Shloka 4
असिना तीक्ष्णधारेण हन्या धर्मे व्यवस्थितम् । त्वमित्युक्त्वाथ राजानमेवं कश्मलमाविश:
asinā tīkṣṇadhāreṇa hanyā dharme vyavasthitam | tvam ity uktvātha rājānam evaṁ kaśmalam āviśaḥ ||
Dijo Sañjaya: “(Kṛṣṇa daba a entender:) ‘Si con una espada de filo agudo abatieras a quien permanece firme en el dharma, ¿qué sería de ti?’ Con sólo haber llamado al rey con el familiar ‘tú’ (tvam), ya has caído en tal turbación y pena; ¡cuánto más te anegarías si mataras a Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, constante en la rectitud!”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how small breaches of propriety and self-control can signal deeper moral confusion; if one is shaken even by addressing a revered elder/king too familiarly, the far graver act of harming a dharma-established person (Yudhiṣṭhira) would plunge one into overwhelming ethical ruin and remorse.
In the Karṇa Parva context, Arjuna is emotionally disturbed; Kṛṣṇa, through pointed irony, exposes Arjuna’s agitation—he is already stricken with kaśmala merely for saying ‘tvam’ to the king, so Kṛṣṇa asks what his condition would be if he actually killed Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira with a sword.