What precisely makes this battle dharmyam — is it the identity of the combatants, the cause being fought for, Kṛṣṇa's presence, or the conformity of the conduct to Manu's code — and does the answer change across the six schools?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

Madhusūdana cites the Manu-Yājñavalkya karma-exchange doctrine in which a warrior who flees transfers his merit to his lord and absorbs enemy demerit — does this make the sin of retreat uniquely worse than any aggressive sin, and what does that imply for theories of moral responsibility?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

Rāmānuja's use of niratiśaya (unsurpassed, superlative) for sukha, kīrti, and pāpa alike in a single verse — what does the symmetrical maximization of both the reward and the penalty tell us about how he understands the stakes of svadharma?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

Vallabha collapses the consequence into pratyavāya (sin of omission) rather than a positive sin of commission — how does the category of omission-sin function in Puṣṭi-mārga, and is it structurally different from the pāpa Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja describe?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

Madhva did not comment on this verse — what does the absence of commentary from a tradition that insists most strongly on individual jīva accountability and real pāpa-puṇya tell us about which verses a school treats as needing doctrinal defence versus which it treats as self-evident?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

Śaṅkara glosses kīrti as arising from mahādeva-ādi-samāgama (association with the great gods) — this is a surprisingly theistic framing for an Advaita commentator; how does it sit with his overall jñāna-mārga reading, and is kīrti being used here as a pragmatic concession or a genuine value?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

The verse's logic is purely consequentialist on the surface — if you refuse, you will lose X and gain Y — yet all six schools treat it as something stronger than mere prudential advice. What converts a consequentialist warning into a normative obligation, and does each school answer that differently?

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/33.

BG 2.33 — Sāṅkhya-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 2.33Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

अथ चेत् त्वमिमं धर्म्यं संग्रामं न करिष्यसि ।

ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥

atha cet tvam imaṃ dharmyaṃ saṃgrāmaṃ na kariṣyasi

tataḥ sva-dharmaṃ kīrtiṃ ca hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place.

ekras · bhāṣya

Krishna names the cost of refusal. "But if you do not undertake this dharmic battle, then — having abandoned svadharma and kirti both — you will incur papa." The structural argument completes itself. 2.31 said the kshatriya has no greater good than a dharmic battle. 2.32 said this battle is the rare gift. 2.33 names what happens if the gift is refused. Three losses follow. Svadharma — the obligation that structures one as this kshatriya — is forfeited. Kirti — the honor that would have accrued — is lost. And in their place, papa is acquired. Refusal is not neutrality; refusal is positive loss.

Madhusudana Sarasvati addresses the loophole Arjuna had built earlier in the chapter — that he did not desire victory, did not desire kingdom, and so could refuse without sin.

Madhusudana cuts through it. The question is not desire; the question is dharma. And this battle is dharmyam in the precise sense that it is unstained by the sins of unlawful violence — even Manu's code names how honorable warriors fight, and this war is within those rules.

Vallabha names the consequence with the term pratyavaya — the sin that comes not from commission but from omission of what was placed in front of one. To not do what dharma asks is itself the karmic transaction; refusal does not lift one out of the ledger.

Ramanuja sharpens the loss further: this battle has already begun (arabdham). To abandon it mid-arabdha is to abandon a fruit Ramanuja describes as niratishaya-sukha — the unsurpassed bliss available through bhagavat-kainkarya, service to the Lord. The verse closes the kshatriya argument by removing the option Arjuna had been quietly clinging to — the option of standing aside. There is no standing aside. There is fighting, and there is incurring papa.

Context

where

Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 2.32

A battle this good comes unsought, Arjuna, and its door to heaven stands wide open; only the fortunate among warriors ever receive such a gift.

What's going on

Refuse this righteous battle and you throw away both your duty and your honor, earning only sin in their place.

