So Arjuna says, yadi mām apratikāram. Pratikāram, apratikāram. Pratikāram means counteraction, and apratikāram means without any counteraction. So he is informing Kṛṣṇa that "If the other party, dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ, the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, other party, they kill me while I am not prepared..." But that is not the regulation of fighting. So therefore he says apratikāram: "Whether if I am not prepared and they kill me all of a sudden, this is wrong. I accept, even they kill me, apratikāram, without I am fully equipped..." Aśastram. In the fight, one must be equipped with all weapons. "But when I am not equipped with weapons or I am not willing to fight... Because I am not willing to fight." This has been decided: "I cannot kill my kinsmen. Therefore I am not going to take the step of pratikāram, counteraction. So even in this condition, they come and kill me," yadi mām apratikāram aśastram, "I am not fully equipped with śastra, weapons," aśastram and śastra-pāṇayaḥ, "and they are fully equipped with weapons," dhārtarāṣṭrā raṇe hanyus, "so in this condition the other party, my cousin-brothers, sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, if they kill me," raṇe hanyus, tan me kṣemataraṁ bhavet, "I shall prefer that. I am not going to fight. If you think that 'If you don't fight, then they will take the opportunity...' " He is talking with Kṛṣṇa. He is already giving the counterargument, that "Kṛṣṇa, if you think that I don't fight, but they will take the opportunity and kill me immediately, that also I shall prefer, but I am not going to fight. This is my decision." Sañjaya uvāca. So Sañjaya, the secretary of Dhṛtarāṣṭra... They were sitting in a room. So evam uktvā, "thus saying," Arjuna, the person... Arjuna is nominative case. Arjuna, saṅkhye, "in the battlefield;" rathopastha, "on the chariot," upāviśat. You have seen the picture. When Kṛṣṇa blew His conchshell and from the backside Arjuna is just trying to take his arrow and fight... But instead of fighting, he's visṛjya sa-śaraṁ cāpam. "No, no, no. I am not going to..., giving up. Finished. I am no more going to fight." Visṛjya sa-śaraṁ cāpam. Why it is? Śoka-saṁvigna-mānasaḥ. His mind was overwhelmed with lamentation, that "How can I kill my kinsmen?" This is the position.
So apratikāram, pratikāram. There are two things. Pratikāram means counteraction. Here in this material world, for everything there is counteraction. Just like if you are diseased, so you have to take the medicine. That is pratikāram. The disease is caused by some, what is called, disarrangement within the body. So we have to arrange, we have to set up the disarrangement within the body. That is pratikāram. Medicine, counteraction. Similarly, if somebody is coming to kill you, so you also become prepared to kill him. This is pratikāram. If somebody is drowning in the sea, then you have to give him some help, send some boat or some lifeboat so that he can be saved. So we have got so many... This material world is going on. It is full of dangers. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadam (SB 10.14.58). Material world means step by step, simply danger. That is material world. So we have to find out pratikāram, counteraction, how to save yourself from danger. Just like when we walk, we see in so many doors, "Danger." So that you are warned. Sometimes the doors are: "Beware of the dog." So you have to take care, "No, I shall not enter." So everything there is danger, and there is pratikāram, counter, counteraction, how to save yourself from it. This is called struggle for existence. In this material world, there is only this danger and counteraction. I am unhappy; so just to become happy I have to work, I have to get money. Whatever I want... So this is going on.