BG 2.34
Bhagavad Gītā · Sāṅkhya YogaAnuṣṭubh (śloka)अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् | सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ||२-३४||
akīrtiṃ cāpi bhūtāni kathayiṣyanti te.avyayām . sambhāvitasya cākīrtirmaraṇādatiricyate ||2-34||
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अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम् | सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते ||२-३४||
Anuṣṭubh (śloka) · 16+16 syllables
scansion (laghu/guru)
Facts come from Vidyut (deterministic), never the model. Gaps are shown, not guessed.
People, too, will recount thy everlasting dishonour; and to one who has been honoured, dishonour is worse than death.
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English commentary2
2.34 अकीर्तिम् dishonour? च and? अपि also? भूतानि beings? कथयिष्यन्ति will tell? ते thy? अव्ययाम् everlasting? संभावितस्य of the honoured? च and? अकीर्तिः dishonour? मरणात् than death? अतिरिच्यते exceeds.Commentary The world also will ever recount thy infamy which will survive thee for a long time. Death is really preferable to disgrace to one who has been honoured as a great hero and mighty warrior with noble alities.
— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗
Both as friend and philosopher to Arjuna, Lord Kṛṣṇa now gives His final judgment regarding Arjuna’s refusal to fight. The Lord says, “Arjuna, if you leave the battlefield before the battle even begins, people will call you a coward. And if you think that people may call you bad names but that you will save your life by fleeing the battlefield, then My advice is that you’d do better to die in the battle. For a respectable man like you, ill fame is worse than death. So, you should not flee for fear of your life; better to die in the battle. That will save you from the ill fame of misusing My friendship and from losing your prestige in society.” So, the final judgment of the Lord was for Arjuna to die in the battle and not withdraw.
— vedicscriptures · exposition · source ↗