Sunita coordinates a school. She has to tell the parents that the annual day has been cancelled. The news is plain and has to be given, yet she keeps putting it off until tomorrow. Voices rise in her head: they will say I have no hold on anything, they will talk about me.
In the Gita, the Lord draws Arjuna out of this very fear. He speaks to him in the language of duty and name, because Arjuna cares about them. But he does not stop there. In the next verse he says: be even in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat. That is, do not make fear the ground of your duty. First do what is yours, and then learn to hear blame and praise alike.
What the Lord says to Arjuna
After the teaching of the self, the Lord reminds Arjuna of his duty in seven verses (Gita 2.31–37). Do not waver when you look at your own duty. This chance has come to you by itself. If you refuse, you lose your duty and your name. The disgrace will last, the great warriors will take it for fear, the enemies will ridicule you, and either way something is gained, so rise.
येषां च त्वं बहुमतो भूत्वा यास्यसि लाघवम् ॥ २.३५ ॥
The great warriors will think that you withdrew from the battle out of fear. And you, who were highly esteemed by them, will fall into low esteem.
This verse strikes home: those who held you high will think that you left from fear (Gita 2.35). Anyone who has felt the dread of "what will people think" knows that sting.
Why the Lord speaks of fear and name
Because these are what Arjuna cares about. The Lord lifts him from where he sits. One more thing is worth noting: Arjuna had laid down his bow out of compassion (Gita 1.28), but others will call it fear. So the weight of the verse falls on what people will read into the act.
The next step: staying even
ततो युद्धाय युज्यस्व नैवं पापमवाप्स्यसि ॥ २.३८ ॥
Treating pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, then engage in battle. Thus you will not incur sin.
Treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat alike, and you will not incur sin (Gita 2.38). Fear grips us because we need praise and blame hurts. Practising evenness loosens that grip. Further on, the Gita also calls it a limited view to hold heaven as the highest goal (Gita 2.42–43).
Two different fears: of doing wrong and of looking wrong
"What will people say" mixes two fears. One is whether I am really doing wrong. The other is whether I will look wrong without being wrong. Arjuna has both: he feared sin (Gita 1.36) and he also feared that others would take him for a coward.
Ask yourself what you are afraid of. If the act is truly right and the fear is only about how it looks, the Lord's words are for you: do your duty. If the act itself is not right, the fear is warning you, and the talk of duty does not apply, because the verses were spoken for an act on the side of dharma (Gita 2.33).
How staying even is possible
The touch of blame and praise shakes us because we take it to be fixed. The Lord says that the pleasure and pain which come from contact with the world come and go and do not last, so learn to bear them (Gita 2.14). The jibe that stings today will pass too. Remembering that makes evenness a little easier.
What this is not
It is not a general defence of war. The verses name the warrior and speak of the war that came to him (Gita 2.31–32), and the Gita counts non-violence among the divine qualities (Gita 16.2).
Nor does it make honour the highest thing. The Gita's ideal is the one who is the same in honour and dishonour (Gita 14.25).
An example: what Sunita does next
Take Sunita again. She asks herself three questions. What is mine to do here? To give the news. What am I afraid people will say? That everyone will think me a failure. If praise and blame both came, would I still do this? Yes.
She tells the parents plainly. Some are annoyed, and some understand. The annoyance stings, but she takes it as information, not as a verdict. What is sound in a suggestion she accepts, and what is only a sting she lets go.
Choose one hard duty that you are putting off for fear of what people will say. Ask three questions first: what is mine to do here? What do I fear they will say? If praise and blame both came, would I still do it? Then do it. In the evening, just notice how much your mind held on to the blame or the praise.
Questions readers ask
Is it wrong to care what people think?
No. The Lord himself begins with Arjuna's care for his name. But that care must not become the reason for acting. The Gita holds up the one who is even in honour and dishonour (Gita 14.25).
Can I do my duty even while afraid?
Yes. The Lord asks Arjuna not to waver, and he does not ask him to feel no fear first (Gita 2.31). The grip of fear is loosened little by little by practising evenness (Gita 2.38).
Is all this only for soldiers?
These seven verses were spoken to a warrior (Gita 2.31). But the pull between duty and fear is everyone's, and evenness answers it for all. The deeper meaning of one's own duty is in One's Own Duty.
Does the fear go away after this?
No, it will return. But each time you ask the same three questions, its grip becomes a little less.
Going deeper
The seven verses in order, with a table, an example and the common misreadings, are in the detailed reading. The objections and the streams of commentators are in the deeper reading.