Shloka 44
Karma-Yoga, Yajña-Cakra, and the Governance of Desire (कर्मयोग–यज्ञचक्र–कामनिग्रह)
उत्सन्नकुलधर्माणां मनुष्याणां जनार्दन । नरके5नियतं वासो भवतीत्यनुशुश्रुम,हे जनार्दन! जिनका कुलधर्म नष्ट हो गया है, ऐसे मनुष्योंका अनिश्चित कालतक नरकमें वास होता है, ऐसा हम सुनते आये हैं
arjuna uvāca | utsanna-kula-dharmāṇāṁ manuṣyāṇāṁ janārdana | narake 'niyataṁ vāso bhavatīty anuśuśruma ||
Arjuna said: O Janārdana, we have heard that for people whose ancestral and family duties have been destroyed, there is a dwelling in hell for an indefinite length of time. In this fear, Arjuna frames the war not merely as a political struggle but as an act that could unravel inherited moral order and bring grave ethical consequences upon those who cause that collapse.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Arjuna voices a traditional ethical warning: when family-based duties and moral customs collapse, society loses its stabilizing framework, and those responsible incur severe karmic consequences—symbolized here as an indefinite stay in hell.
On the battlefield, Arjuna hesitates to fight. He argues to Kṛṣṇa (addressed as Janārdana) that war will destroy families and their inherited dharmas, and he cites what he has ‘heard’ from tradition: such destruction leads to prolonged suffering in hell.