Shloka 41
कस्मादुपेक्षां कुरुषे किरीटि- नुपेक्षितुं नायमिहाद्य काल: । यया धृत्या सर्वभूतान्यजैषी- ग्रांसं ददत् खाण्डवे पावकाय
kasmādupekṣāṁ kuruṣe kirīṭin upekṣituṁ nāyam ihādya kālaḥ | yayā dhṛtyā sarvabhūtāny ajaiṣī grāsaṁ dadat khāṇḍave pāvakāya ||
Sanjaya said: “Why, O Kirīṭin (Arjuna), do you show indifference? Today is no time for indifference. With that same steadfast resolve by which you once conquered all beings—when, in the Khāṇḍava forest, you fed the Fire-god his due—now is the moment to act with unwavering courage.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Do not lapse into indifference at a decisive moment; recall one’s proven steadfastness and act according to duty. The verse frames resolve (dhṛti) as an ethical resource—past righteous courage should be reawakened to meet present responsibility.
Sañjaya rebukes Arjuna for seeming to hold back in the battle context and urges him to fight with the same determination he once displayed during the Khāṇḍava episode, when Arjuna aided Agni (Pāvaka) by enabling him to consume the forest—an allusion used to rekindle Arjuna’s martial energy.