Śaṅkara frames svadharma as ātmasvābhāvya (aligned with the ātman's own nature). Does this make varṇa-dharma contingent on self-knowledge, such that a kṣatriya who has achieved jñāna is released from the obligation to fight — or does the obligation persist as niṣkāma-karma regardless?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

Rāmānuja invokes the agni-ṣomīya (Vedic Soma sacrifice) to show that dharmic context transforms the moral character of killing. How far does this analogy hold when the opponent is not a ritual animal but a person with the same ātman-status as the actor?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

The verse says dharmyād yuddha — battle that is dharmya (dharma-grounded). Who adjudicates whether a given battle meets this criterion, and what institutional mechanism in the Gītā's own world is designed to make that determination?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

If śreyas (highest good) for a kṣatriya has no alternative to yuddha, does the verse entail that a kṣatriya born into an era with no righteous war to fight is structurally blocked from śreyas — or does svadharma itself evolve when the external condition is absent?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

Madhusūdana distinguishes Arjuna's sādhāraṇa-bhrama (universal error, addressed by ātmajñāna) from his asādhāraṇa-bhrama (private error, addressed here by svadharma). This two-tiered error-structure implies that the same action can be commanded at two independent levels simultaneously. Does this make 2.31 a logical redundancy once 2.19–2.20 are accepted — or does it supply a genuinely distinct and irreducible justification?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

Śrīdhara reads dharmyāt yuddha as nyāyya (just) — a juridical rather than metaphysical term. The Gītā is addressed to a specific warrior in a specific war. Does the verse's logic transfer to wars in which the varṇa-system has dissolved, or is dharmya a historically bounded predicate?

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous. See seven-school commentary at https://gita.ekrasworks.com/gita/2/31.

BG 2.31 — Sāṅkhya-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 2.31Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि ।

धर्म्याद् धि युद्धाच् छ्रेयो ऽन्यत् क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते ॥

sva-dharmam api cāvekṣya na vikampitum arhasi

dharmyād dhi yuddhāc chreyo 'nyat kṣatriyasya na vidyate

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous.

ekras · bhāṣya

Krishna pivots. "Looking at your own svadharma also, you should not tremble. For a kshatriya, there is no higher good than a dharmya yuddha — a war that is itself righteous." The dehin teaching is over. The argument now changes register.

Krishna had been speaking from the level of paramartha — what is true regardless of who one is. Now he speaks at the level of vyavahara — what is true given that you are this man, in this caste, with this body, on this field. The pivot is signalled by api ca — and also. The earlier argument stands; here is another, on a different basis.

Madhusudana Sarasvati catches the structural move precisely. The earlier remedy — upadhitraya-viveka, discrimination of the three adjuncts of the self — was for Arjuna's sadharana-bhrama, the confusion any human being can have about life and death. The present verse addresses his asadharana-bhrama — his particular confusion as a kshatriya about whether to fight. Two different confusions, two different remedies.

Ramanuja brings the comparison that became famous in his school: yuddha here is a full analogue of Vedic yajna. Just as the soma-sacrifice involves the killing of an animal that is nonetheless dharmic because it is shastra-prescribed, so this battle, when looked at as svadharma, is dharmic killing — not adharmic violence. The framing matters. The kshatriya does not kill out of personal anger or greed. He kills under the discipline of an ordained role, when the time and circumstances make killing the dharma-prescribed action.

Vallabha reads the verse as a correction of dharma-bhramsha — a falling-away-from-dharma. The vepathu and romancha Arjuna described in 1.29 — the trembling, the hair standing on end — were symptoms of a man grounded in dharma forgetting his station. The verse restores him to it.

Context

where

Chapter 2 · Sāṅkhya-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 2.30

The self inside every body, from god to stone, is eternal and cannot be killed; you have no cause to grieve for any being.

What's going on

Look at your own dharma and do not tremble, for a warrior has no higher good than a battle that is righteous.

Sūtras through this verse (111)

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-rulebetween

2.18'Imperishable' is said to mark off the Lord.───→here2.31───→4.24Every word for ritual points back to Viṣṇu.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingbetween

2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.───→here2.31───→2.38Equal in win and loss, no sin can stick.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here2.31───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

show all 111

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipstation · anchor

───→here2.31───→

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbabetween · other

2.18Image perishes, source endures───→here2.31───→4.13Creates yet uncreated

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

2.20The soul is conscious but only as reflection.───→here2.31───→3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesbetween

2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.───→here2.31───→2.50Even in liberation the rank stays in place.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksbetween

2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.───→here2.31───→4.13He creates and yet is uncreated by it.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.───→here2.31───→2.50Six texts in thirty lines carry the long excursus.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.───→here2.31───→2.50Even in liberation grace remains the agent.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotbetween

