अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति तेऽव्ययाम्। सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते॥
akīrtiṃ cāpi bhūtāni kathayiṣyanti te 'vyayām / sambhāvitasya cākīrtir maraṇād atiricyate
Dishonor lasts longer than death — and for the one who has been honored, disgrace is worse than dying.
Word by word (4)
- akīrtiṃ cāpi bhūtāni
- — and people will speak of your dishonor
- kathayiṣyanti te 'vyayām
- — forever / without end · 'Avyayām' — inexhaustible, permanent. Dishonor, unlike physical harm, lasts beyond the body.
- sambhāvitasya ca akīrtiḥ
- — and for one who has been honored, dishonor
- maraṇāt atiricyate
- — is worse than death · The teaching is calibrated to Arjuna specifically: for an honored warrior, reputation matters more than life. Krishna is meeting him where he is.
'And people will speak of your dishonor forever. For one who has been honored — disgrace is worse than death.'
A modern analogy
For someone whose entire identity and contribution has been built on excellence and integrity in their field — a deliberate public failure to act at the critical moment becomes the thing they're remembered for. The work of a lifetime is overshadowed. Krishna is not being cruel; he's being honest about how reputation works in a world where dharmic conduct is the measure of a life.
Take with you
- The social consequence is real: 'akīrtim kathayiṣyanti' — people will speak of your dishonor.
- 'Sambhāvitasya' — for the one who has been held in esteem. The higher the position, the greater the cost of abandonment.
- This argument is deliberately aimed at Arjuna's warrior pride — it is meant to be heard by the part of him that cares about honor.
Verse 34 appeals to the warrior's sense of honor — deliberately, because that is where Arjuna is vulnerable. The metaphysical argument may not reach Arjuna yet; the social and reputational argument might. Krishna is a skilled teacher who meets the student where they are. This argument is not the deepest one (that comes later, with Karma Yoga) but it is the one that will move an honor-based warrior culture. The Gita uses multiple argumentative tracks precisely because different people are moved by different kinds of reasons.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
People will speak of your dishonor forever; and to one who has been honored, dishonor is worse than death. [4]
People will speak forever of thy shame, and to the noble, shame is worse than death. [7]
And people will ever speak ill of you, and to one who has been in honor, ill fame is worse than death. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Those who respected you will assume you left out of fear — and in their eyes, you will shrink from hero to coward.
Taking refuge in Me for liberation from old age and death — they know Brahman, Adhyātma, and all of Karma.
Krishna declares: 'I am the ground of Brahman — the Immortal, the Immutable, eternal Dharma, and perfect Bliss.'
At the hour of death — mind fixed in yoga, devotion, prāṇa between the eyebrows — one attains the supreme divine Puruṣa.
I am the Goal, Lord, Witness, Abode, Refuge, Friend — and the Origin, Dissolution, Seed imperishable.
Quickly he becomes righteous and attains eternal peace — declare it, O Kuntī's son: My devotee is never destroyed.