Shloka 4
असिना तीक्ष्णधारेण हन्या धर्मे व्यवस्थितम् । त्वमित्युक्त्वाथ राजानमेवं कश्मलमाविश:
asinā tīkṣṇadhāreṇa hanyā dharme vyavasthitam | tvam ity uktvātha rājānam evaṁ kaśmalam āviśaḥ ||
“ನೀನು ತೀಕ್ಷ್ಣಧಾರ ಖಡ್ಗದಿಂದ ಧರ್ಮದಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ಥಿರನಾದವನನ್ನು ಸಂಹರಿಸಿದ್ದರೆ ಏನಾಗುತ್ತಿತ್ತು? ರಾಜನನ್ನು ಕೇವಲ ‘ನೀನು’ ಎಂದು ಹೇಳಿದಷ್ಟೇ ಕಾರಣಕ್ಕೆ ನೀನು ಇಂತಹ ಮೋಹ-ಶೋಕಕ್ಕೆ ಒಳಗಾಗಿದ್ದೀಯೆ.”
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.