Sanskrit
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः । यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ॥
na caitad vidmaḥ kataran no garīyo yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas te'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ
Translation
Nor know I which for us be the better, that we conquer them or they conquer us—these, whom having slain we should not care to live, even these arrayed against us, the sons of Dhritarâshtra.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna’s uncertainty deepens into something close to paralysis: he doesn’t even know which outcome — victory or defeat — would be better, since either way the people arrayed against him are people he’d rather not have to live without. This is grief compounding into indecision, the exact state Krishna’s teaching in the rest of the chapter is aimed at resolving. Not knowing which outcome to want is a sharper problem than not knowing what to do, and Arjuna has arrived at it honestly. It is why the answer cannot be a better war plan: what has failed is his buddhi, the faculty that weighs and decides — which is what BG 2.41 onward sets out to steady.
Study deeper
Word by word
- na caitad vidmaḥन चैतद् विद्मः
- nor do we know this (na + ca + etat + vidmaḥ)
- kataranकतरन्
- which of the two
- noनो
- for us
- garīyoगरीयो
- is weightier, better
- yad vā jayemaयद् वा जयेम
- whether we should conquer (yat + vā + jayema)
- yadi vā no jayeyuḥयदि वा नो जयेयुः
- or whether they should conquer us (yadi + vā + naḥ + jayeyuḥ)
- yān eva hatvāयान् एव हत्वा
- the very ones by killing whom (yān + eva + hatvā)
- naन
- [we would] not
- jijīviṣāmasजिजीविषामस्
- wish to live
- te'vasthitāḥतेऽवस्थिताः
- they stand arrayed (te + avasthitāḥ)
- pramukheप्रमुखे
- in front, facing us
- dhārtarāṣṭrāḥधार्तराष्ट्राः
- the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Commentary
Site Commentary
The sentence itself performs what it describes — it opens with uncertainty (“nor know I which is better”) and closes on an unresolved image, the enemy still just “arrayed against us,” no verdict reached. Arjuna isn’t only reporting paralysis, the verse’s own shape enacts it: a mind that can’t complete its own thought because completing it would mean choosing.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you notice yourself unable to even state which outcome you'd prefer, that's often a sign the paralysis is emotional rather than genuinely undecided — naming that distinction to yourself is usually the first step out of it.
Professional
- When a team can't agree on which failure mode is worse, check whether the deadlock is really about the tradeoff or about nobody wanting to be the one who commits — the second kind of stuck needs a decision-owner, not more analysis.
Family & Social
- If you and someone close to you keep circling a decision without landing anywhere, notice whether you're actually weighing options or just avoiding the discomfort of choosing — the fix for the second is naming it out loud, not more discussion.
Ask yourself
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