Shloka 3

Devanagari script

अर्जुन उवाच अहो दुःखमहो कृच्छुमहो वैक्लव्यमुत्तमम्‌ । यत्‌ कृत्वामानुषं कर्म त्यजेथा: श्रियमुत्तमाम्‌,अर्जुनने कहा--राजन्‌! यह तो बड़े भारी दुःख और महान्‌ कष्टकी बात है। आपकी विह्वलता तो पराकाष्ठाको पहुँच गयी। आश्चर्य है कि आप अलौकिक पराक्रम करके प्राप्त की हुई इस उत्तम राजलक्ष्मीका परित्याग कर रहे हैं

Transliteration

arjuna uvāca: aho duḥkham aho kṛcchram aho vaiklavyam uttamam | yat kṛtvā mānuṣaṁ karma tyajethāḥ śriyam uttamām ||

Translation

અર્જુન બોલ્યો—રાજન! અહો, કેટલું દુઃખ! અહો, કેટલો કષ્ટ! તમારી વિહ્વળતા તો પરાકાષ્ઠાએ પહોંચી છે. માનવસાધ્ય મહાન કર્મ કરીને પ્રાપ્ત થયેલી આ ઉત્તમ શ્રી—આ રાજલક્ષ્મી—તમે ત્યજી રહ્યા છો, એ આશ્ચર્ય છે.

Word by Word

• {'aho': 'an exclamation: alas!, indeed!, how!', 'duḥkham': 'sorrow, grief, suffering', 'kṛcchram': 'hardship, distress, difficulty', 'vaiklavyam': 'confusion, faint-heartedness, helpless agitation', 'uttamam': 'supreme, highest, most excellent', 'yat': 'that which

• because', 'kṛtvā': 'having done, having accomplished', 'mānuṣam': 'human, pertaining to human capacity', 'karma': 'deed, action, undertaking', 'tyajethāḥ': 'you would abandon/renounce (2nd person, potential/optative sense)', 'śriyam': 'prosperity, fortune, splendor

• royal wealth', 'uttamām': 'supreme, highest (feminine accusative, qualifying śriyam)'}

Speaker

अर्जुन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Arjuna
• Rājan (the king, addressed)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical tension between renunciation and responsibility: abandoning hard-won royal prosperity out of despair is portrayed as extreme bewilderment, implying that a ruler’s duty and steadiness of mind are integral to dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Arjuna addresses the king (rājan), lamenting that the king has become overwhelmed and is considering giving up the supreme royal fortune, despite having achieved it through great and extraordinary effort.