If you run away, you will not awaken.

Sankhya Yoga

Chapter 2, Verse 33

 

atha-cet tvam imaṁ dharmyaṁ 

saṅgrāmam‌ na kariṣyasi 

tataḥ sva-dharmaṁ kīrtiṁ ca  

hitvā pāpam avāpsyasi

 

But if you do not fight this righteous battle, then you have abandoned your  

duty and virtue and your glory, and you shall incur only sin.

 

Here Lord Krishna reminds Arjuna, “If you don’t learn to accept what God is giving you in life and run away from your duty, run away from your dharma, then you are committing a big sin.” If you don’t first accept what God is giving you to do in life, and you don’t realise your dharma, you will fail in life, and you will ‘incur only sin’.

 

It is because of the fear of sin that Arjuna wants to run away from fighting. But here Krishna turns it around and says, “No, My dear! You will commit sin if you run away.” First Arjuna wants to run away, fearing the sin and the guilt that will come upon him. But Krishna says, “No way, don’t do that! It will be not virtuous to do such a thing. If you run away, you will not awaken.”

Bhagavad Gita