अहो बत महत्पापं कर्तुं व्यवसिता वयम्।
यद्राज्यसुखलोभेन हन्तुं स्वजनमुद्यताः।।1.45।।
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 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]:
Aho bata mahat paapam kartum vyavasitaa vayam; Yadraajya sukhalobhena hantum swajanam udyataah.
aho—alas; bata—how; mahat—great; pāpam—sins; kartum—to perform; vyavasitāḥ—have decided; vayam—we; yat—because; rājya-sukha-lobhena—driven by the desire for kingly pleasure; hantum—to kill; sva-janam—kinsmen; udyatāḥ—intending; yadi—if; mām—me; apratīkāram—unresisting; aśhastram—unarmed; śhastra-pāṇayaḥ—those with weapons in hand; dhārtarāṣhṭrāḥ—the sons of Dhritarashtra; raṇe—on the battlefield; hanyuḥ—shall kill; tat—that; me—to me; kṣhema-taram—better; bhavet—would be
