BG 2.3

klaibyam ma sma gamah partha

naitat tvayy upapadyate

kshudram hridaya–daurbalyam

tyaktvottishtha parantapa

SYNONYMS

klaibyam — impotence; ma sma — do not; gamah — take to; partha — O son of Pritha; na — never; etat — this; tvayi — unto you; upadyate — is befitting; kshudram — petty; hridaya — of the heart; daurbalyam — weakness; tyaktva — giving up; uttishtha — get up; param–tapa — O chastiser of the enemies.

TRANSLATION

O son of Pritha, do not yield to this degrading impotence. It does not become you. Give up such petty weakness of heart and arise, O chastiser of the enemy.

klaibyam ma sma gamah partha

O Arjuna this is klaibya. klaibya is very strong word, klaibya is impotency. So klaibya is like a verbal slap to Arjuna. O Arjuna don’t become klaibya.

naitat tvayy upapadyate, it does not befit you,

kshudram hridaya–daurbalyam, this is weakness of the heart, it is lowly.

tyaktvottishtha parantapa, you are a chastiser of the enemy. The word parantapa is mentioned multiple times in BG. When a person has to be glorified or praised, actually you are meant to be chastiser of the enemies, but if you flee from this, it will be unworthy of you.

Here, Krishna has given couple of verbal slaps to Arjun. He has called him klaibyam (impotence) & Kshudram (petty). A Kshetriya is a personification of masculinity, Kshetriya is considered to be very strong and virile. As in Vedic times, many men would take sanyas, male population was less than females. And since all women has to be married, so Kshetriya were allowed for polygamy. Hence, if Kshetriya is considered as impotent, it is a big-big insult, and for Kshetriya to be called as Sudra is also a big insult. So it is not castes insult, but quality based insult. For instance, a good student saying that you are a fool, and you cannot understand this is an insult. Krishna is trying to prod Arjuna into action by giving a pep talk here. So the pep talk is like: do it man. Why are you acting cowardly?

So the word klaibya brings memory which is quite mortifying. It alludes to the difficult hidden year (agyat vaasa) of exile, when Arjuna had to become Brihnala (a dance teacher) who was neuter. Actual reason, it was very difficult for Arjuna to conceal himself as he was so famous. Duryodhana was convinced that it is impossible for Pandavas to hide.

Krishna said that, Arjuna you acted like impotent person. Have you actually lost your potency. So this was a severe verbal slap for Arjuna. Krishna wanted Arjuna to fight, but Arjuna’s depression was too deep. And surface talks was not going to work. So Arjuna countered all this. Only when Arjuna surrendered to Krishna, the latter was able to enlighten with the Gita wisdom.