Chapter 2 · Verse 6·Spoken by Arjuna
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः। यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषाम स्तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः
na chaitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣhāmas te ’vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣhṭrāḥ
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Word by Word
Reading set · 5 translations · 3 commentaries
Translation · 5 voices
We do not know which is better for us, whether we shall win or they shall conquer us. Those very sons of Dhrtarastra, whom we do not wish to kill, stand in confrontation.
Swami Gambiranandaafter Śaṅkara's bhāṣya· paired with Śaṅkara
We do not know which of the two is better for us: whether our vanquishing them or their vanquishing us. The very sons of Dhrtarastra, whom, if we were to slay, we would not wish to live, even they are standing in array against us.
Swami Adidevanandaafter Rāmānuja's bhāṣya· paired with Rāmānuja
Whether we should conquer in the battle, or they should conquer us—we do not know which is better for us. For, having killed whom, we would not wish to live at all, the same persons stand before us as Dhrtarastra's men.
Dr. S. Sankaranarayanafter Madhva's bhāṣya· paired with Madhva
I can hardly tell which would be better, that we should conquer them or that they should conquer us. Even the sons of Dhritarashtra, whom we do not wish to slay, stand facing us.
Swami SivanandaThe Bhagavad Gita
Nor can I say whether it would be better for them to conquer me or for me to conquer them, since I would no longer care to live if I killed these sons of Dhritarashtra, who are now preparing for battle.
Shri Purohit SwamiThe Geeta
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
Śaṅkara does not comment on this verse; his commentary on the second chapter begins at verse 2.10.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
If it be said that, when we have begun the war and then desisted from action, your sons, the sons of Dhritarashtra, will fall upon us and slay us by force, then let it be so. To be slain by them, who do not know merit from demerit, is to my mind the better thing, better than a victory won by their unrighteous slaughter. Having said this, in the extremity of his wretchedness Arjuna drew near to the Lord's lotus feet, saying: tell me, your disciple who has taken refuge in you, what is for certain the highest good for me.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.
This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.
Madhvacharya does not comment on this verse; his Gita-bhashya begins at verse 2.11.
Contemporary English rendering of the Sanskrit bhāṣya, pending scholar review.