Chapter II · Śloka 6
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो
यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः |
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्
तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ||
यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः |
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषामस्
तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः ||
na caitad vidmaḥ kataran no garīyo
yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ |
yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas
te 'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||
yad vā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ |
yān eva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas
te 'vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ ||
We do not know which is better for us — whether we should conquer them or they should conquer us. The sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra stand before us; having killed them, we would not wish to live.
Arjuna's confusion runs deeper than emotion: he genuinely cannot calculate which outcome is preferable. This moral paralysis — not knowing whether winning or losing is worse — is the existential knot that the Gītā will spend eighteen chapters untying.