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

Arjuna berkata: “Aduhai, betapa dukanya! Aduhai, betapa beratnya! Kebimbanganmu telah mencapai puncaknya. Sungguh mengherankan bahwa setelah menuntaskan karya-karya besar yang masih mungkin bagi manusia, engkau hendak melepaskan kemakmuran tertinggi ini—kemuliaan kerajaan yang diraih oleh keberanian luar biasa.”

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.