Bhagavad Gita 2.35
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 35 of 72
भयाद्रणादुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः। येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम्॥
bhayād raṇād uparataṃ maṃsyante tvāṃ mahā-rathāḥ / yeṣāṃ ca tvaṃ bahu-mato bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam
Those who respected you will assume you left out of fear — and in their eyes, you will shrink from hero to coward.
Word by word (4)
- bhayāt raṇāt uparataṃ
- — withdrawn from battle out of fear
- maṃsyante tvāṃ mahā-rathāḥ
- — the great chariot-warriors will think of you thus
- yeṣāṃ ca tvaṃ bahu-mataḥ
- — among those who have held you in high esteem
- bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam
- — you will become an object of contempt · 'Lāghava' — lightness, smallness, contempt. From being a mahā-ratha (great warrior) to being considered light/small in the eyes of equals.
'The great warriors will think you withdrew from battle out of fear. And among those who have held you in high esteem — you will become an object of contempt.'
A modern analogy
When a respected professional resigns at the critical moment without clear cause, people fill the silence with the worst explanation. Absence reads as cowardice when courage was expected. Krishna is naming the social reality of Arjuna's proposed withdrawal.
Take with you
- 'Bhayād raṇād uparataṃ' — they will think you retreated from battle out of fear. Intent doesn't control interpretation.
- The irony: Arjuna's compassion (which he sees as virtue) will be read as cowardice by those who don't know his inner reasoning.
- This is the social argument at its sharpest: not just dishonor, but the specific misreading that will follow.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
The great car-warriors will think you have withdrawn from battle out of fear, and among those who have held you in high esteem, you will become an object of contempt. [4]
The mighty warriors will think that thou hast fled from the battle out of fear, and thou wilt be lightly thought of by those who have held thee in high esteem. [6]
And the great car-warriors will think you have withdrawn from battle out of fear; and among those who had honored you, you will become the object of contempt. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Your enemies will mock your strength — what pain is greater than that?
Duryodhana catalogues the Pandava heroes — naming his fears, one by one.
Immeasurable anxieties till death, sense-pleasure as the highest value, firmly certain that 'this is all there is.'
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.
Arise and win glory! These warriors are already slain by Me — be merely the instrument, O Savyasācin!
Verse 35 of 72 · back to Chapter 2