Chapter 2, Verse 36
अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून्वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः । निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दुःखतरं नु किम् ॥
avācya-vādāṃś ca bahūn vadiṣyanti tavāhitāḥ | nindantas tava sāmarthyaṃ tato duḥkhataraṃ nu kim ||
Meaning
Your enemies will speak many unspeakable words, scorning your ability — what could be more painful than that? The enemies who have long feared your prowess will seize the opportunity of your retreat to mock and belittle you publicly, and that humiliation will be far more difficult to bear than any wound received in battle.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
In this verse, Krishna vividly invokes the social consequences of retreat. Arjuna's enemies — the very people he has faced across the battlefield — will not quietly note his withdrawal; they will gleefully mock it. They will question his ability, his courage, and his manhood. The phrase 'avācya-vādān' (unspeakable words, words that shouldn't even be said) suggests the depth of the scorn that enemies will pour upon a retreating hero.
Krishna is appealing to Arjuna's warrior pride with full psychological precision. For a man of Arjuna's stature, being scorned by those he has fought and defeated is uniquely agonizing. There is something particularly bitter about having your greatest opponents — people who know your capacity firsthand — choose to interpret your hesitation as weakness. The rhetorical question at the end — 'what could be more painful than that?' — drives the point home with force.
Beyond the warrior context, this verse points to a universal truth about how the world interprets retreat. When someone with recognized ability and standing pulls back from a challenge, observers — especially opponents — rarely assume noble motives. They assume the most unflattering explanation available. This is not merely about ego; it is about the narrative that one's life creates. The actions we take or fail to take become the material from which others construct their understanding of who we are. Being intentional about that narrative — not out of vanity, but out of honesty about our real capabilities and commitments — is part of living with integrity.
💡 Key Takeaway
Do not hand your enemies the narrative they most want to tell about you; your actions in the defining moment speak louder than any words of self-justification.
Related Verses
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते । क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥२-३॥
klaibyaṃ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate | kṣudraṃ hṛdaya-daurbalyaṃ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa ||2-3||
Do not yield to this unmanliness, O Partha. It does not befit you. Shake off this faint-heartedness and arise, O scorcher of enemies.
अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् । सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ॥
akīrtiṃ cāpi bhūtāni kathayiṣyanti te'vyayām | sambhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate ||
People will speak of your dishonor forever; and for one who has been respected, dishonor is worse than death. For a person of honor and standing, the loss of reputation is a wound that outlasts the body — it lives on in the memory of the world long after one has gone.
भयाद्रणादुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः । येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥
bhayād raṇād uparataṃ maṃsyante tvāṃ mahā-rathāḥ | yeṣāṃ ca tvaṃ bahu-mato bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam ||
The great warriors who have always held you in high esteem will think that you withdrew from battle out of fear, and you will be diminished in their eyes. Those who once thought most highly of you will be the very ones most disappointed, and their revised estimation will define how the world sees you.