In plain words
Bhīṣma was lying on his bed of arrows. Kṛṣṇa brought Dharmaja to Bhīṣma. Kṛṣṇa told Bhīṣma how Dharmaja stood. ‘Bhīṣma! Dharmaja has won the victory. But his heart is like a kingdom without a king. It is like a body without life. It is like a top without its string. It is like a kite whose string has snapped. So, in this state, Dharmaja says he does not need this kingdom. Had he wept these tears earlier, this war would never have happened! To fight a war back then for the kingdom, and after winning it to say he does not need it, is not right.’ Bhīṣma listened. He sat Dharmaja down beside him. He went on teaching him in a way that would sink deep into his heart. ‘Dharmaja! Are you grateful, or ungrateful?’ he asked. Wanting the kingdom, you took Kṛṣṇa, God Himself, as your charioteer. ‘In those days, wanting victory, you did just as Kṛṣṇa told you. You followed His command to the letter. Now that you have won the war, you are disobeying His words. Back then you needed Kṛṣṇa; today do you not need Him? There is an atonement for the sin of killing a brāhmin. There is an atonement for the sin of killing a cow. There is an atonement for stealing wealth. There is an atonement for theft. Today, though you are Dharmaja and have lived so long, you now go on without trusting or following the words of God. This is very bad for you,’ he counselled him. Dharmaja shed streams of tears: “We were fatherless children. You, who were like a father to us, who drew us close, fondled us, cared for us and raised us: you I have struck down with my own hands. You are our grandsire. Even so, we struck you down in the war. Droṇācārya kept even his own son Aśvatthāmā at a distance and taught Arjuna many skills. If Aśvatthāmā was the son of his desire, Droṇa looked on Arjuna as the son of his Prema. Even such a guru we brought down to the ground. There is no sin I have not committed.