Shloka 4
असिना तीक्ष्णधारेण हन्या धर्मे व्यवस्थितम् । त्वमित्युक्त्वाथ राजानमेवं कश्मलमाविश:
asinā tīkṣṇadhāreṇa hanyā dharme vyavasthitam | tvam ity uktvātha rājānam evaṁ kaśmalam āviśaḥ ||
Disse Sañjaya: “(Kṛṣṇa insinuava:) ‘Se, com uma espada de fio agudo, abatesses alguém firme no dharma, o que seria de ti?’ Apenas por teres chamado o rei pelo familiar ‘tu’ (tvam), já caíste em tal confusão e pesar; quanto mais serias dominado se matasses Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, constante na retidão.”
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.