Sūtras through this verse (111)

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

2.18'Imperishable' is said to mark off the Lord.───→here2.33───→4.24Every word for ritual points back to Viṣṇu.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.───→here2.33───→2.38Equal in win and loss, no sin can stick.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here2.33───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

show all 111

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipstation · anchor

───→here2.33───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

2.18Image perishes, source endures───→here2.33───→4.13Creates yet uncreated

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

2.20The soul is conscious but only as reflection.───→here2.33───→3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.───→here2.33───→2.50Even in liberation the rank stays in place.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.───→here2.33───→4.13He creates and yet is uncreated by it.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.───→here2.33───→2.50Six texts in thirty lines carry the long excursus.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.───→here2.33───→2.50Even in liberation grace remains the agent.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

2.24When two scriptures clash the higher one rules.───→here2.33───→2.72Akṣapāda and Kaṇāda are simply ruled out.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here2.33───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here2.33───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here2.33───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here2.33───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipstation

───→here2.33───→

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

2.10Thesis flat───→here2.33───→3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralbetween

2.27'Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur dhruvam janma mritasya cha.' Death is certain for the───→here2.33───→8.6'Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam.' Whatever state of being one remembers at the last

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

2.22'Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya' — body as worn-out clothes. Sister verse to 2.13,───→here2.33───→3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

2.20'Na jayate mriyate va kadachit, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah sh───→here2.33───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseasebetween

2.11The wise mourn neither the living nor the dead.───→here2.33───→2.69Ignorance is night, wisdom alone wakes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.───→here2.33───→3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.───→here2.33───→3.1If insight is higher, why this dreadful work?

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.───→here2.33───→3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sidebetween

2.24Uncuttable, unburnt, steady, all-pervading.───→here2.33───→13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

2.24No jaḍa-property fits the dehin.───→here2.33───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.───→here2.33───→2.72Old-age renunciation is off topic here.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

2.20Na jāyate mriyate echoes Kaṭha.───→here2.33───→2.39MB 12.349 catalogue vs Pañcarātra.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

2.18Body-mortality given as the rival claim.───→here2.33───→2.47Triple iti śeṣaḥ fills three gaps.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.───→here2.33───→2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga literal, not external schools.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

2.23Three iti bhāvaḥ render the import.───→here2.33───→2.47Three iti śeṣaḥ fill three gaps.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here2.33───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here2.33───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here2.33───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here2.33───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here2.33───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here2.33───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here2.33───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here2.33───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here2.33───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here2.33───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here2.33───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workapproach

───→here2.33───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here2.33───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here2.33───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here2.33───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here2.33───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here2.33───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.33───→8.5Last-thought rule

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.33───→4.16Even the wise are confused

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here2.33───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here2.33───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.───→here2.33───→3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here2.33───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here2.33───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here2.33───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here2.33───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here2.33───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here2.33───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here2.33───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here2.33───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here2.33───→

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.───→here2.33───→3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

2.16Real and unreal sort into pure and impure.───→here2.33───→7.4Lower nature is eight-fold; higher is the soul-collective.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here2.33───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

2.11Anchor: two confusions — one universal, one yours alone.───→here2.33───→11.1Arjuna marks the universal moha cured.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here2.33───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here2.33───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here2.33───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here2.33───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningapproach

───→here2.33───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here2.33───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here2.33───→3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

2.12From here to 18.66: one Krishna-utterance.───→here2.33───→5.16Knowledge dispels what mā śucaḥ will close.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.───→here2.33───→2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga split: not two methods, two angles.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

2.11First grief — chapter-1 cowardice — closed.───→here2.33───→5.16Knowledge-darkness cleared — not yet refuge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here2.33───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

2.11Confusing self with body is the source of grief.───→here2.33───→13.2For their rescue, truth-knowledge is uttered.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here2.33───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here2.33───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here2.33───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.───→here2.33───→3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesbetween

2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.───→here2.33───→8.3Brahman, ātman, all facets of one Lord.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here2.33───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here2.33───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here2.33───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.30Knowledge seam ends.───→here2.33───→2.39Practice seam begins.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here2.33───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here2.33───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here2.33───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

Śabda · lemmas (16 unique · 16 occurrences)

करिष्यसि √kṛ — to do, make (verbal root) · future indicative 2nd person singular verb
हित्वा hā — to abandon, give up (verbal root); also: alas (interjection) · conv
त्वम् tvad — you (2nd person pronoun stem) · nominative singular noun · also at 1.1, 3.41, 4.4, 4.35, 6.31, 11.3 +10
पापम् pāpa — sin, evil, demerit · accusative neuter singular noun
अवाप्स्यसि √avāp — to obtain (ava- + √āp 'reach') · future indicative 2nd person singular verb

