Chapter I · Śloka 35
Arjuna uvāca
निहत्य धार्तराष्ट्रान् नः का प्रीतिः स्याज्जनार्दन |
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान् हत्वैतानाततायिनः ||
पापमेवाश्रयेदस्मान् हत्वैतानाततायिनः ||
nihatya dhārtarāṣṭrān naḥ kā prītiḥ syāj janārdana |
pāpam evāśrayed asmān hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ ||
pāpam evāśrayed asmān hatvaitān ātatāyinaḥ ||
What pleasure can come to us from killing the sons of Dhritarashtra, O Janardana? Only sin will accrue to us by slaying these aggressors.
Now Arjuna shifts his argument to sin: killing these men — even though they are ātatāyins (aggressors, those who have committed the six great crimes) — will only bind him to pāpa. He is selectively applying dharmic law, seeing the prohibition against killing while overlooking the duty to protect.