Arjuna continues: 'Those for whose sake we desire kingdom, enjoyments, and pleasures — they stand here in battle, having renounced their lives and wealth.' The very people Arjuna wanted to win prosperity for are now the opponents he must fight.
Synthesis
This verse crystallizes the central tragic irony of the Mahabharata: the war was supposedly fought for the sake of the family, yet the family is destroyed by it. Arjuna articulates what many people discover in the pursuit of success — that the people and relationships that were the original motivation for striving can be casualties of the striving itself. The Advaita tradition reads this as the fundamental contradiction of ego-driven desire: the means destroys the end. Ramanuja would note that this reveals the difference between worldly welfare and spiritual welfare — Krishna is guiding Arjuna to see that the souls of his kinsmen are eternal and cannot be harmed. Tilak's karma-yoga perspective shifts the frame: the welfare of one's family is a legitimate but not ultimate motivation; duty to the social order transcends personal bonds.
Commentaries 8 traditions
Shankaracharya sees Arjuna's observation as illustrating the self-defeating nature of ego-driven desire. We pursue kingdom 'for them,' yet 'they' are now the obstacle. The Advaita teaching points beyond this paradox: when action is rooted in the Self rather than in attachment to persons, the contradiction dissolves.
Apply This Verse
Personal Growth
When you realize the people you were striving for are not receiving — or cannot receive — what you are sacrificing for them, it is worth asking whether your motivation was truly for them or for your own need to provide.
Questions this verse answers
- ?"I sacrificed so much for others and now they can't receive it — what was it for?"
- ?"How do I find meaning when my reason for striving is gone?"
- ?"Am I doing this for them or for my own need to provide?"
- ?"How do I let go of a goal when the people it was for are no longer there?"