Shloka 80
कर्ण नित्य-निरन्तर युद्धके लिये उद्यत और शत्रुओंके लिये असह्य है। आज रणभूमिमें हार-जीतका जूआ कर्णपर ही अवलम्बित है। कर्णके मारे जानेपर अन्य कौरव शीघ्र ही परास्त हो सकते हैं। धर्मपुत्र राजा युधिष्ठिरके मनमें ऐसा ही विचार काम कर रहा था ।। ततो वध नाहति धर्मपुत्र- स्त्वया प्रतिज्ञार्जुन पालनीया । जीवन्नयं येन मृतो भवेद्धि तन्मे निबोधेह तवानुरूपम्,अर्जुन! इसलिये धर्मपुत्र युधिष्ठिर वधके योग्य नहीं हैं। इधर तुम्हें अपनी प्रतिज्ञाका पालन भी करना है। अतः जिस उपायसे ये जीवित रहते हुए भी मरेके समान हो जायँ, वही तुम्हारे अनुरूप होगा। उसे बताता हूँ, सुनो
karṇa nitya-nirantara yuddhake liye udyata aura śatrūoṃ ke liye asahya hai | āja raṇabhūmi meṃ hāra-jīta kā jūā karṇapar hī avalambita hai | karṇake māre jānepara anya kaurava śīghra hī parājita ho sakate haiṃ | dharmaputra rājā yudhiṣṭhirake manameṃ aisā hī vicāra kāma kara rahā thā || tato vadha nārhati dharmaputras tvayā pratijñārjuna pālanīyā | jīvann ayaṃ yena mṛto bhaved dhi tan me nibodheha tavānurūpam, arjuna! ||
Vāyu said: “Karna is ever-ready for unbroken combat and unbearable to his enemies. Today, the very wager of victory and defeat on the battlefield rests upon Karna alone. If Karna is slain, the other Kauravas may quickly be overcome. Such a thought was working in the mind of Dharmaputra King Yudhiṣṭhira. Therefore, Dharmaputra is not fit to be killed; yet you, Arjuna, must also keep your vow. So understand from me a means by which he may remain alive and yet become as one dead—something suited to you, Arjuna. Listen.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage balances two moral imperatives: restraint from unjust killing (Yudhiṣṭhira is ‘not fit to be slain’) and fidelity to one’s vow (Arjuna must keep his pledge). It introduces the idea of an ethical ‘upāya’—a strategy that avoids direct wrongdoing while still honoring duty.
Vāyudeva explains that Karna is the linchpin of the Kaurava war effort; if Karna falls, the Kauravas may collapse quickly. He notes that Yudhiṣṭhira is thinking along these lines. Then Vāyu advises Arjuna: do not kill Yudhiṣṭhira, yet fulfill your vow by adopting a means that leaves Yudhiṣṭhira alive but socially/psychologically ‘as good as dead’—a severe non-lethal outcome.