Sanskrit
भयाद्रणादुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथाः । येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥
bhayād raṇād uparataṃ maṃsyante tvāṃ mahārathāḥ yeṣāṃ ca tvaṃ bahumato bhūtvā yāsyasi lāghavam
Translation
The great car-warriors will think thee fled from the battle from fear, and thou, that wast highly thought of by them, wilt be lightly held.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna sharpens verse 34’s general point into a specific, painful image: the very generals who currently respect Arjuna will read his withdrawal not as principle but as cowardice, and their esteem will curdle into contempt. It’s a reminder that Arjuna’s crisis of conscience, from the outside, will not read as a crisis of conscience at all. Lāghava — “lightness” — is the exact opposite of gaurava, the “weight” a respected person carries. The peers whose opinion Arjuna most values are precisely the ones who will misread him, which is what makes the cost bite.
Study deeper
Word by word
- bhayād raṇād uparataṃभयाद् रणाद् उपरतं
- withdrawn from battle out of fear (bhayāt + raṇāt + uparatam)
- maṃsyanteमंस्यन्ते
- will think
- tvāṃत्वां
- you
- mahārathāḥमहारथाः
- the great chariot-warriors
- yeṣāṃ ca tvaṃ bahumato bhūtvāयेषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा
- among whom, having been highly regarded (yeṣām + ca + tvam + bahumataḥ + bhūtvā)
- yāsyasiयास्यसि
- you will come to
- lāghavamलाघवं
- lightness, contempt
Commentary
Site Commentary
The people singled out here, mahārathāḥ, the great car-warriors, are exactly the ones whose respect currently matters most and who have the least access to Arjuna’s actual reasoning. Esteem, this verse implies, is a currency built on legible action rather than private conviction; the very people best positioned to judge him are the least positioned to see what’s actually happening inside him.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you make a decision for reasons that are entirely internal — a private ethical line, an invisible reconsideration — expect the people who respect you most to judge you only by what's visible, not by what actually moved you. That gap is real, and worth deciding in advance whether you can live with it.
Professional
- When you make a call that looks like hesitation from the outside but is actually careful judgment, remember your reputation with senior stakeholders is built on what's visible to them, not your internal reasoning — if the stakes are high, make your reasoning legible, don't assume it will be inferred.
Family & Social
- When you make a choice for reasons you haven't explained, don't be surprised if people who care about you read it through the least generous available interpretation — if you want to be understood, the reasoning usually has to be spoken, not assumed.
Ask yourself
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