So here Kṛṣṇa is addressing Arjuna, anārya: "Non-Aryan. You are kṣatriya. Your service is now required to fight with persons who have created injustice. So what is this, that you are denying to fight?" Anārya juṣṭam. And asvargyam. Asvargyam means "By denying your duty you cannot be elevated in your next life or you cannot be elevated in the higher planetary system." For a kṣatriya, it is the duty of the kṣatriya to fight and lay down his life. Then he is promoted to the higher planetary system. That is the shastric injunction. If he becomes victorious, then he enjoys this material world, and if he dies, he is promoted to heaven. These things are there. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is advising Arjuna, asvargyam: "If you deny to fight, then you will be refused to enter in the higher planetary system." Akīrti-karam. "And you are known as a great fighter, great soldier and My friend, and this will be going against your reputation. Don't do this." Then He says,
- klaibyaṁ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha
- naitat tvayy upapadyate
- kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyaṁ
- tvaktvottiṣṭha parantapa
- (BG 2.3)
"My dear friend, parantapa..." Parantapa means one who gives trouble to the enemies. This is the material world. A kṣatriya cannot behave like a brāhmaṇa, to excuse. Brāhmaṇa business is to excuse. Kṣamā-rūpa-tapasvinaḥ. Those who are tapasvī, they can excuse, but those who are in the governmental post, to make justice, there is no question of excuse. Life for life. "You have killed one man; you must be killed." This is justice. A brāhmaṇa, he may excuse, "All right, you have killed my man. Never mind. I excuse you." That is a brāhmaṇa's business. But a kṣatriya, the government, the ruling power, he cannot do so. It is his mercy. It is the government's mercy when a murderer is hanged. That is the injunction in the Manu-saṁhitā. "So parantapa, you are kṣatriya. Your business is to punish the unjust." Kṣudraṁ hṛdaya-daurbalyam: "For a kṣatriya this kind of poor-heartedness, that 'I shall not fight...' Give it up. Don't indulge in such thing."