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Chapter 10 · Verse 36
🪈 Krishna speaks
Illustration for Chapter 10, Verse 36

द्यूतं छलयतामस्मि तेजस्तेजस्विनामहम्। जयोऽस्मि व्यवसायोऽस्मि सत्त्वं सत्त्ववतामहम्॥

dyūtaṁ chalayatāmasmi tejastejasvināmaham | jayo'smi vyavasāyo'smi sattvaṁ sattvavatāmaham ||

Word by Word 10 words
द्यूतम्
div to play, to gamble

the gambling, the game of dice

छलयताम्
chal to deceive, to trick

of those who deceive, of the cheats

अस्मि
as to be

I am

तेजः
tij to be sharp, to shine

splendour, brilliance

तेजस्विनाम्
tejas splendour vin possessing

of the splendid, of the brilliant

अहम्
aham I

I

जयः
ji to conquer, to win

victory

व्यवसायः
vi apart ava down so to determine, to resolve

resolve, firm effort, determination

सत्त्वम्
sat being, goodness tva the quality of

the goodness, the purity, the strength

सत्त्ववताम्
sattva goodness vat possessing

of the good, of those full of goodness

says, "Wherever there is a spark of greatness, that spark is Me." He is the splendour that shines in brilliant people, the victory that crowns a hard-won battle, and the steady resolve that refuses to give up. He is even the goodness inside good-hearted people. Anything truly strong or bright or determined is a little flame borrowed from him.

कथा

The Resolve of the Brave

From the mahabharata

Dawn had not yet broken over , but the field was already awake.

Two vast armies faced each other across the plain, so wide that a man standing in the centre could not see where the lines ended. Elephants shifted their feet. Horses snorted clouds of breath into the cold air. Conch shells lay ready at the warriors' lips. And in the grey half-light, every soldier was thinking the same thing: today might be my last day.

A young foot-soldier near the front gripped his spear. His hands were shaking. He had trained for years, but training was nothing like this — this silence before the storm, this knowing.

Beside him stood an old veteran, a man with a scar across his cheek and calm eyes. He saw the boy trembling.

"Feel that?" the old man asked quietly.

"I'm afraid," the boy admitted.

"Good. Only fools feel nothing." The veteran looked out over the field. "But watch what happens inside you when the conch sounds. Something will rise up — something stronger than your fear. It will set your jaw and steady your arm and carry you forward. That thing has a hundred names. Some call it courage. Some call it duty. The wise say it is the divine itself, moving in us."

The boy frowned. "It feels like it comes from me."

"It feels that way," the old man agreed. "But where does your strength truly come from? The same place the sun's brightness comes from. The same place a winner's victory comes from. The same place a good man's goodness comes from. One source, wearing a thousand faces."

Far away, at the heart of the line, a single chariot stood. On it, a charioteer with a peacock feather in his hair leaned close to the great archer beside him. And though the foot-soldier could not hear the words, he would later learn that on that very morning had said: I am the victory, I am the resolve, I am the goodness of the good.

Then the first conch blew, low and enormous, rolling across the plain like thunder. And inside the trembling boy, something rose up — bright, steady, unafraid — and lifted his spear, and carried him forward into the day.

चिन्तनम्

When you are scared but do something brave anyway, where do you think that sudden strength comes from?