utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāḿ
manuṣyāṇāḿ janārdana
narake niyataḿ vāso
bhavatīty anuśuśruma
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 1.43
O Krishna, maintainer of the people, I have heard by disciplic succession that those who destroy family traditions dwell always in hell.
Commentary by Srila Prabhupada
Arjuna bases his argument not on his own personal experience, but on what he has heard from the authorities. That is the way of receiving real knowledge. One cannot reach the real point of factual knowledge without being helped by the right person who is already established in that knowledge. There is a system in the varnashrama institution by which before death one has to undergo the process of atonement for his sinful activities. One who is always engaged in sinful activities must utilize the process of atonement called the prayashcitta. Without doing so, one surely will be transferred to hellish planets to undergo miserable lives as the result of sinful activities.
Commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur
No commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur.
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
1.26 – 1.47 Arjuna said — Sanjaya said — Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, ‘I will not fight.’ He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.
The Supreme Lord Krishna, Hrsikesa, the master of the senses. The Supreme Controller, internally and externally of all living entities evolving and evolved. Who although the Supreme Lord of all, yet descended down to Earth out of His causeless mercy for the redemption of the faithful and even more, He condescended to be Arjuna’s chariot driver, carrying out his wish to station their chariot in such a commanding position as to be able to readily view the belligerent Kauravas and put within the range of his vision such heroes as Bhishmadeva, Dronacarya and Kripa and the Kings of royal dynasties. At that time the Supreme Lord Krishna said to Arjuna: see what chances there are for the Kauravas victory over thee.
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
Persons whose family traditions have been destroyed means also those whose caste and heritage has also been lost. We have heard from the authoritative sources of the Vedas scriptures that those addicted to vice who perform no expiation nor feel any repentance, go to terrible hells full of misery.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
Sri Madhvacharya did not comment on this sloka.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
Arjuna is supporting his argument by affirming that he has heard from respectable sources in disciplic succession, that those who are responsible for destroying righteousness reside permanently in hellish existence. Therefore this decision to fight is not the wisest of choices.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
1.43 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
1.35 1.44 Nihatya etc. upto anususruma. Sin alone is the agent in the act of slaying these desperadoes. Therefore here the idea is this : These ememies of ours have been slain, i.e., have been take possession of, by sin. Sin would come to us also after slaying them. Sin in this context is the disregard, on account of greed etc., to the injurious consequences like the ruination of the family and the like. That is why Arjuna makes a specific mention of the [ruin of the] family etc., and of its duties in the passage ‘How by slaying my own kinsmen etc’. The act of slaying, undertaken with an individualizing idea about its result, and with a particularizing idea about the person to be slain, is a great sin. To say this very thing precisely and to indicate the intensity of his own agony, Arjuna says only to himself [see next sloka]:
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
utsanna-kula-dharmanam
manusyanam janardana
narake niyatam vaso
bhavatity anususruma
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
utsanna — spoiled; kula-dharmāṇām — of those who have the family traditions; manuṣyāṇām — of such men; janārdana — O Kṛṣṇa; narake — in hell; niyatam — always; vāsaḥ — residence; bhavati — it so becomes; iti — thus; anuśuśruma — I have heard by disciplic succession.
