Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1, Verse 9

अन्ये च बहवः शूरा मदर्थे त्यक्तजीविताः | नानाशस्त्रप्रहरणाः सर्वे युद्धविशारदाः ||

anye ca bahavaḥ śūrā madarthe tyaktajīvitāḥ nānā-śastra-praharaṇāḥ sarve yuddha-viśāradāḥ

And many other heroes, ready to give up their lives for my sake—armed with various weapons, all skilled in warfare.

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.