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अथ atha — now, then (auspicious opening particle)
चेद् ced — if, supposing that
इमम् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · accusative masculine singular noun
धर्म्यम् dharmya — in accordance with dharma; righteous · accusative masculine singular noun
संग्रामम् saṃgrāma — battle, war · accusative masculine singular noun
न na — not (negation particle)
ततस् tatas — from there, then, therefore
स्व sva — own, self · compound
धर्मम् dharma — duty, law, righteousness; the principle of right action; one's own nature (sva-dharma) · accusative masculine singular noun
कीर्तिम् kīrti — fame, glory (from √kīrt) · accusative feminine singular noun
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)

Praśna · so what (7)

01What precisely makes this battle dharmyam — is it the identity of the combatants, the cause being fought for, Kṛṣṇa's presence, or the conformity of the conduct to Manu's code — and does the answer change across the six schools?
02Madhusūdana cites the Manu-Yājñavalkya karma-exchange doctrine in which a warrior who flees transfers his merit to his lord and absorbs enemy demerit — does this make the sin of retreat uniquely worse than any aggressive sin, and what does that imply for theories of moral responsibility?

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03Rāmānuja's use of niratiśaya (unsurpassed, superlative) for sukha, kīrti, and pāpa alike in a single verse — what does the symmetrical maximization of both the reward and the penalty tell us about how he understands the stakes of svadharma?
04Vallabha collapses the consequence into pratyavāya (sin of omission) rather than a positive sin of commission — how does the category of omission-sin function in Puṣṭi-mārga, and is it structurally different from the pāpa Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja describe?
05Madhva did not comment on this verse — what does the absence of commentary from a tradition that insists most strongly on individual jīva accountability and real pāpa-puṇya tell us about which verses a school treats as needing doctrinal defence versus which it treats as self-evident?
06Śaṅkara glosses kīrti as arising from mahādeva-ādi-samāgama (association with the great gods) — this is a surprisingly theistic framing for an Advaita commentator; how does it sit with his overall jñāna-mārga reading, and is kīrti being used here as a pragmatic concession or a genuine value?
07The verse's logic is purely consequentialist on the surface — if you refuse, you will lose X and gain Y — yet all six schools treat it as something stronger than mere prudential advice. What converts a consequentialist warning into a normative obligation, and does each school answer that differently?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you are positioned — by training, by role, by the specific moment — to act on a difficult responsibility, abstaining is not the clean non-action it feels like. Śaṅkara's point is that the loss of svadharma is not abstract: it is the corrosion of the very structure through which you orient your life. A surgeon who withdraws from a case she is uniquely qualified to handle, a manager who allows injustice to proceed because confrontation is uncomfortable — these are not neutral choices; they are acts of abandonment with real consequences for the person abandoned and real consequences for the one who withdrew.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's insistence that the battle has already begun (ārabdham) is the everyday pressure-point: this is not a theoretical future obligation but one you already stand inside. The commencement of a commitment — a project undertaken, a relationship entered, a role accepted — carries its own momentum of obligation. To retreat from it under the cover of delusion (moha) is to forfeit the unsurpassed fruit that the commitment was generating, and to load yourself with the opposite. Finishing what you began in good faith, even when costly, is bhakti-in-action.

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Dvaita

The Dvaita frame makes this personal and permanent: the jīva's svadharma is not assigned arbitrarily — it is constitutive of how that particular soul relates to Hari. When you refuse a responsibility that genuinely belongs to your nature and station, you are not navigating a social rule but mis-relating to your own source. The pāpa that results is real and individual — not washed out by any clever non-dual framing — which means the accounting is precise and the corrective must be equally precise: return to the action you are constituted to perform.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's pratyavāya — the sin of omission — captures a modern blind spot: we tend to assign moral weight only to things we actively do wrong, not to the grace we refuse to receive or the offering we decline to make. In Puṣṭi-mārga terms, when circumstances have conspired — through Kṛṣṇa's arrangement — to place a meaningful action precisely within your reach, turning away from it is a refusal of prasāda. The laukika (worldly) and vaidika (sacred) dimensions are lost together: you become smaller in the world and emptier in your inner life simultaneously.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's balanced framing — 'here is the fault in the contrary case' — is itself a practice instruction: before any significant refusal, simply name what you are forfeiting. Not to dramatise it, but to see clearly. The devotional reading adds that righteous action is a channel of closeness to Bhagavān; when we shrink from difficulty in the name of non-harm or non-involvement, we may also be closing a channel through which bhakti would have flowed. The fault in the contrary case is not only consequential — it is relational.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 33: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga