Verse 18.59

Verse 18.59: “That (false) notion of self resting upon which thou art thinking. ‘I will not fight’: futile is this resolve of thine: thy inborn nature will (perforce) compel thee. (1278)

Commentary called Jnaneshwari by Jnaneshwar:

Were you to nourish the conceit discarding discrimination, in the way one should nourish the fever by hating medicine, or should nourish darkness by hating light, or were you through conceit to label (name) your body as ‘Arjuna’, and those of others as ‘My own kinsmen’, and the battle as ‘sinful act’,—and after applying these labels, persist in (your) desperate determination, O Dhananjaya, that you would not fight, yet, your inborn nature would defeat that determination (of yours). Moreover, is there any substance (from the standpoint of metaphysics) apart from phenomenal appearance (Maya) in the line of thought (you have adopted) viz. ‘I am Arjuna, these are my kinsmen and to kill them is a great sin?’. (It is also queer that) you should be first prepared to fight and then should take up arms (in your hands), and then ultimately take recourse to a false notion in order to avoid fighting. Therefore, your talk of not fighting is all futile and untenable judging even from the worldly point of view. That very Prakriti (inborn nature) will make the determination (not to fight) of your mind, totter down.