This shloka concludes Arjuna’s long argument about the evils of war.

He has already spoken about family destruction, loss of family dharma, rise of adharma, confusion in the next generation, loss of ancestor-rites, destruction of long-standing traditions, and the fall into narakaḥ [hell or downfall]. Now he turns all of that into a final self-accusation.

He begins with aho bata — “Alas! What a tragedy!” This is not calm reasoning. It is the cry of a mind overwhelmed by sorrow and guilt.

Then he says, mahat pāpam kartuṁ vyavasitā vayam — “we have undertaken to commit a great sin.” Mahat pāpam means a great sin. Vyavasitāḥ means resolved, determined, or prepared. Arjuna now believes that the Pāṇḍavas are about to do something terrible.

What is that supposed sin?

He says, yad rājya-sukha-lobhena — “because of greed for the pleasure of kingdom.” Rājya means kingdom. Sukham means pleasure or happiness. Lobhaḥ means greed. Arjuna is saying, “We are doing this because we want royal pleasures.”

This is the confusion.

The Pāṇḍavas had not come to war merely for pleasure. They had tried peaceful methods. They had endured exile. They had asked for justice. The issue was dharma versus adharma. But in this disturbed state, Arjuna forgets the real issue and reinterprets the whole war as greed for kingdom.

This is avivekaḥ [lack of discrimination or confused judgment]. Dharma and adharma are no longer seen clearly.

Then he says, hantuṁ svajanam udyatāḥ — “we are ready to kill our own people.” Svajanam means our own people. This word shows what has taken over his mind. He is not seeing aggressors, injustice, or the need to correct adharma. He is seeing only relatives.

The shift is important. Earlier, the war was understood as dharma-yuddha [righteous war]. Now Arjuna sees it as killing svajanam [our own people] for rājya-sukha [kingdom and pleasure]. His sorrow has changed the frame of the entire situation.

This is how mohaḥ [confusion or delusion] works. It does not merely create sadness. It rewrites the meaning of events. A duty begins to look like sin. A dharmic action begins to look like greed. A necessary struggle begins to look like selfish ambition.

Arjuna thinks he has become wiser at the last moment. He thinks, “At least now I have understood. Let me withdraw.” But this is still not wisdom. It is a mind weakened by attachment, sorrow, and guilt. He has forgotten the dharma-adharma problem and is now seeing only relationship and imagined greed.

This shloka teaches that when the mind is confused, it can falsely accuse duty as sin and mislabel dharma as greed; Arjuna’s concern about destruction is serious, but his conclusion is wrong because he has forgotten that the war is not for rājya-sukham [kingdom-pleasure] but for dharma.