Sanskrit
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि । धर्म्याद्धि युद्धाच्छ्रेयोऽन्यत्क्षत्रियस्य न विद्यते ॥
svadharmam api cāvekṣya na vikampitum arhasi dharmyād dhi yuddhāc chreyo'nyat kṣatriyasya na vidyate
Translation
Further, looking to thine own duty thou shouldst not tremble; for there is nothing more welcome to a Kshattriya than righteous war.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Having made the metaphysical case, Krishna pivots to Arjuna’s concrete situation: as a kshatriya (a member of the warrior class), fighting a righteous war is his own duty (svadharma) — and there is no higher good, for him specifically, than fulfilling it. This is a contextual, role-bound argument, not a universal one: the Gita is explicit elsewhere that svadharma differs by station, and this verse is Krishna meeting Arjuna inside his own framework rather than asking him to abandon it.
Concepts