Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 37
हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम्।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः।।
तस्मादुत्तिष्ठ कौन्तेय युद्धाय कृतनिश्चयः।।
hato vā prāpsyasi swargaṁ jitvā vā bhokṣyase mahīm
tasmād uttiṣṭha kaunteya yuddhāya kṛta-niścayaḥ
also searched as "hato va prapsyasi swargam jitva va bhokshyase mahim"
Translation
If slain, you will win heaven; or if victorious, you will enjoy the earth. Therefore, arise, O Arjuna, resolved to fight.
Vāṇi's rendering
Slain, you win heaven; victorious, you rule the earth. So stand up, resolved to fight.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| हतःhataḥ | slain, killed |
| वाvā | or, either |
| प्राप्स्यसिprāpsyasi | you will attain |
| स्वर्गम्svargam | heaven |
| जित्वाjitvā | having conquered |
| वाvā | or |
| भोक्ष्यसेbhokṣyase | you will enjoy |
| महीम्mahīm | the earth |
| तस्मात्tasmāt | therefore (joins with the next word as tasmād uttiṣṭha) |
| उत्तिष्ठuttiṣṭha | stand up, rise |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | son of Kunti — Arjuna |
| युद्धायyuddhāya | for battle |
| कृतनिश्चयःkṛta-niścayaḥ | having made up your mind, resolved |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 37 mean?
Krishna answers Arjuna's despair with its own logic. Both endings of the battle are honourable — death brings heaven, victory brings the earth. Neither branch justifies collapse. The verse ends not in reassurance but in a command: uttiṣṭha, stand up, with the mind already made up. The decision comes first; the courage follows it.
What is the meaning of hato va prapsyasi swargam jitva va bhokshyase mahim?
Slain, you win heaven; victorious, you rule the earth. Krishna lays both outcomes side by side to show that Arjuna's fear has no landing place. He is not predicting which will happen. He is dismantling the calculation that has frozen Arjuna's arm, leaving only the act itself.
Is Krishna telling Arjuna that dying in war is a good thing?
He is telling Arjuna that a warrior who falls doing what is his to do has not failed. The verse speaks in the language of Arjuna's own world, where the manner of standing matters more than the fact of the fall. It is spoken to a man on a battlefield, and it is meant to lift him off his knees.
How do I apply Bhagavad Gita 2.37 to my own life?
Look at what you are avoiding and follow each imagined ending to its close. Often the dread is not in any outcome but in the endless comparing of them. Krishna cuts that loop. When both roads still ask the same thing of you, the deliberation is finished. What is left is kṛta-niścayaḥ — a made-up mind, and one step.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is not promising Arjuna a good outcome. He is closing the door on a bad one. Arjuna has been calculating: if I fight I lose either way — kinsmen dead, kingdom soaked. Krishna takes the same two branches and shows both ending well. Slain, you gain heaven; victorious, you rule. The argument is almost brutal in its simplicity, and it is meant to be. It does not soothe the fear; it removes the fear's arithmetic. What remains is only the standing up. When you have run every outcome and each one still asks the same thing of you, stop running them. Stand.