अर्जुन श्रीकृष्णके कहनेसे युधिष्ठिरके प्रति जो तिरस्कारपूर्ण वचन बोले थे, इसके कारण वे मन-ही-मन ऐसे उदास हो गये थे मानो कोई पाप कर बैठे हों ।।
tato 'bravīd vāsudevaḥ prahasann iva pāṇḍavam | kathaṃ nāma bhaved etad yadi tvaṃ pārtha dharmajam ||
Bấy giờ Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa), như thể mỉm cười, nói với người con nhà Pāṇḍu (Arjuna): “Pārtha, sao lại thế này? Nếu chỉ vì lỡ gọi đức vua (Yudhiṣṭhira) bằng tiếng ‘ngươi’ quá suồng sã mà ngươi đã chìm trong sầu não như vậy, thì nếu ngươi thật sự dùng gươm sắc giết Dharmarāja—Yudhiṣṭhira, bậc kiên định trong dharma—thì ngươi sẽ ra sao?”
संजय उवाच
Even a small breach of respect toward a righteous elder/king can weigh heavily on a conscientious person; Kṛṣṇa highlights proportionality and self-awareness—if mere harsh speech causes such remorse, one must be vigilant not to let anger drive one toward truly adharma actions.
After Arjuna has spoken contemptuously to Yudhiṣṭhira at Kṛṣṇa’s prompting, he becomes inwardly dejected as if guilty of sin. Seeing this, Kṛṣṇa addresses Arjuna with a half-smile, pointing out how deeply Arjuna grieves over a minor disrespect and rhetorically asks how he would fare if he had actually killed dharma-abiding Yudhiṣṭhira.