Devanagari
यदहङ्कारमाश्रित्य न योत्स्य इति मन्यसे ।
मिथ्यैष व्यवसायस्ते प्रकृतिस्त्वां नियोक्ष्यति ॥ ५९ ॥
Verse text
yad ahaṅkāram āśritya
na yotsya iti manyase
mithyaiṣa vyavasāyas te
prakṛtis tvāṁ niyokṣyati
Synonyms
yat
—
if
;
ahaṅkāram
—
of false ego
;
āśritya
—
taking shelter
;
na yotsye
—
I shall not fight
;
iti
—
thus
;
manyase
—
you think
;
mithyā eṣaḥ
—
this is all false
;
vyavasāyaḥ
—
determination
;
te
—
your
;
prakṛtiḥ
—
material nature
;
tvām
—
you
;
niyokṣyati
—
will engage.
Translation
If you do not act according to My direction and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed. By your nature, you will have to be engaged in warfare.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
59. If, influenced by false ego, you think “I will not fight,” that resolve is useless. Your nature will engage you in fighting.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
59. If, influenced by false ego, you think “I will not fight,” that resolve is useless. My prakṛti will engage you in fighting.
Translation (Bhurijana Dasa)
If you do not act according to My direction and do not fight, then you will be falsely directed. By your nature, you will have to be engaged in warfare. (cn) It is interesting to note here what Krsna has just said, that Arjuna, by his nature whether he desires to surrender to Krsna or not, what will his activities be: fight! Yet, Krsna has been preaching to Arjuna through 17 and 1/2 chapters, telling him to surrender and fight again and again, here Krsna says: "Even if you don't surrender, by your own nature you gone have to fight!"
Was it necessary for Krsna to preach to Arjuna to fight? ‑ Yes. But He just said that even he don't surrender, he will have to be engaged in warfare; so he is gone have to fight anyway.
It is not to get Arjuna to fight exactly, that Krsna has been preaching all this time, it is to get him to fight in the proper consciousness, in Krsna consciousness. Therefore Krsna tells him to surrender. And surrender means: "You fight on My order!" These people, has Krsna has already explained, Bhisma, Karna, Drona,etc..., "all these warriors are already killed by Me", "Time I am, I have come to destroy all of them." Krsna has already killed them, He doesn't need Arjuna to fight, to win the battle, but it is in Arjuna's interest to become a servant of Krsna. It is in the interest of all living entities to serve Krsna. It is not in Krsna's interest. It is in our interest to surrender to Krsna and fight for Him.
Srila Prabhupada once said in a conversation: "We want 'Arjunas' or we want no one." We have to be ready to surrender and then after surrendering then work on behalf of Krsna ‑ that is bhakti. This is the difference between bhakti and niskama karma. Bhakti is:'you surrender and then you work'. Niskama karma is:'you work and then you surrender the results'. That attachment to work is there and if not, ultimately is considered bhakti it leads to bhakti if one is in a proper association.
Purport
Arjuna was a military man, and born of the nature of the kṣatriya. Therefore his natural duty was to fight. But due to false ego he was fearing that by killing his teacher, grandfather and friends he would incur sinful reactions. Actually he was considering himself master of his actions, as if he were directing the good and bad results of such work. He forgot that the Supreme Personality of Godhead was present there, instructing him to fight. That is the forgetfulness of the conditioned soul. The Supreme Personality gives directions as to what is good and what is bad, and one simply has to act in Kṛṣṇa consciousness to attain the perfection of life. No one can ascertain his destiny as the Supreme Lord can; therefore the best course is to take direction from the Supreme Lord and act. No one should neglect the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead or the order of the spiritual master, who is the representative of God. One should act unhesitatingly to execute the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead – that will keep one safe under all circumstances.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
“For me, a kṣatriya, the highest dharma is to fight. But being afraid of the sin incurred from killing friends, I do not desire to start fighting.”
The Lord scolds Arjuna in this verse. “Your nature (prakṛtiḥ) will make you fight. Now you do not respect My words. But when your irrepressible natural desire to fight arises, then while fighting, and automatically killing your elders like Bhīṣma, you will smile at Me!”
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
“Even though fighting is my dharma, I do not have that inclination because I fear the sin caused by killing brāhmaṇas and gurus.”
If you take shelter of false identity (ahaṅkāram), thinking you know what is right and wrong, and contemplate “I will not fight,” such resolve (vyavasāyaḥ) will definitely not bring results (mithyā). Prakṛti, My māyā, transformed as the mode of passion, will engage you, who have ignored My words, in fighting anyway, which will cause killing of gurus and brāhmaṇas.