Bhagavad Gita 1.45
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 45 of 47 · Arjuna's Journey
यदि मामप्रतीकारमशस्त्रं शस्त्रपाणयः। धार्तराष्ट्रा रणे हन्युस्तन्मे क्षेमतरं भवेत्॥
yadi mām apratīkāram aśastraṃ śastra-pāṇayaḥ / dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus tan me kṣemataraṃ bhavet
Better to die with clean hands than to win with blood on them.
Word by word (5)
- yadi mām apratīkāram
- — if me, offering no resistance
- aśastram
- — unarmed / without weapon
- śastra-pāṇayaḥ dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ
- — the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapons in hand
- raṇe hanyuḥ
- — were to slay me in battle
- tat me kṣemataraṃ bhavet
- — that would be better for me / that would be more auspicious for me · 'Kṣema' — welfare, safety, peace. It has a spiritual dimension: the welfare of the soul, not just the body. Arjuna says being killed unarmed would be spiritually better than killing.
'If the sons of Dhritarashtra — weapons ready — were to kill me in battle while I stood unarmed and unresisting, even that would be better for me than what we are about to do.'
A modern analogy
A person who says: 'I would rather lose everything than win by betraying my conscience.' The willingness to bear a devastating personal cost rather than compromise one's moral integrity is a form of moral courage — not weakness. Arjuna means this completely.
What it does NOT mean
This is not passive resignation or cowardice. Arjuna is the most skilled warrior on the field. His statement is not 'I cannot fight' but 'I would rather die than be the one to start this killing.' This is a moral position taken at maximum personal cost.
Take with you
- 'Apratīkāram aśastram' — unresisting, unarmed. This is Arjuna's statement of maximum moral purity.
- The courage to accept personal harm rather than cause it is real courage — and the Gita does not dismiss it.
- Arjuna's final position — that he would rather die with clean hands than win with blood on them — is the most morally sympathetic in the chapter. Krishna will build his entire teaching in response to it.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
If the sons of Dhritarashtra, weapon in hand, were to slay me in battle unresisting and unarmed, that would be better for me. [4]
It would be better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, arms in hand, should slay me in the battle while I was weaponless and offered no resistance. [6]
O, let the sons of Dhritarashtra come in arms! Yea, though they slay me, weaponless I'll stay. [7]
It would be better for me if the sons of Dhritarashtra, with arms in hand, were to kill me in the battle, unresisting and unarmed. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The soul does not slay, and cannot be slain — both the slayer and the slain have mistaken the soul for the body.
Do your prescribed duty. Action is better than inaction — even the body cannot be maintained without it.
I would rather be killed than kill them — a statement of love that goes beyond self-preservation.
This most secret śāstra spoken — knowing it, one becomes truly wise and kṛta-kṛtya: all duties fulfilled.
Duryodhana lists his greatest champions — and every name carries its own tragic irony.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Verse 45 of 47 · back to Chapter 1