Shloka 40
Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)
मोहाद् दुर्योधन: कृष्णं यो न वेत्तीह केशवम् | मोहितो दैवयोगेन मृत्युपाशपुरस्कृत:,दुर्योधन मोहवश सच्चिदानन्दस्वरूप भगवान् केशवको नहीं जानता है, वह दैवयोगसे मोहित हो मौतके फंदेमें फँस गया
mohād duryodhanaḥ kṛṣṇaṃ yo na vettīha keśavam | mohito daivayogena mṛtyupāśapuraskṛtaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Blinded by delusion, Duryodhana does not recognize Kṛṣṇa here—Keśava as he truly is. Bewildered by the workings of fate, he moves forward with the noose of death set before him.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Delusion (moha) can make a person fail to recognize truth and divine guidance even when it is directly present. Such blindness, intensified by the momentum of fate (daivayoga), drives one toward self-destruction—symbolized by the 'noose of death' set ahead.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana comments on Duryodhana’s condition: despite Kṛṣṇa being present and acting as a decisive force in the war, Duryodhana cannot comprehend who Kṛṣṇa truly is. This ignorance is portrayed as a fatal delusion leading him onward toward inevitable ruin.