Bhagavat Gita Chapter 1( Arjuna – Vişāda – Yoga)

Arjuna – Vişāda – Yoga  (Yoga of Arjuna’s Grief)

Bhagavat Gita Chapter 1 is about the discouragement of Arjuna – Arjuna feels sad at the prospect of fighting against his own Relatives and Friends. When we feel that an injustice has been done against us, and we know the tyrant and want to hit back, but we realize we have not the strength to avenge, the consequent feeling of helpless by which we  come to lose your balance is called ‘dejection.

In the Kurukşetra battlefield, the armies of the Pandavas and the Kauravas faced each other. Duryodhana approached Drona and said to him, “Revered teacher, see the vast army of the Pandavas arranged by your student Dhrştadyumna, the son of Drupada. There, do you not see the great heroes Bhima, Arjuna, Satyaki, Virăța, Drupada, Dhrstaketu, Cekitāna, king of Kāśi, Purujit Kuntibhoja, Saibya, Yudhāmanyu, Uttamaujās, Abhimanyu and the five sons of Draupadi? Look at the valiant leaders of our army also. You yourself, Bhisma, Karna,Krpa, Aśvatthāmā, Vikarna, Bhūriśrava and many others equally great and ready to give up their lives for me. Our army, commanded by Bhisma is yet definitely efficient  compared to that of the Pandavas under the command of Bhima’. Now, all of us, each leading his division of the army, should strengthen the hands of Bhisma, our general”.

At this time Bhīşma blew his conch loudly. This was taken as the first war cry and the others followed it up with their drums, trumpets and conches. The resulting noise was, of course, terrific and deafened the quarters. The challenge of the Kauravas was answered suitably by Arjuna, Krishna and others, blowing their own conches. Thus the war cries rose up, echoed and re-echoed throughout the entire area. Both the parties announced thus that they were ready to fight.

Arjuna said “Krishna, drive on my chariot and stop it in between the two armies, so that I can have a clear view of my opponents, arrayed in support of the wicked Duryodhana”.

Krishna obeyed his request. Arjuna cast his eyes over the entire battlefield. Strangely, he saw there not his enemies but his dear uncles, grand-uncles, revered teachers, beloved brothers, friends and cousins. Suddenly he saw, as it were, in a flash, the sad outcome of the war. He felt weak all over.

Softly and gently, the Pandava prince addressed Lord Krishna: “O Krishna, seeing these near and dear ones organized so eagerly to fight, my body feels weak all over; my mouth is dry; I tremble. My Gāndīva bow is slipping from my hand. My skin is burning, as it were. I cannot even stand. My mind wanders. Friend, I see only bad omens on all sides. What good will it do me, if I kill my kinsmen in the war? Honestly, I do not court victory. I do not want the kingdom, much less its pleasure. What happiness can I discover in the possession of kingdom, or in the royal pleasures, nay, in my very existence, when these dear ones facing me now are all dead or tragically wounded? I do not wish to kill them, though they wish to kill me; no, not even if I gain the entire three worlds; how much less I care to fight for this tiny worthless kingdom! What ultimate happiness can we gain by killing our cousins, the Kauravas? Certainly, we gain only sin. So, it is not proper for us to kill the Kauravas.

Killing one’s relatives cannot give one, in the end, any happiness. Because they are greedy, they may not see anything bad in killing their relatives and friends. Why cannot we, who see so clearly the tragedy of it all, turn away from this horrible war? O Krishna, can you not understand that war brings a chain of sorrows and disasters? War kills and destroys and families are broken. When families are ruined, religious rites automatically cease. The result is impiety. Consequently the women go astray and the rhythm of action in society (varnas) disappears. These sinners only are responsible for the downfall and ruin of the social web and the family integrity. It is said that such sinners go to hell . Do you not know Krishna that now we are going to commit a great crime, prompted by our own greed for a mere piece of earth and its pleasures? Yes, it would be better for me if I am killed, unresisted and unopposed, by these Kauravas”.

Saying thus, Arjuna, feeling extremely sad, threw down his bow and arrows and sank on to the seat in the chariot. Arjuna was in discouraged. He got into a emotional condition of inner confusions.

Lord Krishna advises Arjuna in  the entire Gītā. The Gītā gives us a plan and a technique  by which we too can successfully come out of our own Arjuna-mood whenever we are in it. The Lord’s song contains a secret cure for this dejection in life, which we may call as ‘the Krishna-specific for the Arjuna disease’.

Meaning :

Oh  it is very strange  that we have set our mind to perform this great sin with horrible consequences. Driven by the desire of kingdom, we are intent on killing our own family members . It would be better if, with weapons in hand, the sons of Dhritarashtra kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield.