Shloka 35

Karma-Yoga, Yajña-Cakra, and the Governance of Desire (कर्मयोग–यज्ञचक्र–कामनिग्रह)

Devanagari script

गुरुजन, ताऊ-चाचे, लड़के और उसी प्रकार दादे, मामे, ससुर, पौत्र, साले तथा और भी सम्बन्धी लोग हैं ।। एतान्‌ न हन्तुमिच्छामि घ्नतोडपि मधुसूदन । अपि त्रैलोक्य राज्यस्य हेतो: कि नु महीकृते,हे मधुसूदन! मुझे मारनेपर भी अथवा तीनों लोकोंके राज्यके लिये भी मैं इन सबको मारना नहीं चाहता; फिर पृथ्वीके लिये तो कहना ही क्या है?

Transliteration

etān na hantum icchāmi ghnato 'pi madhusūdana | api trailokya-rājyasya hetoḥ ki nu mahī-kṛte ||

Translation

Arjuna said: “Madhusūdana, I do not wish to kill these men—even if they strike to kill me. Even for the sake of sovereignty over the three worlds, how could I do it? Then what to speak of doing so merely for the earth?” In this moment, Arjuna’s moral revulsion toward kin-slaying overrides political gain; he frames the war not as a prize to be won but as an ethical catastrophe that no kingdom can justify.

Word by Word

• {'etān': 'these (people before me)', 'na': 'not', 'hantum': 'to kill', 'icchāmi': 'I desire / I wish', "ghnataḥ api (ghnato 'pi)": 'even if (they are) killing / even if they kill (me)', 'madhusūdana': 'O slayer of Madhu (epithet of Kṛṣṇa)', 'api': 'even', 'trailokya': 'of the three worlds', 'rājyasya': 'of kingship / sovereignty', 'hetoḥ': 'for the sake of / as a motive', 'ki nu': 'how indeed? / what then?', 'mahī-kṛte': 'for the sake of the earth (i.e., earthly kingdom)'}

Speaker

अजुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• Kṛṣṇa (Madhusūdana)
• trailokya (three worlds)
• mahī (earth)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Arjuna asserts that no political reward—up to dominion over the three worlds—can justify the ethical cost of killing one’s own kin. The verse crystallizes his conscience-driven refusal and sets the stage for Kṛṣṇa’s response on duty (svadharma) and right action.

What is happening in the narrative?

On the battlefield, seeing his relatives and elders arrayed for war, Arjuna addresses Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana and declares he will not kill them even if they kill him. He contrasts cosmic sovereignty with the smaller prize of earthly rule to emphasize that neither is worth the sin and sorrow of kin-slaying.