Verse 2.33

अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धर्म्यं सङ्ग्रामं न करिष्यसि ।

ततः स्वधर्मं कीर्तिं च हित्वा पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥

2.33

Transliteration

atha cettvamimaṃ dharmyaṃ saṅgrāmaṃ na kariṣyasi |

tataḥ svadharmaṃ kīrtiṃ ca hitvā pāpamavāpsyasi ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

But if thou wilt not fight this righteous war, then having abandoned thine own duty and fame, thou shalt incur sin.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

but
if
you
this
righteous
battle
not
will fight

then
own duty
fame
and
abandoning
sin
will incur

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

The argument turns to the cost of refusal. If Arjuna will not fight this rightful battle, he will abandon his own dharma and his good name, and incur pāpa, wrongdoing or moral fault. The claim reverses Arjuna's earlier fear that fighting would bring sin. Krishna suggests that, for one in his position, stepping back from a just duty is itself the wrong. The verse shows how the Gita treats ethics as depending on circumstance and role, rather than as a single rule applied the same way everywhere.