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे । मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस् ते प्रकृतिस् त्वां नियोक्ष्यति ॥
yad ahaṃkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase | mithyaiṣa vyavasāyas te prakṛtis tvāṃ niyokṣyati ||
If from egotism you think 'I will not fight' — vain is this resolve; Prakṛti will compel you.
Word by word (3)
- yad ahaṃkāram āśritya na yotsya iti manyase
- — if (yad = if/because) taking refuge in/relying on (āśritya = having-resorted-to, from ā + śrit = depending on) egotism/ahaṃkāra (ahaṃkāram), you think (manyase = consider/think) 'I will not fight' (na yotsya iti = na + yut = not + fight + iti = quote marker) — the specific application to Arjuna's Ch.1 decision to not fight from ahaṃkāra (ironically, ahaṃkāra of 'I am compassionate' or 'I know better')
- mithyaiṣa vyavasāyas te prakṛtis tvāṃ niyokṣyati
- — this resolution/determination (eṣa vyavasāyaḥ = this resolve) of yours (te = of you) is false/vain (mithyā = untrue, wrong, in-vain); Prakṛti (your own nature) will yoke/compel/engage (niyokṣyati = future of ni + yuj = to yoke, to engage, to constrain) you (tvām) — the stark teaching: ahaṃkāra-based non-action is mithyā; Prakṛti will override it
- prakṛtis tvāṃ niyokṣyati
- — Prakṛti will compel/yoke you; niyokṣyati from ni + yuj = to yoke-downward, to drive; Prakṛti (one's constituted nature including guṇas and svabhāva) acts as the deeper driver that will compel action regardless of the ego's resolve; this is the Gita's determinism: what your svabhāva-born guṇas produce, that you will do; the ahaṃkāra that says 'I won't fight' will be overridden by the kṣatriya svabhāva that must fight
If, taking refuge in egotism, you think 'I will not fight' — this resolve of yours is vain; your Prakṛti will compel you.
A modern analogy
This is one of the Gita's most psychologically profound teachings: the person who thinks they are freely choosing not to act is actually in the grip of their own ahaṃkāra — a smaller ego-will that will soon be overridden by the deeper currents of their svabhāva (Prakṛti, one's own nature). Like a person who decides 'I won't breathe' — the resolve quickly collapses because deeper biological necessity overrides the surface will. Arjuna's kṣatriya svabhāva will compel him to fight regardless of his momentary ego-resolve.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
MISSING from index. [1]
If, filled with self-conceit, thou thinkest 'I will not fight', vain is this thy resolve; thy Prakriti will constrain thee. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
If, having recourse to self-conceit, thou thinkest 'I will not fight', that resolution of thine would be vain, for Nature will constrain thee. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Your enemies will mock your strength — what pain is greater than that?
Tāmasic tapas: done with foolish delusion, self-torture, or to destroy another — declared tāmasic.
With mind in Me, by My grace you will cross all obstacles; but from egotism if you will not hear, you will perish.
Bow down, arrows scattered, warrior collapsed — this is where the Gita begins.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Arise and win glory! These warriors are already slain by Me — be merely the instrument, O Savyasācin!
Verse 59 of 78 · back to Chapter 18