स मया राज्यकामेन हन्यमानो ऽप्य् उपेक्षितः ॥
तस्माद् अवाक्शिरा राजन् प्राप्तो ऽस्मि नरकं विभो ॥
ब्राह्मणं वृद्धम् आचार्यं न्यस्तशस्त्रं यथा मुनिम् ॥
घातयित्वाद्य राज्यार्थे मृतं श्रेयो न जीवितम् ॥
sa mayā rājyakāmena hanyamāno 'py upekṣitaḥ ||
tasmād avākśirā rājan prāpto 'smi narakaṃ vibho ||
brāhmaṇaṃ vṛddham ācāryaṃ nyastaśastraṃ yathā munim ||
ghātayitvādya rājyārthe mṛtaṃ śreyo na jīvitam ||
"'He, while being slain, was abandoned by me, craving as I was the kingdom; therefore, head downward, O king, I have plunged into hell, O lord. Having let a brahmin, the aged Acharya, one who like a sage had laid down his weapon, be killed now for the sake of a kingdom -- death is better than life.'"
a6cc51ad2ba3 · publicado 19 jul 2026, 17:08:17 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
Repentance reaches its depth: "death is better than life" after such complicity. It is telling that Arjuna already imagines himself cast down into hell "head downward": he feels the sin against his guru as a spiritual ruin. The verse teaches that betrayal of a teacher and a brahmin is the gravest of sins, poisoning life itself; and the crushed admission "better death" is not the despair of a weak man but the voice of a conscience for which purity is dearer than an existence bought at the price of betrayal.