न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्वजनमाहवे। न काङ्क्षे विजयं कृष्ण न च राज्यं सुखानि च॥
na ca śreyo 'nupaśyāmi hatvā svajanam āhave / na kāṅkṣe vijayaṃ kṛṣṇa na ca rājyaṃ sukhāni ca
Victory without the people you love — what does it cost, and what is it worth?
Word by word (5)
- na ca śreyaḥ anupaśyāmi
- — I do not foresee any good / I see no benefit · 'Śreyas' — the good that is genuinely beneficial, as opposed to 'preyas' (what is pleasant). Arjuna is not asking 'what do I want?' but 'what is actually good here?' — the higher question.
- hatvā svajanam āhave
- — from slaying my own people in battle
- na kāṅkṣe vijayam
- — I do not desire victory
- kṛṣṇa
- — O Krishna
- na ca rājyam sukhāni ca
- — nor kingdom, nor pleasures
'I see no good in this, Krishna. Killing my own people in battle — what does it gain? I don't want this victory. I don't want this kingdom. I don't want the pleasures that would follow.'
A modern analogy
You've worked for years toward a promotion, a business goal, a competitive win. Now, on the verge of achieving it, you realize the cost: the relationships you neglected, the compromises you made, the people who were hurt. You stop and ask: what am I winning, exactly, and for whom? This is Arjuna's question. It is one of the most important questions a person can ask.
What it does NOT mean
This is not pacifism. Arjuna is not opposed to war in principle — he has fought many battles before. He is asking a specific question: what is the point of this particular victory, if it destroys the people who give life its meaning? This is a deeply philosophical question, not a refusal to face danger.
Take with you
- Arjuna distinguishes between what is pleasant (vijaya, rājyam, sukhāni) and what is actually good (śreyas) — this is wisdom.
- The question 'what is this victory for?' is more important than 'how do I win?' — and far less commonly asked.
- This verse marks the moment Arjuna moves from physical collapse to philosophical argument — a significant shift.
Verse 31 is a philosophical pivot: Arjuna moves from physical symptoms to reasoned argument. And his argument is, at its core, about the relationship between means and ends: can a victory that destroys what it was won for be called a victory at all? The word 'śreyas' (the genuinely beneficial) is a technical philosophical term contrasted with 'preyas' (the pleasant or immediately desirable). The distinction appears prominently in the Katha Upanishad, where Yama (Death) tells Nachiketa that most people choose the preyas over the śreyas. Arjuna, in his grief, has stumbled into the right question: not 'what do I want?' but 'what is actually good here?' This makes his crisis philosophically significant, not just emotionally understandable.
Advaita lens
For Shankaracharya, Arjuna's 'na kāṅkṣe vijayam' (I do not desire victory) is the beginning of vairāgya — dispassion, the loosening of attachment to outcomes. This is a necessary step toward liberation. The problem is that Arjuna's dispassion arises from grief rather than wisdom — it will collapse when the grief subsides unless it is grounded in understanding. Krishna's teaching will root the same dispassion in philosophical clarity.
Karma-Yoga lens
Tilak's reading: Arjuna has correctly identified that personal victory and pleasure cannot be the motivation for action. The Karma Yoga teaching will affirm this: the fruit of action should not be the driver. But Arjuna's conclusion is wrong — he concludes 'therefore don't act.' The Gita's conclusion is: 'therefore act from duty, not from fruit.'
Modern parallels
Viktor Frankl's logotherapy identifies meaning — not pleasure or victory — as the primary human motivator. Arjuna's crisis is a meaning crisis: the meaning he had organized his life around (warrior duty, kingdom for family) has collapsed. The Gita's response will be to provide a deeper layer of meaning — action as offering to the divine order of things — that does not depend on the outcome of any particular battle.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
I see no good in slaying my own kinsmen in battle, O Krishna. I desire not victory, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. [4]
I foresee no advantage from the destruction of my kinsmen in battle, O Krishna; nor do I desire victory, or kingdom, or pleasures. [6]
I would not slay these — if they slay me — no, not for all three worlds! No more for Earth's wide realm! What joy shall come From slaying Kurus? [7]
I foresee no good from killing these kinsmen in battle, O Krishna. I desire neither victory, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Your right is to act — never to the fruits. Don't act for results. Don't hide in inaction.
The wise act like the unwise — same actions, same engagement — but without attachment, for the world's welfare.
Abandon all dharmas, take refuge in Me alone — I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.
Sāttvic yajña: performed as ordained, without fruit-desire, with the conviction 'this must be done.'
Rājasic karma: done desiring pleasures or with ego-pride, involving great effort.
Rājasic dhṛti: holds fast to dharma, kāma, and artha with attachment, desiring the fruit of each.