Shloka
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि |
धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते ||२-३१||Transliteration
svadharmamapi cāvekṣya na vikampitumarhasi .
dharmyāddhi yuddhācchreyo.anyatkṣatriyasya na vidyate ||2-31||Translations
Dr.S.Sankaranarayan
2.31. Further, considering your own duty, you should not waver. Indeed, for a Ksatriya there exists no duty superior to fighting a righteous war.
Shri Purohit Swami
2.31 Thou must look at thy duty. Nothing can be more welcome to a soldier than a righteous war. Therefore to waver in this resolve is unworthy, O Arjuna!
Sri Abhinav Gupta
2.31 Sva-Dharmam etc. Because one’s duty cannot be avoided, wavering with regard to fighting the war is not proper [on the part of Arjuna].
Sri Ramanuja
2.31 Further, even though there is killing of life in this war which has begun, it is not fit for you to waver, considering your own duty, as in the Agnisomiya and other sacrifices involving slaughter. To a Ksatriya, there is no greater good than a righteous war, begun for a just cause. It will be declared in the Gita: ‘Valour, non-defeat (by the enemies), fortitude, adroitness and also not fleeing from battle, generosity, lordliness - these are the duties of the Ksatriya born of his very nature.’ (18.43).
In Agnisomiya etc., no injury is caused to the animal to be immolated; for, according to the Vedic Text, the victim, a he-goat, after abandoning an inferior body, will attain heaven etc., with a beautiful body. The Text pertaining to immolation declares: ‘O animal, by this (immolation) you will never die, you are not destroyed. You will pass through happy paths to the realm of the gods, where the virtuous only reach and not the sinful. May the god Savitr give you a proper place.’ (Yaj. 4.6.9.46). Likewise the attainment of more beautiful bodies by those who die here in this war has been declared in the Gita, ‘As a man casts off worn-out garments and takes others that are new ৷৷.’ (2.22). Hence, just as lancing and such other operations of a surgeon are for curing a patient, the immolation of the sacrificial animal in the Agnisomiya etc., is only for its good.
Sri Shankaracharya
2.31 Api, even; aveksya, considering; svadharmam, your own duty, the duty of a Ksatriya, viz battle considering even that ; na arhasi, you ought not; vikampitum, to waver, to deviate from the natural duty of the Ksatriya, i.e. from what is natural to yourself. And hi, since that battle is not devoid of righteousness, (but) is supremely righteous it being conducive to virtue and meant for protection of subjects through conest of the earth ; therefore, na vidyate, there is nothing; anyat, else; sreyah, better; ksatriyasya, for a ksatriya; than that dharmyat, righteous; yuddhat, battle.
Swami Adidevananda
2.31 Further, considering also your own duty, it does not befit you to waver. For, to a Ksatriya, there is no greater good than a righteous war.
Swami Gambirananda
2.31 Even considering your own duty you should not waver, since there is nothing else better for a Ksatriya than a righteous battle.
Swami Sivananda
2.31 Further, having regard to thy duty, shouldst not waver, for there is nothing higher for a Kshatriya than a righteous war.
Commentaries
Swami Sivananda
2.31 स्वधर्मम् own duty? अपि also? च and? अवेक्ष्य looking at? न not? विकम्पितुम् to waver? अर्हसि (thou) oughtest? धर्म्यात् than righteous? हि indeed? युद्धात् than war? श्रेयः higher? अन्यत् other? क्षत्रियस्य of a Kshatriya? न not? विद्यते is.Commentary Lord Krishna now gives to Arjuna wordly reasons for fighting. Up to this time? He talked to Arjuna on the immortality of the Self and gave him philosophical reasons. Now He says to Arjuna? O Arjuna Fighting is a Kshatriyas own duty. You ought not to swerve from that duty. To a Kshatriyta (one born in the warrior or ruling class) nothing is more welcome than a righteous war. A warrior should fight.