Verset 3.1

ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।

तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥

3.1

Translittération

jyāyasī cetkarmaṇaste matā buddhirjanārdana |

tatkiṃ karmaṇi ghore māṃ niyojayasi keśava ||

Par Sanskrit System · Brouillon automatique · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Traduction

Arjuna said If Thou thinkest that knowledge is superior to action, O Krishna, why then, O Kesava, dost Thou ask me to engage in this terrible action?

D’après la feuille du propriétaire · +1 de plus

Mot à mot

superior
if
than action
by you
considered
understanding
O Janardana (Krishna)

then
why
in action
terrible
me
you engage
O Keshava (Krishna)

Par Sanskrit System · Brouillon automatique · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explication

The third chapter opens with Arjuna's confusion over what he heard in the second. Krishna praised steady understanding (buddhi) and spoke of rising above the fruits of action (karma). Arjuna takes this to mean that knowledge is superior to action, and so he asks why he is being pushed into a dreadful act of war. The question is honest and important. It sets the theme of the whole chapter: how understanding and action relate, and whether a wise person should act at all.