4.42 Stand up Krishna speaks
तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनाऽऽत्मनः
छित्त्वैनं संशयं योगमातिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ भारत
tasmād ajñāna-sambhūtaṁ hṛit-sthaṁ jñānāsinātmanaḥ
chhittvainaṁ sanśhayaṁ yogam ātiṣhṭhottiṣhṭha bhārata
So with the sword of knowledge cut away this doubt, born of ignorance and lodged in the heart, and take your stand in yoga, Arjuna. Stand up.
Explanation
The chapter ends where the second one did: stand up.
uttiṣṭha at 2.3 was a rebuke. Here it arrives after forty verses of explanation, and it is an invitation.
Cut away the doubt with the sword of knowledge, take your stand in yoga — and stand up. Nothing about the instruction has changed; everything about what is behind it has.
Going further
Word by word
- tasmāt
- therefore
- ajñāna-sambhūtam
- born of ignorance
- hṛit-stham
- situated in the heart
- jñāna
- of knowledge
- asinā
- with the sword
- ātmanaḥ
- of the self
- chhittvā
- cut asunder
- enam
- this
- sanśhayam
- doubt
- yogam
- in karm yog
- ātiṣhṭha
- take shelter
- uttiṣhṭha
- arise
- bhārata
- Arjun, descendant of Bharat
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The chapter ends where the second one did: stand up.
Uttiṣhṭha at 2.3 was a rebuke. Here it arrives after forty verses on action, inaction, offering and knowledge, and it lands differently — not as pull yourself together but as now you have something to stand on. The Gita repeats the instruction and changes what it rests on.