Chapter 2, Verse 3
klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha
naitat-tvayyupapadyate
kṣudraṁ hṛdaya daurbalyaṁ
tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa
Fall not from the virility of a fighter and a hero, O Paartha! It does not befit you.
Shake off this paltry faint-heartedness and arise, O scourge of your enemy!
Lord Krishna addresses Arjuna as Paartha, which means son of Pritha (Kunti). He says, “You are the son of a brave lady. You are the son of Kunti, who is a true Kshatriya, a true warrior. Your mother is so strong! You are a hero! So don’t go into this state of cowardice; don’t let yourself be overtaken by weakness. You possess great valour and are skilled in fighting. Let go of this ‘faint-heartedness and arise!’ You strike fear into the hearts of your enemies; you strike terror into the hearts of great heroes. The moment they hear of you, they are scared! The moment they think of you, their hair stands on end! ‘Scourge of your enemy!’ The moment they hear your Gandiva, they have a powerful image of you. But if you are trembling and your Gandiva is falling from your hand, what will they think of you? This is not worthy of you, My dear.”
Then Krishna addresses Arjuna saying, tyaktvottiṣṭha paraṅtapa, “Attack them!”
Here Krishna did not only mean to attack the outer enemy. He also meant to attack and remove one’s negative inner qualities. The enemy is not only outside; it is inside each of us. Look at your inner enemy. Remove it! Attack it! Don’t be afraid or weak. Remove all this stuff inside! Be in your power! Krishna addresses Arjuna as paraṅtapa. Arjuna had this name because in the past he had killed many demons. Krishna says, “All the demons you have killed, all the other big, big baddies – you have terrified them all. So get up! Stand up! Arise! This is not the place for weakness! Fight!”
Here Krishna is going very slowly with Arjuna. When one goes on the spiritual path, one always looks at what one will lose, and thinks, “Okay. I’m losing this and I’m losing that.” But if you want to go deeper to attain God Consciousness, to attain the Grace of God, there should not be weakness in your spiritual sadhana. You have to go forward with strength, with full trust; and with that trust, you know that God is with you. Here, God Himself is reminding Arjuna, “I am with you, all the time. And not only now. I was always with you – even when you were killing all the big, big demons, all the evil people. I was there with you. I am ever with you. You are My creation. You are in Me, and I am in you. We are not separate. We are never far away from each other.”
Bhagavad Gita
