Chapter I · Śloka 45
Arjuna uvāca
यदि मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः |
धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ||
धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत् ||
yadi mām apratīkāram aśastraṃ śastra-pāṇayaḥ |
dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus tan me kṣema-taraṃ bhavet ||
dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus tan me kṣema-taraṃ bhavet ||
It would be better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.
Arjuna reaches the terminal point of his grief: death without resistance would be preferable to victory through slaughter. This is not courage but despair. The willingness to die here is not the fearlessness Krishna will praise — it is the reverse side of the same attachment.