Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 2, Verse 6
न चैतद्विद्मः कतरन्नो गरीयो
यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषाम
स्तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः।।
यद्वा जयेम यदि वा नो जयेयुः।
यानेव हत्वा न जिजीविषाम
स्तेऽवस्थिताः प्रमुखे धार्तराष्ट्राः।।
na caitadvidmaḥ kataranno garīyo
yadvā jayema yadi vā no jayeyuḥ
yāneva hatvā na jijīviṣāmas
te ’vasthitāḥ pramukhe dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ
also searched as "na chaitadvidmah kataranno gariyo"
Translation
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.
Vāṇi's rendering
Which is worse — victory or defeat? Those we would kill stand before us; killing them, who wants to live?
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| नna | not |
| चca | and |
| एतत्etat | this (sandhi: ca + etat becomes caitat) |
| विद्मःvidmaḥ | we know |
| कतरत्katarat | which of the two |
| नःnaḥ | for us (sandhi: katarat + naḥ becomes kataran naḥ) |
| गरीयःgarīyaḥ | weightier, better |
| यत्yat | whether |
| वाvā | or |
| जयेमjayema | we should conquer |
| यदिyadi | if |
| वाvā | or |
| नःnaḥ | us |
| जयेयुःjayeyuḥ | they should conquer |
| यान्yān | whom |
| एवeva | the very ones |
| हत्वाhatvā | having killed |
| नna | not |
| जिजीविषामःjijīviṣāmaḥ | we wish to live |
| तेte | they (sandhi: jijīviṣāmaḥ + te becomes jijīviṣāmas te) |
| अवस्थिताःavasthitāḥ | are standing arrayed (sandhi: te + avasthitāḥ becomes te 'vasthitāḥ) |
| प्रमुखेpramukhe | in front, face to face |
| धार्तराष्ट्राःdhārtarāṣṭrāḥ | the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2 Verse 6 mean?
Arjuna admits he cannot tell whether winning or losing would be worse. The men he must kill are his own; kill them and life loses its taste, lose to them and life ends anyway. It is not indecision about strategy. It is a man discovering that both outcomes he can imagine are unbearable.
What does na chaitadvidmah kataranno gariyo mean?
Garīyaḥ means the weightier, the better. Arjuna is weighing two futures and finding no difference in their heaviness. Vidmaḥ — we know — is negated: na vidmaḥ. He is not asking Krishna to confirm a preference. He is reporting the failure of his own scale.
Why does Arjuna say he does not wish to live after killing them?
Because they are not enemies to him — they are cousins, teachers, the men he grew up beside. A victory bought with their bodies would leave him alive inside a world emptied of everyone who made it his. He is naming grief in advance, which is the truest kind.
How does this verse apply when I cannot choose between two options?
Sometimes both roads look ruinous and no amount of thinking sorts them. Arjuna's move is worth copying: he stops calculating and says plainly to Krishna that he does not know. Clarity rarely comes before the confession. It comes after.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Arjuna has stopped arguing and started confessing. He does not know. Not which side is right — which outcome he could survive. Victory means walking through a field of his own blood-kin; defeat means dying at their hands. Both roads end in a life he cannot want. Notice that he says it aloud, to Krishna, before any answer comes. This is the first honest thing in the Gītā: I do not know what would be better for me. Most of your paralysis is dressed as reasoning. Say the plain sentence underneath it — I don't know which outcome I could live with — and the teaching can begin.