3.1 Then why urge me into this? Arjuna speaks
ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव
jyāyasī chet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana
tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśhava
If understanding is better than action, Krishna, why do you urge me into this terrible work?
Explanation
Arjuna's complaint is fair, and worth granting as such.
Chapter 2 told him understanding is the higher thing — and then told him to fight. He asks the obvious question: why urge me into this terrible work?
He is not resisting here. He is pointing out that he has been given two instructions and cannot obey both, which is a reasonable objection to a teaching, not a failure of nerve.
Going further
Word by word
- arjunaḥ uvācha
- Arjun said
- jyāyasī
- superior
- chet
- if
- karmaṇaḥ
- than fruitive action
- te
- by you
- matā
- is considered
- buddhiḥ
- intellect
- janārdana
- he who looks after the public, Krishna
- tat
- then
- kim
- why
- karmaṇi
- action
- ghore
- terrible
- mām
- me
- niyojayasi
- do you engage
- keśhava
- Krishna, the killer of the demon named Keshi
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Arjuna's first words in this chapter are a fair complaint, and worth granting as such.
Chapter 2 told him that understanding is better than action, and also to get up and fight. He is not being obtuse when he asks which. Anyone who has been told to care deeply and hold lightly at the same time has stood exactly here.