Bhagavad-gita 2.2

A brief thought for today on Bhagavad-gita 2.2:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Arjuna, how have these impurities come upon you? They are not at all befitting a man who knows the value of life. They lead not to higher planets but to infamy.

- Bhagavad-gita 2.2

The Sanskrit for this verse is very nice:

Krishna delivers a Mortal Kombat combo repartee to Arjuna's presentation in the first chapter. The relevant part: anarya-jushtam asvargyam
akirti-karam.

Three terms, each begins with a, each ends with am. They roll off the tongue with both alliteration and rhyme. It's a poetical tour de force, as well as a damning condemnation:

anarya-jushtam - "worthy of the non-Aryans", in German the "untermenschen". The original Aryan master race were focused on metaphysical reality beyond the superficialities of the phenomenal world. Their gaze was focused on a future beyond this life.

asvargyam - "leading not to the heavenly planets" - part of that focus was on the destination in the next life. The Nordic "See you in Valhalla" parting before going into battle conveys the mood - our actions in this life might lead us to death, but they will carry us through it to a glorious destination beyond.

akirti-karam - "the cause of infamy". From kirti "fame", we get kirtan "glorification". Even if you aren't killed, or you don't worry about your destination in the next life, in this life you are not going to get the glory this way.

All three of these appeal to either Arjuna's innate psychology or else his cultural conditioning. It's a powerful combination, psychologically and linguistically.