Chapter 2, Verse 3

Sanskrit

क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते। क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप॥

Transliteration

klaibyaṃ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate kṣudraṃ hṛdaya-daurbalyaṃ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa

Translation (per Swami’s paraphrase)

Do not yield to unmanliness, O Partha — it is not worthy of you. Shake off this small, petty faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of foes (Parantapa).

Concepts discussed

• karpanya — the weakness this verse commands Arjuna to shake off
• moksha — “arise” reads forward, as the call toward the real aim

Characters present

• krishna (addressing Arjuna as Partha and Parantapa), arjuna

Swami’s commentary

On the surface this is still common-sense — a coach’s pep talk before a big game. But Swami Vivekananda gave it tremendous importance. Swami Sarvapriyananda calls it one of the most important verses in the whole Gita.

Vivekananda’s reading. Unless you decide to take action and change your life, no teacher can help you — not Krishna, not Christ, not Ramakrishna, not Buddha, not any book. The first step has to come from you: I am suffering, I am willing to change, I will take action. Without that, every spiritual resource available goes unused.

The contrast with Duryodhana. Earlier in the Mahabharata, Duryodhana says to Krishna: I know dharma, I don’t feel like doing it; I know adharma, I can’t stop myself. Arjuna later raises the same dilemma — but asks how to change. Verse 2.3 is the command: arise. If you accept it, you are in Arjuna’s camp, and all the yogas — jnana, bhakti, karma, raja — become available to you.

The two names. Krishna addresses Arjuna here as Partha (son of Pritha) and Parantapa (scorcher of foes). Swami notes this is psychologically precise: Krishna is reminding Arjuna of who he is.

Vivekananda’s line. “The old religion said: he who does not believe in God is an atheist. The new religion says: he who does not believe in himself is an atheist.” Arjuna’s collapse was loss of faith in himself.

Lecture evidence

• Ep. 1 [57:12]–[58:09]: Verse 2.3 — “arise, scorcher of foes.”
• Ep. 1 [58:42]: Vivekananda — “he who does not believe in himself is an atheist.”
• Ep. 1 [63:53]: Arjuna, unlike Duryodhana, asks how to change; this verse is Krishna’s summons.