Chapter 2 Verse 6

 

 

 

Verse – 6

 

न चैतद्विद्म: कतरन्नो गरीयो
 

यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयु: |
 

यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषाम
 

स्तेऽवस्थिता: प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्रा: || 6||

 

Transliteration

na caitadvidmaH kataranno garIyo

yadvA jayema yadi vA no jayeyuH.

Yaneva hatvA na jijIviShAma

Ste.avasthitAH pramukhe dhArtarAShrtAH..6..

 

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Word-by-word meaning

न – not; च – and; एतत् – this; विद्मः – we know;कतरत् – among the two; नः – for us; गरीयः – best; यत्-वा – or; जयेम – we win (over them); यदि - वा – or else; नो -  we; जयेयु: -  being conquered (by them)यान् – whom ; एव – only/certainly; हत्वा – having killed; न – not; जिजीविषामः – wish to live; ते – they; अवस्थिताः- who are here; प्रमुखे -  facing (us); धार्तराष्ट्रा: -  sons of Dhritharashtra;

Meaning:

I do not understand which is the best (choice) for us – to conquer them or to be conquered by them ; Certainly we don’t wish to live after killing the sons of Dhritarashtra , who are present here against us.

Significance:

Way of life has been prescribed to all the varnas for the happy and peaceful environment in a society. Prime duty of a Kshatriya is to engage in a war. Arjuna here hesitates to engage in this war, thus he sways away from his Dharma. There he sees two paths – one in which he has to engage the war, consequence of which will be killing of his own men in the battle field. The other is backing out from the the war, by dropping the weapons and getting killed by them. Arjuna feels rather than to live with the guilt of killing his own men, it is better to get killed in the war. Those people who stand in front of Arjuna are those who were the reason of pleasure in his life, now the same people are the reason for his misery. This is the reality in our life, when one thing gives us pleasure , the same object will give us misery. Pleasure is misery in disguise. This is one situation we all face in our life, to face the challenges in our life we need mental strength and a guide to show us the right path.