Category Archives: chapter 1 verse 26

Bhagavad Gita Verse 27, Chapter 1

06 Tuesday Sep 2011

Posted by in avasthitaan, avishto, chapter 1 verse 26, kripayaa, parayaa, sameekshya, sarvaanbandhuna, vishidan

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taansameekshya sa kaunteyaha sarvaanbandhunavasthitaan |
kripayaa parayaavishto vishidannidamabraveet || 27 ||
 
Seeing his kinsmen standing near him, Arjuna, son of Kunti, became overwhelmed with pity, and struck by despair, spoke this.
 
taan : those
sameekshya sa : seeing
kaunteyaha : son of Kunti, Arjuna
sarvaanbandhuna : kinsmen
avasthitaan : standing
kripayaa : pity
parayaa :  extreme
avishto : filed with
vishidan : despair
idam : this
abraveet: spoke
 
Strong egos are mired in duality. Like bipolar person, a strong ego can go from one emotion to its exact opposite almost instantly. When Arjuna saw the caliber of warriors in the opposing army, his demeanour switched from courage to cowardice in a matter of seconds.
 
Why did this happen? When one is under the control of the ego rather than the rational intellect, one’s emotional balance is extremely vulnerable. All it took to destabilize his balance was for Shri Krishna to highlight Arjuna’s kinsmen in the army.
 
This verse also shows that no one is immune from the workings of the ego. Arjuna was a well-educated, committed warrior, in fact one of the best warriors on the planet. Even someone as tough as him lost his emotional balance so quickly.
 
Footnotes
1. An interesting simile is provided in the Jnyaneshwari for this verse. Just like a man forgets his old girlfriend after being infatuated with a new girl, Arjuna’s warrior instincts were replaced with pity for his kinsmen, and cowardice for the war.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 26, Chapter 1

05 Monday Sep 2011

Posted by in apashyat, chapter 1 verse 26, maatulaan, sthitaan, suhradashcha, tatra

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tatraapashyatsthitaanpaarthaha pitrinaatha pitaamahaan |
aachaaryaanmaatulaan bhraatrin putraan poutraan sakhimstathaa ||26 ||
shvasuraan suhradashchaiva senyorubhayorapi | 

There, Arjuna saw his fatherly and grandfatherly elders, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, as well as friends, in-laws and well-wishers, present in both armies.
 
tatra : there
apashyat : could observe
sthitaan : situated
paarthaha : Arjuna
pitrin atha : fatherly elders and
pitaamahaan : grandfatherly elders
aachaaryaan : teachers
maatulaan : maternal uncles
bhraatrin : brothers
putraan : sons
poutraan : grandsons
sakhims tathaa : friends too
shvasuraan : fathers-in-law
suhradashcha-eva : and well-wishers
senyor-ubhayor-api : in both armies
 
Before Shri Krishna had spoken, the Kaurava army seemed like one big sea of evil to Arjuna, ready to be destroyed. But after Arjuna heard those words, he began to spot some known faces in the Kaurava army. He saw Drona, Bheeshma, and all the other people he knew. Soon, he began to see familiar faces in both the Kaurava and Paandava armies.
 
This experience is not so far away from the real world. In fact, a similar situation could have been faced by soldiers in the India Pakistan war, where many soldiers may have had to fight their friends and relatives. Even if we never have to wage war, we may have faced a similar situation.
 
Imagine you are a student who is about to graduate from college. You have been shortlisted for a prestigious job that is also highly selective – there is just one student that will get recruited from your college. You prepare for this interview for several weeks. On the day of the interview, you are almost 100% sure that you will pass through the interview with flying colours. As you step into the waiting hall for the interview, you conduct a quick survey of the candidates that you will compete against. You find out that Miss X, someone who’s always on top of the dean’s list, and someone who you thought had already accepted another offer, is also waiting in the interview hall, looking sharp and confident.
 
What goes through your mind?