2.36 What could be more painful? Krishna speaks
अवाच्यवादांश्च बहून् वदिष्यन्ति तवाहिताः
निन्दन्तस्तव सामर्थ्यं ततो दुःखतरं नु किम्
avāchya-vādānśh cha bahūn vadiṣhyanti tavāhitāḥ
nindantastava sāmarthyaṁ tato duḥkhataraṁ nu kim
Your enemies will say many unspeakable things and make little of your strength. What could be more painful than that?
Explanation
What could be more painful than that?
Enemies saying unspeakable things and making little of his strength.
The question is rhetorical and, in context, answerable. Arjuna named something more painful in 1.37 — living afterwards having killed them — and the chapter does not engage with that comparison.
Word by word
- avāchya-vādān
- using harsh words
- cha
- and
- bahūn
- many
- vadiṣhyanti
- will say
- tava
- your
- ahitāḥ
- enemies
- nindantaḥ
- defame
- tava
- your
- sāmarthyam
- might
- tataḥ
- than that
- duḥkha-taram
- more painful
- nu
- indeed
- kim
- what
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