Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 2: The Path of Understanding

Bhagavad Gita 2.18

antavanta ime dehā nityasyoktāḥ śarīriṇaḥ | anāśino'prameyasya tasmādyudhyasva bhārata ||

These bodies of the eternal, indestructible, and immeasurable embodied self are said to come to an end. Therefore fight, Arjuna.

Modern context

'Therefore fight' is addressed to one man, a soldier in a war that every attempt at peace had failed to prevent. It is not a general licence for violence. The wider meaning is this: do not let the fear of endings stop you from doing what is rightly yours to do. Bodies end whether we act or not; what matters is whether we met our responsibility.