Verse-60
Chapter 18 — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga
Verse 60
🕉 Original Sanskrit Shloka
svabhāvajena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā
kartum necchasi yanmohātkarisyasyavaśo'pi tat
🕉 English Translation
Arjun! Tu vash mein hua moh ke jo,
Nahi chahta karna jis karma ko.
Karma se bandha pichle swabhav ke,
Majboor hokar karega useh.
📜 Translation
English
O Son of Kunti! The action which you do not want to perform due to delusion, that too you will perform helplessly bound by your inborn nature.
The problem is of delusion. Arjun previously had fought many wars. As the delusion did not take possession of him there, then this kind of problem did not arise. Having seen Grandsire Bhishma and his teacher Drona in front of himself, this emotion of delusion arose in him and Arjun went into the state of grief and despondency and for this very reason he turned away from his duty born of nature. This is the transformation of delusion in universal form. Where there is delusion due to any narrowness, there worries, grief, sadness, dejection and in the end abandonment of duty will come to the forefront. The Krishna of the Gita is making this very indication to Arjun.
It is true that to fight the war was the duty of Arjun born of his nature, he being a Kshatriya. Nature is the inner state. As the accumulated impressions are inside, the nature will be in accordance with that, and the actions are in pursuance of that nature. Whatever Arjun might say, all this are his meaningless utterings arising from delusion. The reality is that Arjun is a Kshatriya and the war is part of his nature. He is silent now as the war is yet to begin. On the commencement of the war the noise of the striking of the weapons and the shower of sarcastic words of the opposite army and being put in such an environment, a Kshatriya like Arjun will not be able to control himself. That is why the Blessed Lord is saying. "O Fool! You will have to fight the war in any case; why do you not, considering it to be your natural duty, become ready to engage in it in a proper way?"