Bhagavad Gita 2.33
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 33 of 72
अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि। ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि॥
atha cet tvam imaṃ dharmyaṃ saṃgrāmaṃ na kariṣyasi / tataḥ svadharmam kīrtiṃ ca hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi
If you don't fight this righteous battle, you abandon your duty and honor — and invite the consequences.
Word by word (4)
- atha cet tvam imaṃ dharmyam
- — but if you do not fight this righteous
- saṃgrāmaṃ na kariṣyasi
- — battle
- tataḥ svadharmam kīrtiṃ ca
- — then abandoning your own duty and fame · The two losses named together: svadharmam (inner — the abandonment of your own nature) and kīrti (outer — the loss of reputation). Both are real consequences.
- hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi
- — you will incur sin / accrue pāpa
'But if you do not fight this righteous battle — then, having abandoned your own duty and your honor — you will incur sin.'
A modern analogy
Every professional who walks away from their duty at the critical moment carries something afterward — not just regret, but a kind of accumulated weight from having been in the right place at the right time and choosing not to act. Krishna is naming that weight: pāpa — sin, wrong action, the consequence of abandoning one's dharma when it mattered most.
Take with you
- 'Svadharmam kīrtiṃ ca hitvā' — abandoning both duty and fame together. The external consequence (loss of honor) accompanies the internal one (pāpa/sin).
- The structure is now explicit: if you fight = fulfill svadharma, gain honor; if you don't = abandon svadharma, incur pāpa.
- The word 'dharmyam' (righteous) is key: this is not any battle but a righteous one. The dharma argument only applies where the battle is genuinely just.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
But if you do not fight this righteous war, then, having abandoned your own duty and fame, you shall incur sin. [4]
But if thou shunn'st this duty of thy birth, this fair fight — setting aside all duty and honor — thou shall take sin on thee. [7]
But if you do not fight this righteous battle, then abandoning your own duty and fame, you will incur sin. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
When order collapses, the most vulnerable members of society suffer first.
Dishonor lasts longer than death — and for the one who has been honored, disgrace is worse than dying.
The sound of righteous forces pierces the hearts of those who know they are on the wrong side.
Arjuna calls Duryodhana evil-minded — the last moment of moral clarity before grief clouds everything.
For a warrior, there is nothing higher than a righteous battle — this is your svadharma.
This battle came to you unsought — the rarest opportunity for a warrior to fulfill their highest duty.
Verse 33 of 72 · back to Chapter 2