"Those standing in the front ranks of the opposing side on this battlefield are all supremely venerable to me. The elder Bhīṣma took us in when we were fatherless; he reared us, brought us up and shaped us into the men we are. He is as a father to me, the supreme grandsire. And Droṇa! He loved me more than his own son; he called Aśvatthāma his son of kāma and brought me up as his son of Prema; he cherished me, taught me the sciences of missiles and weapons, and made me a master of them: he is my revered guru. Kṛṣṇa! To oppose my guru, to kill him, with the very skills that are his grace: is that dharma for a son of Bhārata like me? War is to be waged against enemies. But is it dharma for you to tell me to wage it against venerable fathers and gurus? And not content with that, you scorn me with 'asvargyam' if I do not fight! When you say that heaven comes from killing one's gurus, I cannot understand it at all. If the world followed this very way, would even one guru be left to be found? Kṛṣṇa! Say what you will: rather than kill such great souls and enjoy pleasures and comforts, artha and kāma, is it not happier, is it not better, to beg at four doors? Rather than rice mixed with our gurus' blood, surely begged gruel and rice-water are strength! And suppose we give up everything and fight: what certainty is there that it is we who shall win? Trusting in so doubtful a fruit, we will slay everyone and end up ruined both ways. If victory goes to them, will we not have to beg for our food even then? And if victory is ours, it will count only as defeat. Either way, must we not suffer all our lives an anguish of heart more tormenting than the slaying of so many kinsmen and friends? Kṛṣṇa! My understanding is not working at all. This fault of kārpaṇya has changed my very understanding, my very nature. I am in a state where I know nothing, neither what dharma is nor what adharma is."