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Bhagavad Gita · 1.32 · Arjuna's Dilemma·32 of 47

न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि चकिं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा

na kāṅkṣhe vijayaṁ kṛiṣhṇa na cha rājyaṁ sukhāni

cha kiṁ no rājyena govinda kiṁ bhogair jīvitena vā

Sanskrit recitation

When the body freezes · 1.28–1.47 · Teaching

Translation

I desire not victory, O Krishna, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. What use is dominion to us, O Krishna, or pleasures or even life?

Meaning

Arjuna has addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa as Govinda because Kṛṣṇa is the object of all pleasures for cows and the senses. By using this significant word, Arjuna indicates that Kṛṣṇa should understand what will satisfy Arjuna’s senses. But Govinda is not meant for satisfying our senses. If we try to satisfy the senses of Govinda, however, then automatically our own senses are satisfied. Materially, everyone wants to satisfy his senses, and he wants God to be the order supplier for such satisfaction. The Lord will satisfy the senses of the living entities as much as they deserve, but not to the extent that they may covet. But when one takes the opposite way – namely, when one tries to satisfy the senses of Govinda without desiring to satisfy one’s own senses – then by the grace of Govinda all desires of the living entity are satisfied. Arjuna’s deep affection for community and family members is exhibited here partly due to his natural compassion for them. He is therefore not prepared to fight. Everyone wants to show his opulence to friends and relatives, but Arjuna fears that all his relatives and friends will be killed on the battlefield and he will be unable to share his opulence after victory. This is a typical calculation of material life. The transcendental life, however, is different. Since a devotee wants to satisfy the desires of the Lord, he can, Lord willing, accept all kinds of opulence for the service of the Lord, and if the Lord is not willing, he should not accept a farthing. Arjuna did not want to kill his relatives, and if there were any need to kill them, he desired that Kṛṣṇa kill them personally. At this point he did not know that Kṛṣṇa had already killed them before their coming into the battlefield and that he was only to become an instrument for Kṛṣṇa. This fact is disclosed in following chapters. As a natural devotee of the Lord, Arjuna did not like to retaliate against his miscreant cousins and brothers, but it was the Lord’s plan that they should all be killed. The devotee of the Lord does not retaliate against the wrongdoer, but the Lord does not tolerate any mischief done to the devotee by the miscreants. The Lord can excuse a person on His own account, but He excuses no one who has done harm to His devotees. Therefore the Lord was determined to kill the miscreants, although Arjuna wanted to excuse them.

After Swami Sivananda

When the body freezes· 1.28–1.47

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

Word-by-word
na
nor
cha
also
kim
what?
or
naḥ
to us
govinda
Krishna, he who gives pleasure to the senses, he who is fond of cows
rājyam
kingdom
vijayam
victory
rājyena
by kingdom
sukhāni
happiness
bhogaiḥ
pleasures
jīvitena
life
kāṅkṣhe
do I desire
kṛiṣhṇa
Krishna

Related verses

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