Shloka 3
अजुन उवाच वाचस्तीक्ष्णास्थिभेदिन्य: सूतपुत्रेण भाषिता: । अतितीव्रा मया क्षान्तास्तेन प्राप्ता: सम संशयम्
arjuna uvāca vācas tīkṣṇāsthi-bhedinyaḥ sūta-putreṇa bhāṣitāḥ | atitīvrā mayā kṣāntās tena prāptāḥ sama-saṁśayam ||
Arjuna dijo: «Las palabras pronunciadas por el hijo del Sūta, Karṇa, fueron afiladas: tan amargas que parecían partir hasta los huesos. Y, sin embargo, yo soporté aquellos insultos de extrema dureza. Precisamente por haberlos tolerado hemos caído ahora en un grave dilema del dharma, inciertos del camino correcto».
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical cost of misplaced forbearance: enduring grievous adharma (public humiliation and injustice) can itself become a cause of later moral confusion, because tolerance without timely, principled response may entangle one in doubt about duty and justice.
Arjuna reflects on earlier insults delivered by Karṇa (called ‘Sūtaputra’). He says he endured those cutting words, but that very endurance has led the Pāṇḍavas into a difficult situation where the right course of action is uncertain—an expression of their present dharma-crisis.