2.24When two scriptures clash the higher one rules.───→here2.31───→2.72Akṣapāda and Kaṇāda are simply ruled out.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here2.31───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here2.31───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here2.31───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here2.31───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipstation

───→here2.31───→

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthabetween · other

2.10Thesis flat───→here2.31───→3.4Naishkarmya is not just non-doing

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralbetween

2.27'Jatasya hi dhruvo mrityur dhruvam janma mritasya cha.' Death is certain for the───→here2.31───→8.6'Yam yam vapi smaran bhavam.' Whatever state of being one remembers at the last

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

2.22'Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya' — body as worn-out clothes. Sister verse to 2.13,───→here2.31───→3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netibetween

2.20'Na jayate mriyate va kadachit, nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah, ajo nityah sh───→here2.31───→6.20'Yatroparamate chittam niruddham yoga-sevaya, yatra chaivatmana'tmanam pashyann

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseasebetween

2.11The wise mourn neither the living nor the dead.───→here2.31───→2.69Ignorance is night, wisdom alone wakes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downbetween

2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.───→here2.31───→3.4Mere not-doing is not renunciation at all.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.───→here2.31───→3.1If insight is higher, why this dreadful work?

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimbetween

2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.───→here2.31───→3.4Brāhmaṇas seek the Self by Veda, then by rite.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sidebetween

2.24Uncuttable, unburnt, steady, all-pervading.───→here2.31───→13.5Field and knower: body-self cut returns.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

2.24No jaḍa-property fits the dehin.───→here2.31───→7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.───→here2.31───→2.72Old-age renunciation is off topic here.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

2.20Na jāyate mriyate echoes Kaṭha.───→here2.31───→2.39MB 12.349 catalogue vs Pañcarātra.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

2.18Body-mortality given as the rival claim.───→here2.31───→2.47Triple iti śeṣaḥ fills three gaps.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.───→here2.31───→2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga literal, not external schools.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

2.23Three iti bhāvaḥ render the import.───→here2.31───→2.47Three iti śeṣaḥ fill three gaps.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here2.31───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here2.31───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here2.31───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here2.31───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here2.31───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here2.31───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here2.31───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here2.31───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here2.31───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here2.31───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here2.31───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workapproach

───→here2.31───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here2.31───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here2.31───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here2.31───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here2.31───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here2.31───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.31───→8.5Last-thought rule

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

2.22Worn-out garments───→here2.31───→4.16Even the wise are confused

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.───→here2.31───→6.46Inner-self hexad closes; pivot prepared.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here2.31───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.───→here2.31───→3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here2.31───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here2.31───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here2.31───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here2.31───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here2.31───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here2.31───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here2.31───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here2.31───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here2.31───→

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.───→here2.31───→3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

2.16Real and unreal sort into pure and impure.───→here2.31───→7.4Lower nature is eight-fold; higher is the soul-collective.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here2.31───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

2.11Anchor: two confusions — one universal, one yours alone.───→here2.31───→11.1Arjuna marks the universal moha cured.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here2.31───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here2.31───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here2.31───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here2.31───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningapproach

───→here2.31───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here2.31───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here2.31───→3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

2.12From here to 18.66: one Krishna-utterance.───→here2.31───→5.16Knowledge dispels what mā śucaḥ will close.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.───→here2.31───→2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga split: not two methods, two angles.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

2.11First grief — chapter-1 cowardice — closed.───→here2.31───→5.16Knowledge-darkness cleared — not yet refuge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here2.31───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

2.11Confusing self with body is the source of grief.───→here2.31───→13.2For their rescue, truth-knowledge is uttered.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here2.31───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here2.31───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here2.31───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.───→here2.31───→3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesbetween

2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.───→here2.31───→8.3Brahman, ātman, all facets of one Lord.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here2.31───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here2.31───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here2.31───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)between

2.30Knowledge seam ends.───→here2.31───→2.39Practice seam begins.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here2.31───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here2.31───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here2.31───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

Śabda · lemmas (15 unique · 16 occurrences)

विद्यते √vid — to know; to find (verbal root) · present indicative pass 3rd person singular verb
क्षत्रियस्य kṣatriya — Kṣatriya (the warrior varṇa) · genitive masculine singular noun
विकम्पितुम् vikamp — to tremble, waver (vi- + √kamp) · infinitive
अर्हसि √arh — to be worthy, deserve (verbal root) · present indicative 2nd person singular verb

