2.34 Akeertim chaapi bhootaani

2.34 अकीर्तिं चापि भूतानि कथयिष्यन्ति ते अव्ययाम्
सम्भावितस्य चाकीर्तिर्मरणादतिरिच्यते

2.34 Akeertim chaapi bhootaani kathayishyanti te'vyayaam;
Sambhaavitasya chaakeertir maranaad atirichyate.

अकीर्तिं Akeertim — infamy;
च cha — also;
अपि api — over and above;
भूतानि bhootaani — all people;
कथयिष्यन्ति kathayishyanti — will speak;
ते te — of you;
अव्ययाम् avyayaam — forever;
सम्भावितस्य sambhaavitasya — for a respectable man;
च cha — also;
अकीर्तिः akeertih — ill fame;
मरनात् maranaat — than death;
अतिरिच्यते atiricyate — becomes more.

Meaning: People, too, will recount thy everlasting dishonour; and to one who has been honoured, dishonour is worse than death.

In slokas 34-36, Krishna impresses upon Arjuna that his seemingly noble act of not going to war will be taken as corwadice by everybody and what a dishonor that would be. He does on to say that dishonor is worse than death!

One may wonder why is Krishna talking about honor and dishonor of what others think of you? After all in the next section he is going to talk about sthitha pragna, a man of established intellect who is beyond all dualities, happiness-sadness, honor-dishonor, heat-cold !! So why is it that he is saying dishonor is worse than death?
www.venkatesaya.com says

When Krsna insists on equanimity in honour and dishonour (XII:19), why does he say here that dishonour is worse than death to a ksatriya?
We should not confuse the two.
They belong to two different aspects of our life.
Discipline has two aspects: self-discipline and social discipline.
A wise man does not sacrifice one for the other.
For instance, if a taxi-driver speaks disrespectfully to a judge on the seashore, the latter puts up with this personal effrontery as a matter of self-discipline.
But the same judge should charge even a minister with contempt of court if the latter said anything derogatory of the judge in his official capacity.
Social discipline, on the other hand, should not lead you to take upon yourself the burden of reforming society and maintaining what you consider to be law and order in the whole world.
Then you might lose sight of self-discipline.
An undisciplined man cannot promote social discipline either.
This is an extremely delicate manoeuvre, more difficult than tight-rope walking!