Shloka 10

Devanagari script

अम्मिंक्षेदागते काले श्रेयो न प्रतिपत्स्यसे । असम्भावितरूपस्त्वं सुनृशंसं करिष्यसि

Transliteration

ammiṁkṣed āgate kāle śreyo na pratipatsyase | asambhāvita-rūpas tvaṁ sunṛśaṁsaṁ kariṣyasi

Translation

When the decisive moment arrives, you will not choose what is truly beneficial and right. With a nature that does not rise to noble expectation, you will commit a cruel and pitiless act.

Word by Word

अम्indeed/now (emphatic particle)

मिंक्षेत्would harm / would injure

आगतेwhen (it has) come / upon arrival

कालेat the time

श्रेयःthe better (good)

नnot

प्रतिपत्स्यसेyou will attain / you will obtain

असम्भावितरूपःone whose form/nature is not esteemed (unregarded)

त्वम्you

सुनृशंसम्a very cruel (deed)

करिष्यसिyou will do / you will commit

Speaker

भीमसेन उवाच

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even in war, one is accountable to śreyas—choosing the ethically superior course. The verse warns that failing to adopt what is truly right at the crucial moment leads to acts of cruelty that stain one’s character.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīmasena rebukes an opponent, predicting that when the decisive time comes, the person will not act for the higher good but will instead commit a merciless deed—framing the coming action as a moral failure, not merely a tactical choice.