The Yoga of Arjuna's Despair

Duryodhana says 'many heroes ready to give up their lives for my sake' (madarthe tyaktajīvitāḥ). Not for the kingdom, not for justice—for him personally. This reveals narcissistic framing: he's made an entire war about his ego. We do this too. When every challenge becomes about 'my reputation,' 'my pride,' 'my validation,' we've stopped serving anything larger. We're just protecting a fragile sense of self. The verse teaches us to catch this pattern—when we make everything revolve around 'me,' we lose perspective and burn relationships.