Chapter 3 · Verse 36·Spoken by Arjuna
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः। अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः
atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ pāpaṁ charati pūruṣhaḥ anichchhann api vārṣhṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
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Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
Arjuna said, "Now then, O scion of the Vrsni dynasty (Krsna), what compels this man to commit sin even against his will, as if he were constrained by force?"
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
Arjuna said, "But, O Krsna, what impels one to commit sin, even against their own will, as if constrained by force?"
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
Arjuna said, "Then, what induces this person of the world to commit sin, even though they do not desire it, as if they are being overpowered by a force?"
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
Arjuna said, "But what compels man to commit sin, even against his wishes, O Varshneya (Krishna), as if constrained by force?"
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
Arjuna asked, "My Lord, what is it that drives a person to sin, even against their will and as if by compulsion?"
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
Now, impelled by what, set to work as a servant is by a king, does this man do sinful action, commit it, himself, even unwilling, O Vārṣṇeya, born in the line of Vṛṣṇi, as if driven to it by force? The simile of being driven as by a king is given. Hear about that enemy, the maker of all ill, of whom you ask, the Blessed Lord said.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
Arjuna spoke. Now this man, who has set out for the discipline of knowledge, though he himself does not wish to experience the objects, by what is he impelled, so that he behaves as though forcibly set, by some compelling power, to the sin that is the experience of objects?
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
There are many promptings of action, anger and the rest, and desire. Which among them is the strongest? Arjuna asks this with 'now then'. The word 'now then' marks a turn to a different topic and refers back to 'let one not come under the sway of those two' (3.34), which leads on to the question.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.