BG 1.45

Better for me if the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, weapons in hand, were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.

1.45. Alas! What a great sinful act have we resolved to undertake ! For, out of greed for the joy of kingdom, we are striving to slay our own kinsfolk !

1.45 Alas, it is strange that we should be willing to kill our own countrymen and commit a great sin, in order to enjoy the pleasures of a kingdom.

1.45 Aho bata etc. We denotes one and all who were divided [into the opposite campus] by the division among the Kauravas and the Pandavas. When every one is indiscriminate, what act is proper for me, while I am endowed with the faculty to discriminate? Of course, it is proper to turn back from the battle. Yet, says [Arjuna], what is much more proper is this [see next sloka]:

1.26 - 1.47 Arjuna said - Sanjaya said Sanjaya continued: The high-minded Arjuna, extremely kind, deeply friendly, and supremely righteous, having brothers like himself, though repeatedly deceived by the treacherous attempts of your people like burning in the lac-house etc., and therefore fit to be killed by him with the help of the Supreme Person, nevertheless said, 'I will not fight.' He felt weak, overcome as he was by his love and extreme compassion for his relatives. He was also filled with fear, not knowing what was righteous and what unrighteous. His mind was tortured by grief, because of the thought of future separation from his relations. So he threw away his bow and arrow and sat on the chariot as if to fast to death.

1.45 Sri Sankaracharya did not comment on this sloka. The commentary starts from 2.10.

1.45 Alas! We have resolved to commit a great sin in that we are ready to slay our kith and kin out of desire for sovereignty and enjoyments.

1.45 What a pity that we have resolved to commit a great sin by being eager to kill our own kith and kin, out of greed for the pleasures of a kingdom!