Sanskrit
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः । अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः ॥
atha kena prayukto'yaṃ pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ anicchann api vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ
Translation
But dragged on by what does a man commit sin, reluctantly indeed, O Varshneya, as it were by force constrained?
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna speaks again for the first time since verse 2, and his question is triggered directly by verse 34’s warning about raga-dvesha: if these are just obstructors to be avoided, what actually compels someone toward wrongdoing against their own will? The dialogue’s return to a genuine back-and-forth here signals the chapter’s final movement, the analysis of desire and anger that closes it out. The phrasing anicchann api… balād iva niyojitaḥ — “unwilling, as if conscripted by force” — is the crux: Arjuna is naming the experience of acting against one’s own better judgment. Krishna’s one-word answer at BG 3.37 is kāma.
Study deeper
Word by word
- atha kena prayukto'yaṃअथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं
- now, impelled by what (atha + kena + prayuktaḥ + ayam)
- pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥपापं चरति पूरुषः
- does a person commit sin (pāpam + carati + pūruṣaḥ)
- anicchann api vārṣṇeyaअनिच्छन्न् अपि वार्ष्णेय
- even unwilling, O Vārṣṇeya (anicchan + api + vārṣṇeya)
- balād iva niyojitaḥबलाद् इव नियोजितः
- as if driven by force (balāt + iva + niyojitaḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Arjuna’s phrasing already contains a hidden diagnosis: “as it were by force constrained” assumes wrongdoing comes from something outside the self pushing in. Krishna’s answer in the next verse doesn’t validate or refute that framing directly — it just relocates the force. The compulsion Arjuna felt was real; what he misjudged was where it was coming from.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you feel 'forced' into a bad choice, question the assumption baked into that word — the pressure is usually real, but its source is more often an internal pull you haven't named yet than a genuine external constraint.
Professional
- When you catch yourself saying a bad decision at work was forced by circumstances, check whether the real driver was an internal pressure — urgency, ego, fear of looking slow — wearing the disguise of external necessity.
Family & Social
- If you tell a family member you 'had no choice' in a moment you regret, it's worth examining honestly whether the real driver was an inner impulse rather than a true external constraint — naming it accurately is the first step to managing it.
Ask yourself
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