TEXT 29
vepathuś ca śarīre me
roma-harṣaś ca jāyate
gāṇḍīvaṁ sraṁsate hastāt
tvak caiva paridahyate
vepathuḥ – trembling of the body; ca – also; śarīre – on the body; me – my; roma-harṣaḥ – standing of hair on end; ca – also; jāyate – is taking place; gāṇḍīvam – the bow of Arjuna; sraṁsate – is slipping; hastāt – from the hand; tvak – skin; ca – also; eva – certainly; paridahyate – is burning.
My whole body is trembling, my hair is standing on end, my bow Gāṇḍīva is slipping from my hand, and my skin is burning.
There are two kinds of trembling of the body, and two kinds of standings of the hair on end. Such phenomena occur either in great spiritual ecstasy or out of great fear under material conditions. There is no fear in transcendental realization. Arjuna’s symptoms in this situation are out of material fear – namely, loss of life. This is evident from other symptoms also; he became so impatient that his famous bow Gāṇḍīva was slipping from his hands, and, because his heart was burning within him, he was feeling a burning sensation of the skin. All these are due to a material conception of life.