Bhagavad Gita · Arjuna Vishada YogaChapter 1, Shloka 46 (1.46)

The climax. Look at Arjuna's journey: in 1.20 he raised his bow; in 1.31 "I see no good"; in 1.35 "even if they kill me, I will not kill"; and now — "let them kill me unarmed; that is better." This is a complete giving-up of resistance.

Madhusudana's interpretation — three points:

1. "Ahimsa, greater even than life, is the supreme dharma of living beings" — so, to avoid sin, death seems more beneficial to Arjuna than life.
2. Apratīkāram — one meaning: one who makes no effort to save his own life.
3. Another meaning: for the fault incurred by the mere resolve to kill kinsmen, without any other atonement — that is, Arjuna is as if thinking that giving his life would itself be the atonement (purification) for this intention.

The third point is very deep: in 1.45 Arjuna called his intention a sin; now he sees the purification of that sin in his own death.

"Kṣemataram" — more beneficial. Arjuna does not say "happier" or "easier"; he chooses the word kshema — welfare, safety, good. For him, being killed unarmed is the morally safe path — because then his hands will not bear the blood of his own people.

A serious sign — the wish for self-sacrifice. This sentence of Arjuna's reflects a state in which a person begins to feel that their own ending would be "better". The Gita presents this as a moral and spiritual crisis, and Krishna's whole teaching leads Arjuna out of this state towards a steady mind and duty. (There is an important safety note below.)