Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 32
न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च।
किं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा।।
किं नो राज्येन गोविन्द किं भोगैर्जीवितेन वा।।
na kāṅkṣe vijayaṁ kṛṣṇa na ca rājyaṁ sukhāni ca
kiṁ no rājyena govinda kiṁ bhogair jīvitena vā
also searched as "na kankshe vijayam krishna na cha rajyam sukhani cha"
Translation
I desire no victory, nor empire, nor pleasures. What have we to do with empire, O Krishna, or enjoyment, or even life?
Vāṇi's rendering
I want no victory, Krishna — no kingdom, no pleasures. What use is a kingdom, or comfort, or life?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| काङ्क्षेkāṅkṣe | I desire, I long for |
| विजयम्vijayaṁ | victory |
| कृष्णkṛṣṇa | O Krishna |
| नna | not |
| चca | and |
| राज्यम्rājyaṁ | kingdom, rule |
| सुखानिsukhāni | pleasures, comforts |
| चca | and |
| किम्kiṁ | what use, of what worth |
| नःnaḥ | to us, for us (appears as 'no' by sandhi before govinda) |
| राज्येनrājyena | by a kingdom |
| गोविन्दgovinda | O Govinda, keeper of the cows |
| किम्kiṁ | what use |
| भोगैःbhogaiḥ | by enjoyments (final ḥ becomes r before jīvitena) |
| जीवितेनjīvitena | by life itself |
| वाvā | or |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 32 mean?
Arjuna tells Krishna he wants nothing the war could win him — no victory, no kingdom, no comfort, not even his own life. Grief has emptied every outcome of its value. He is not arguing strategy here; he is confessing that the rewards he once fought for have gone flat in his hands.
What does na kankshe vijayam krishna mean?
It means "I want no victory, Krishna." Arjuna refuses the very thing an archer on a battlefield exists for. When sorrow arrives fully, it takes the future with it — the throne, the pleasures, the life ahead all stop looking like anything worth having. The line is honest, and Krishna does not scold him for it.
Why does Arjuna call Krishna Govinda in this verse?
Govinda is the cowherd, the one who keeps and gathers what belongs to him. Arjuna uses it in the same breath as renouncing his own claims — no kingdom is mine, no comfort is mine. Even at the end of wanting, he is still addressing someone who holds things. That address is the seed of everything Krishna will say.
Is Arjuna's detachment here the same as the detachment Krishna teaches?
No. Arjuna's is despair wearing detachment's clothes — he drops the reward because it has soured, and drops the work along with it. Krishna will later separate the two: do the work, release only the result. Renouncing the fruit is freedom. Renouncing the act is collapse. Learn to tell which one you are doing.
Themes in this verse
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Commentary
Arjuna is not refusing to fight because he is afraid. He is refusing because he has looked at every prize on the far side of the war and found it worthless. Victory, throne, comfort — he names them and sets them down one by one. This is the strange honesty of grief: it strips the future of its appeal. And notice the names he uses. Krishna. Govinda, cowherd, keeper of what is his. He wants no kingdom, but he is still speaking to someone. When what you wanted stops mattering, that address is what remains — and it is enough to begin from.