1.36 Only guilt would come Arjuna speaks
निहत्य धार्तराष्ट्रान्नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान्हत्वैतानाततायिनः
nihatya dhārtarāṣhṭrān naḥ kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana
pāpam evāśhrayed asmān hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ
What pleasure would there be for us in destroying Dhritarashtra's sons? Only guilt would come to us from killing them.
Explanation
Only guilt would come of it.
pāpam eva āśrayet — wrongdoing alone would attach to us.
He has moved from what he wants to what would be true regardless. This is the first properly moral argument in the book, and it puts the question the whole Gita has to answer: can a right act leave a stain?
Word by word
- nihatya
- by killing
- dhārtarāṣhṭrān
- the sons of Dhritarashtra
- naḥ
- our
- kā
- what
- prītiḥ
- pleasure
- syāt
- will there be
- janārdana
- he who looks after the public, Shree Krishna
- pāpam
- vices
- eva
- certainly
- āśhrayet
- must come upon
- asmān
- us
- hatvā
- by killing
- etān
- all these
- ātatāyinaḥ
- aggressors
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