भयाद्रणादुपरतं मंस्यन्ते त्वां महारथा: | येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् || 35 || अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून्वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिता: | निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दु:खतरं नु किम् || 36|| |
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“The mighty warriors who hold high esteem for you will think that you fled from the battlefield out of fear and will lose their respect for you”. “Your enemies will humiliate you with unkind words. Alas, what could be more painful than this?”
Commentary
The soldier of a country who runs away from the battlefield is humiliated by everyone. Similarly, a devotee who succumbs to subconscious temptations is rebuked by his own conscience.
Conscience and its sub-conscious qualities are great warriors (maharathis) that record every moment in life and awaken fully before one leaves the body, showing all the events of one’s life in a flash and self-judges the quality of next life.
Intellect and reason are developed in formal educational institutions but intuition remains latent and undeveloped in most people. This intuition or conscience is a silent whisper, a “gut feel”, a hunch that can develop only in deep silence when senses are calm. It is the firm and assertive moral voice within the heart that infers without the help of logic, whether one is right or wrong.