1.37 How could we be happy Arjuna speaks
तस्मान्नार्हा वयं हन्तुं धार्तराष्ट्रान्स्वबान्धवान्
स्वजनं हि कथं हत्वा सुखिनः स्याम माधव
tasmān nārhā vayaṁ hantuṁ dhārtarāṣhṭrān sa-bāndhavān
sva-janaṁ hi kathaṁ hatvā sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava
So it is not for us to kill Dhritarashtra's sons, our own kin. How could we be happy, having killed our own people?
Explanation
How could we be happy afterwards?
It is not for us to kill our own kin — how could there be happiness in it?
The argument is about living with it, which no metaphysics addresses. It is worth remembering that Arjuna's question here is never really refuted; it is relocated, over eighteen chapters, into a different account of who is acting.
Word by word
- tasmāt
- hence
- na
- never
- arhāḥ
- behoove
- vayam
- we
- hantum
- to kill
- dhārtarāṣhṭrān
- the sons of Dhritarashtra
- sva-bāndhavān
- along with friends
- sva-janam
- kinsmen
- hi
- certainly
- katham
- how
- hatvā
- by killing
- sukhinaḥ
- happy
- syāma
- will we become
- mādhava
- Shree Krishna, the husband of Yogmaya
Long-press or right-click the image to copy it. Nothing is uploaded — it is drawn here, on your device.