Shloka 39
Adhyāya 41 — Kṛṣṇa’s Battlefield Briefing and the Renewal of the Great Engagement
अज्ञानद्धि क्षिपन् बाणान् घोररूपान् भयानकान् | होमधेन्वा वत्समस्य प्रमत्त इषुणाहनम्
ajñānād dhi kṣipan bāṇān ghorarūpān bhayānakān | homadhenuvā vatsaṁ asya pramatta iṣuṇā ahanam ||
三阇耶说道：“我在无知之中，放射可怖骇人的箭矢，因疏忽大意，竟以一箭射倒并杀死了那婆罗门祭火圣牛（homadhenu）的牛犊。”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even unintended harm caused by carelessness is ethically weighty. Mastery of weapons demands restraint and vigilance; negligence that injures the innocent—especially what is protected by dharma, such as a Brahmin’s ritual property—creates serious moral consequence.
The speaker recounts an incident: while practicing and shooting frightening arrows, he unknowingly and through inattentiveness kills the calf of a Brahmin’s homadhenu with a single arrow, setting up the moral gravity of the act and its repercussions.