11.41 For whatever I said carelessly Arjuna speaks
सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति
अजानता महिमानं तवेदं मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि
sakheti matvā prasabhaṁ yad uktaṁ
he kṛiṣhṇa he yādava he sakheti
ajānatā mahimānaṁ tavedaṁ
mayā pramādāt praṇayena vāpi
For whatever I said to you carelessly, thinking you a friend — “Krishna”, “Yadava”, “my friend” — not knowing your greatness,
Explanation
For whatever I said carelessly, thinking you a friend.
Krishna. Yadava. My friend. He quotes himself using the man's name.
Two verses of apology follow, and they are the most intimate thing in the book — an apology for having been familiar with someone who turned out to be this.
Going further
Word by word
- sakhā
- friend
- iti
- as
- matvā
- thinking
- prasabham
- presumptuously
- yat
- whatever
- uktam
- addressed
- he kṛiṣhṇa
- O Shree Krishna
- he yādava
- O Shree Krishna, who was born in the Yadu clan
- he sakhe
- O my dear mate
- iti
- thus
- ajānatā
- in ignorance
- mahimānam
- majesty
- tava
- your
- idam
- this
- mayā
- by me
- pramādāt
- out of negligence
- praṇayena
- out of affection
- vā api
- or else
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For whatever I said to you carelessly, thinking you a friend — “Krishna”, “Yadava”, “my friend”.
Two verses of apology, and they are the most human thing in the chapter. Arjuna has just seen the worlds consumed, and what he thinks of is the times he was casual: at play, at meals, joking, alone and in company.
Note what he asks for in 11.44 — that he be borne with as a father bears with a son, a friend with a friend, a lover with the beloved. Having glimpsed something that unmade him, he asks for the small relation back.