उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम् । सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः ॥
utsīdeyur ime lokā na kuryāṃ karma ced aham | saṅkarasya ca kartā syām upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ ||
If the great one withdraws, the worlds collapse and they become the cause of chaos — not a neutral bystander.
Word by word (3)
- utsīdeyuḥ ime lokāḥ
- — these worlds would collapse/sink · Utsīdeyuḥ from ud+sīda (to sink, to collapse, to be ruined). Ime lokāḥ = these worlds (all of them). If Krishna stopped acting, all worlds would sink into ruin. The consequences of the divine śreṣṭha's withdrawal are total.
- saṅkarasya kartā syām
- — I would be the maker of confusion/chaos · Saṅkara = confusion, mixing, disorder (sam+kara = bringing together what should be separate). This is the same word used in Ch.1 (V41-44) when Arjuna feared the social chaos from the battle. If Krishna withdrew from action, He would be the cause of the same saṅkara He came to prevent.
- upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ
- — I would destroy these beings · Upahanyām = I would destroy, harm (upa+hanti). Prajāḥ = beings, people. The responsibility is complete: the śreṣṭha who withdraws from action is not neutral — they become the destroyer of the very beings they could have sustained.
If I did not perform action, these worlds would collapse. I would be the cause of chaos — and I would be destroying these very beings.
A modern analogy
A nurse who decides to call in sick during a crisis — 'it's not my problem today' — becomes causally responsible for what happens to the patients they could have helped. Not as an evil choice but as the consequence of withdrawal. V24 extends this to the śreṣṭha's cosmic scale: withdrawal is never neutral.
Take with you
- Silence and withdrawal from responsibility are not neutral positions — they have consequences.
- The śreṣṭha who withdraws from lokasaṃgraha becomes a creator of the chaos they refused to prevent.
- This is the final argument for karma-yoga: engage or become, by your absence, a source of harm.
- The Gita does not allow the 'I'm not responsible for what happens when I withdraw' position.
V24 closes the 'divine self-disclosure' section (V22-24). Krishna has made the argument in its complete form: V22: I have nothing to gain but I act. V23: If I stopped, humans would follow My example everywhere. V24: If I stopped, the worlds would collapse and I would be the cause of chaos. The three-verse argument builds from personal (nothing to gain) to social (others follow) to cosmic (worlds collapse). This is the most complete statement of lokasaṃgraha in the Gita. Krishna's engagement in the cosmos is the model — even the Supreme does not withdraw from the yajna-wheel.
Karma-Yoga lens
Tilak's political application: the person of insight who withdraws from the struggle for liberation — into personal spiritual practice, into quietism — becomes the creator of the saṃkara they were placed to prevent. V24 is the Gita's most direct statement that spiritual advancement obligates engagement, not withdrawal. The more you know, the more responsible you are for turning the wheel.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
These worlds would be ruined if I did not perform action; I should be the cause of confusion and of the destruction of these people. [1]
These worlds would fall to ruin if I did not perform action; I should be the cause of confusion and should destroy these beings. [4]
These worlds would perish if I did not perform work, I should be the cause of confusion and the destruction of these people. [6]
These worlds would fall to wrack If I withheld my hand; I should be seen Causing confusion of the castes, destroying These creatures. [7]
These worlds would be ruined if I did not perform work; and I should be the cause of confusion of castes, and should destroy these creatures. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The dead depend on the living — break the chain of care and the ancestors fall.
Krishna: I have nothing to gain anywhere — yet I act. The model for pure action done for the world.
For the protection of the good, destruction of wickedness, establishment of dharma — I come, age after age.
If even I stopped acting, humans would follow. The great one's withdrawal is never neutral.
Among priests know Me as Bṛhaspati; among generals I am Skanda — and among waters, the ocean.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.