Na Kankshe Vijayam

Arjuna says to Krishna: I want no victory, no kingdom, no pleasure of any kind. It is like someone saying — lay out the finest feast, but if the people I love are not there to eat with me, what is the feast worth?

He presses further: O Govinda, what will a kingdom do for us? What will enjoyments do? What, even, will life itself do? His mind is so disturbed that worldly happiness has lost all meaning for him. The things most people fight for — power, comfort, survival — feel empty.

This is not wisdom speaking. It is anguish. The difference matters. True detachment comes from understanding, not from pain and confusion. Krishna will make this distinction clear in the chapters ahead.

This verse is a key part of the Arjuna Vishada Yoga. Arjuna, once known as the greatest archer of his age, now stands on the battlefield ready to give up everything.

In tradition, this verse is seen as an example of moha-born renunciation — where a person speaks of giving things up not from clarity of duty, but because emotion has overwhelmed them.