Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 3, Verse 36
अर्जुन उवाच
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः।
अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः।।
अथ केन प्रयुक्तोऽयं पापं चरति पूरुषः।
अनिच्छन्नपि वार्ष्णेय बलादिव नियोजितः।।
arjuna uvāca
atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ
anicchann api vārṣṇeya balād iva niyojitaḥ
also searched as "atha kena prayukto yam papam charati purushah"
Translation
Arjuna said, "But, O Krsna, what impels one to commit sin, even against their own will, as if constrained by force?"
Vāṇi's rendering
Then what drives a man to do wrong, Krishna — even against his will, as if shoved from behind?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अर्जुनःarjunaḥ | Arjuna |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| अथatha | then, now — picking up from what was just said |
| केनkena | by what |
| प्रयुक्तःprayuktaḥ | driven, set going, put to work (written prayukto before ayaṁ) |
| अयम्ayam | this one, this man here |
| पापम्pāpam | wrong, harm, the thing that should not be done |
| चरतिcarati | does, moves in, carries out |
| पूरुषःpūruṣaḥ | a person, a man |
| अनिच्छन्anicchan | not wanting to, unwilling (doubled n before api) |
| अपिapi | even, although |
| वार्ष्णेयvārṣṇeya | O Vārṣṇeya — Krishna, born in the Vṛṣṇi line |
| बलात्balāt | by force |
| इवiva | as if, as though |
| नियोजितःniyojitaḥ | harnessed, yoked to it, made to do it |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3 Verse 36 mean?
Arjuna asks the question every honest person reaches eventually. He has been told how to act well; he knows he often does not. So he asks what pushes him, and he asks it as a man describing a hand at his back. Krishna answers in the very next verse, and the answer sits closer to home than Arjuna expects.
What does 'atha kena prayukto yam papam charati purushah' mean?
Driven by what does a person do wrong? Prayukta means yoked, set going, put to work — as though something else had taken the reins. Arjuna is not asking for a rule. He is asking for a name. He wants to know who is holding the reins when he clearly is not.
Why does Arjuna call Krishna Varshneya in this verse?
Vārṣṇeya means the one born in the Vṛṣṇi line — Krishna's clan, and the world Arjuna shares with him. Under pressure he reaches past the teacher on the chariot and speaks to the kinsman. It is the address of a man admitting something shameful to someone he trusts. The question is confession as much as inquiry.
If something forces us to do wrong, are we still responsible?
Krishna does not let the force stand as an excuse. Desire and anger push hard, but they are not strangers who arrived overnight; they live on what you have been feeding them. To say I was shoved is true and incomplete. The shove has a history, and the history is yours.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna has stopped arguing. This is the first honest question he asks in the chapter — not what should I do, but why do I do what I do not want to do. He feels the push and cannot see the hand. Notice his word: shoved, as if from behind. That is how it always feels. The drinking, the sharp reply, the thing you swore last night you were finished with. Krishna will answer in the next verse, and the answer will not be fate or a demon. It will be something you have been feeding. Admit the shove first.