Bhagavad Gita Chapter 11, Verse 33

Chapter 11 – Vishvarupa Darshana Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

तस्मात्त्वमुत्तिष्ठ यशो लभस्व
जित्वा शत्रून् भुङ्क्ष्व राज्यं समृद्धम् ।
मयैवैते निहताः पूर्वमेव
निमित्तमात्रं भव सव्यसाचिन् ॥

Transliteration

tasmāttvamuttiṣṭha yaśo labhasva jitvā śatrūn bhuṅkṣva rājyaṃ samṛddham .
mayaivaite nihatāḥ pūrvameva nimittamātraṃ bhava savyasācin ॥

Meaning

Therefore arise and win glory; conquer your enemies and enjoy a prosperous kingdom. They have already been slain by Me; be merely the instrument, O Savyasachin, you who can shoot with either hand.

Word meanings

तस्मात् – therefore
त्वम् – you
उत्तिष्ठ – arise, stand up
यशः – glory, fame
लभस्व – obtain, win
जित्वा – having conquered
शत्रून् – enemies
भुङ्क्ष्व – enjoy
राज्यम् – kingdom
समृद्धम् – prosperous, flourishing
मया – by Me
एव – indeed, alone
एते – these
निहताः – slain
पूर्वम् – already, beforehand
निमित्तमात्रम् – a mere instrument
भव – be, become
सव्यसाचिन् – O Savyasachin — Arjuna, skilled in shooting with the left hand too

Anvaya (word order)

तस्मात् त्वम् उत्तिष्ठ, यशः लभस्व, शत्रून् जित्वा समृद्धम् राज्यम् भुङ्क्ष्व; एते मया एव पूर्वम् एव निहताः; सव्यसाचिन्, (त्वम्) निमित्तमात्रम् भव ।

Explanation

Having declared that He is Time and that these warriors will not survive even without Arjuna, the Lord now draws the conclusion: ‘tasmat tvam uttishtha’, therefore arise. It is the same call that rang out at the start of the teaching (2.3): cast off this petty faintness of heart and arise. But now it carries the weight of direct vision, not only of argument. Arjuna has seen with his own eyes that the fate of these warriors is already sealed.

The heart of the verse is ‘mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva, nimitta-matram bhava savyasachin’ — they have already been slain by Me; be merely the instrument. A ‘nimitta’ is the means through which an outcome becomes visible, while not being its root cause. A potter uses wheel and stick to make a pot, yet the real maker is the potter. The Lord is saying that the decisive outcome of this war has already been settled within His order; Arjuna’s bow will only bring it into view.

The acharyas bring out subtle differences. For Shankara, ‘mere instrument’ means acting without the conceit of doership; when the sense ‘I am doing this’ falls away, action no longer binds. This ties the verse to the Gita’s teaching that the wise one knows ‘I do nothing at all’ (5.8–9) and that it is the gunas of nature that act (3.27). Ramanuja explains that these warriors have already been slain by the Lord’s will on account of their wrongdoing, and that Arjuna, as the means, will gain glory and the kingdom. Madhva sees here a clear proof of the Lord’s absolute independence and the soul’s dependence: the soul is a real agent, but only through the Lord’s impulse and power.

It must be stressed that being an instrument does not mean being passive or escaping moral responsibility. The Lord tells Arjuna to rise, to conquer, to enjoy — fully active verbs. The attitude of instrumentality changes only the spirit in which one acts: surrender in place of ego, a sense of duty in place of craving for results. Even the address ‘Savyasachin’ is pointed: one who is equally skilled with both hands must use every bit of that skill, while recognising it as God’s gift.

This verse distils karma yoga. Life places us again and again in situations whose outcome we cannot control. We either imagine in our pride that everything hangs on us, or in despair we do nothing. The Gita shows a third way: do your duty wholeheartedly, and regard yourself as an instrument in the hands of the Lord.

Context

In verse 32 the Lord revealed Himself as all-destroying Time and said these warriors would perish even without Arjuna. Here He gives the practical conclusion: Arjuna should fight as a mere instrument. In the next verse He names the leading warriors to drive the point home.

Life lesson

Do your work with full dedication and skill, but do not imagine that everything depends on you alone. Seeing yourself as an instrument of the Divine keeps ego away and makes the burden of action light.

Key terms

Nimitta-matra: a mere instrument; the means through which a result appears, not its root cause
Purvam eva nihatah: already slain — settled beforehand in the divine order
Savyasachin: one who shoots equally well with either hand — an epithet of Arjuna
Kartritva-abhimana: the conceit of being the doer, dissolved by the attitude of instrumentality