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न na ×2 — not (negation particle)
स्व sva — own, self · compound
धर्मम् dharma — duty, law, righteousness; the principle of right action; one's own nature (sva-dharma) · accusative masculine singular noun
अपि api — also, even, although
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
अवेक्ष्य avekṣ — to look upon, observe (ava- + √īkṣ) · conv
धर्म्यात् dharmya — in accordance with dharma; righteous · ablative neuter singular noun
हि hi — for, indeed, because (particle)
युद्धात् yuddha — battle, combat (from √yudh) · ablative neuter singular noun
श्रेयः śreyas — better, superior; the higher good (vs preyas, the pleasant) · nominative neuter singular noun
अन्यत् anya — other, different · nominative neuter singular noun

Praśna · so what (6)

01Śaṅkara frames svadharma as ātmasvābhāvya (aligned with the ātman's own nature). Does this make varṇa-dharma contingent on self-knowledge, such that a kṣatriya who has achieved jñāna is released from the obligation to fight — or does the obligation persist as niṣkāma-karma regardless?
02Rāmānuja invokes the agni-ṣomīya (Vedic Soma sacrifice) to show that dharmic context transforms the moral character of killing. How far does this analogy hold when the opponent is not a ritual animal but a person with the same ātman-status as the actor?

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03The verse says dharmyād yuddha — battle that is dharmya (dharma-grounded). Who adjudicates whether a given battle meets this criterion, and what institutional mechanism in the Gītā's own world is designed to make that determination?
04If śreyas (highest good) for a kṣatriya has no alternative to yuddha, does the verse entail that a kṣatriya born into an era with no righteous war to fight is structurally blocked from śreyas — or does svadharma itself evolve when the external condition is absent?
05Madhusūdana distinguishes Arjuna's sādhāraṇa-bhrama (universal error, addressed by ātmajñāna) from his asādhāraṇa-bhrama (private error, addressed here by svadharma). This two-tiered error-structure implies that the same action can be commanded at two independent levels simultaneously. Does this make 2.31 a logical redundancy once 2.19–2.20 are accepted — or does it supply a genuinely distinct and irreducible justification?
06Śrīdhara reads dharmyāt yuddha as nyāyya (just) — a juridical rather than metaphysical term. The Gītā is addressed to a specific warrior in a specific war. Does the verse's logic transfer to wars in which the varṇa-system has dissolved, or is dharmya a historically bounded predicate?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you face a task that is clearly yours by nature and training but feel paralysed by anticipated harm, Śaṅkara's reading instructs: examine whether the paralysis is bhrama (confusion between your ātman and the outcome) or genuine moral discernment. Act from svābhāvika (natural) competence without claiming the fruit; the action performed without vikampana (trembling) becomes niṣkāma-karma and clears the ground for the self-inquiry that is the actual goal.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's yajña-analogy applies when your professional or familial role requires you to do something that looks harmful in isolation — delivering a difficult verdict, ending a business relationship, administering painful medicine. Examine the svabhāva-ja (nature-born) qualities your station calls for — precision, courage, non-evasion — and perform the act as a liturgical function: not because it feels good but because Bhagavān's order is served through that station faithfully held.

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Dvaita

Madhva's pāratantrya (dependent-existence) framing applies to every moment of role-temptation: when you are assigned a function — parent, physician, judge — and consider abandoning it for one that feels nobler or less conflicted, the Dvaita reading asks whether that preference is your jīva's subordinate alignment with Hari's will or your ego's reassertion of independence. Staying in the assigned function, executed without self-inflation, is the more complete act of worship.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's prasāda lens: when you face a duty that frightens you, the dharmaniṣṭha (one grounded in dharma) does not argue themselves into it by logic — they ask for grace to be the instrument. The vikampana (trembling) Arjuna displayed was not sensitivity but a failure to surrender the action back to Kṛṣṇa. The practice is to perform the difficult act as an offering, expecting neither external validation nor internal peace as its fruit, but the quiet that comes from having placed the action in Bhagavān's hands.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's double-valence of śreyas points to a practical heuristic: when you cannot see any good outcome from the right action, ask whether your inability to see it is a problem of vision or a problem of the action. The Gītā's grammar of the comparative (śreyas — better than any alternative) implies that the best available path may still look terrible from inside the grief-state. Bhakti's answer is to act from relationship — to Bhagavān, to the people the action protects — rather than from consequentialist calculus.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's two-tiered bhrama-correction has a direct practical corollary: universal suffering (the sādhāraṇa-bhrama of identifying with a perishable body) calls for meditation and self-inquiry; but the asādhāraṇa-bhrama specific to your situation — the fear that doing your job makes you a wrongdoer — calls for svadharma-viveka (discrimination of your own function). When jñāna and svadharma converge, as they do here, the action that seemed most dangerous becomes the one most aligned with both liberation and care.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

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weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 2, Verse 31: Krishna to Arjuna — Sāṅkhya-Yoga