Chapter 1 of Bhagavad Geeta, entitled the Arjuna Vishada Yoga introduces the scenery & circumstances in which this great philosophical discourse took place. Arjuna, the Pandava prince, leading the Pandava forces against the Kauravas in the ensuing Mahabharata war, gets disheartened by the prospect of killing his great grandfather, uncles, brothers & other close relatives, & filled with confusion & sorrow decides to not fight the war. Sri Krishna, his close friend & charioteer, advises him & revives him back to fight this war against impropriety & unrighteousness.

1. THE HOLY GEETA
COMMENTARY by
swami Chinmayananda
T K G NAMBOODHIRI
THIRUVALLA, KERALA, INDIA
Presentation adapted from
THE HOLY GEETA, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, July 2013
Mumbai

2. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
CHAPTER 1
ARJUNA VISHADA YOGA
ARJUNA-GRIEF

3. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ARJUNA-GRIEF
INTRODUCTION
Ancient Hindus are unique in their successful application of scintillating
drama in literature to expose serious philosophy. The highest & the best
in Hindu philosophy are elaborately reiterated in the Geeta, in a dramatic
layout amidst the din & roar of the Kurukshetra war. Krishna gives his
message of manly-action to Arjuna in this battlefield. A constant
Mahabharata war is being waged within every one of us at all our crucial
moments of action, between the numerous negative forces & the much
smaller divine impulses. The Mahabharata sounds an optimistic note of
hope that though small, the divine forces, well organised & under the
guidance of the Supreme Lord Krishna, can easily win a permanent
victory over the outnumbering forces of lust & greed.

4. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
INTRODUCTION-2
Upon the spiritual field of self-development within (Dharmakshetra), when the
lower instincts & the higher ideals array themselves, ready to fight, a true
seeker, on seeing the enemy lines, his egotistic mind comes to feel a morbid
desperation & feels incapacitated to undertake the great fighting his inner war
with any hope of victory. This peculiar mental condition of a seeker is beautifully
represented in this chapter of Arjuna’s Dejection .
In Sanskrit works, the opening verse generally indicates the whole theme of the
book, & the last verse summarises the general conclusions. In the case of Geeta,
the Divine Song starts with the word DHARMA, & concludes with the term
MAMA (mine). Hence we may conclude that the contents of the Geeta are
nothing but MY DHARMA. Dharma here means not merely righteousness, or
goodness, but the essential nature of anything. Hence, the above conclusion
perhaps indicates that the Song Divine of 18 chapters is to be subjectively
transcribed, lived, & personally experienced by each student in his own life.

5. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE BEGINNING
The Great Philosophical discourse in Bhagavad Geeta starts with a
simple, but loaded with meaning, question by the blind King
Dhritarashtra to his assistant Sanjaya: What did Pandavas & my
people do, when, desirous to fight, they assembled together on
the holy plain of Kurukshetra, O Sanjaya?
In the entire Geeta, this is the only utterance by Dhritarashtra. All
the rest of the 700 verses are Sanjaya’s report on the happenings
at Kurukshetra. Vyasa had given Sanjaya the powers to see & listen
to everything happening at Kurukshetra while sitting with the King
in the palace at Hastinapura.
Sanjaya reports that after seeing the forces on both sides arrayed
for battle, Duryodhana loses his confidence of sure victory & goes
to his teacher Dronacharya, as a child would run to its parents in
fright. (Verses 1.1 & 1.2)

6. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
Duryodhana’s Soliloquy with Dronacharya
In the next 9 verses, Vyasadeva describes what the Kaurava
Prince Duryodhana told Dronacharya. He pointed out the
great warriors in the Pandava army & described their bravery
& skill. The essence of his talk was the impression that
though smaller in numbers, the effectiveness of the Pandava
forces was much greater than that of Kauravas. Then he
repeats the names of the distinguished heroes in his side. He
expresses his own estimate of the relative strength & merit of
the two forces. Then he advises all his commanders to keep
their positions & protect the commander-in-chief, Bhishma.
( Verses 1.3 to 1.11)

7. THE HOLI GEETA
The Sounds of Bugles
While Duryodhana was thus making a fool of himself, The great Marshall
Bhishma took up his war bugle (Conch) & blew it with a lion’s roar, sending
forth waves of confidence in the Kaurava army.
In the next 8 verses, Sanjaya describes the sounding of bugles, kettle-drums,
tabors, trumpets, & cow- horns by commanders of the Kaurava army, followed
by Sri Krishna, Arjuna & others of the Pandava army. Sanjaya describes the
commotion & sound produced on the battlefield as terrific, resounding
throughout heaven & earth, & rending the hearts of the Kauravas. The
sympathies of Sanjaya was clearly with the Pandavas, as evidenced by the
detailed person by person description of the bugles sounded by commanders
in the Pandava army. Sri Krishna & Arjuna are described as sitting in the
magnificent chariot, harnessed with white horses, & driven by Madhava -Lord
Krishna. The ensign on this chariot was a monkey (Hanuman).
( Verses 1.12 to 1.19)
T K G Namboodhiri

8. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
Arjuna’s Entry into the Battlefield
Amidst the din of all the sounds, Arjuna enters the
battlefield with Lord Krishna as his charioteer. Arjuna
requests Krishna to take the chariot into the midst of the
two armies, so that he may see all those assembled there
to fight the war. Accordingly, Krishna stations Arjuna’s
chariot between the two armies & in front of Bhishma,
Drona & all the rulers of the earth, & asks Arjuna to
behold the Kurus gathered together to fight.
(Verses 1.20 to 1.25)

9. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
What happened to Arjuna?
In two verses, Sanjaya briefly describes the condition of Arjuna: Then
Partha saw stationed there in both the armies, fathers, grandfathers,
teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons & friends too.
(He saw) Fathers-in-law & friends also in both the armies. Then the son
of Kunti, seeing all these kinsmen thus standing arrayed, spoke thus
sorrowfully, filled with deep pity.
The sight brought to Arjuna’s mind, for the first time, the full realisation
of the tragedies of a fratricidal war.
He did not, perhaps until then, fully realise the extent of sacrifice that
society would be called upon to make in such a war. The sight thus
brought into his mind a flood of pity & compassion.
( Verses 1.26 & 1.27)

10. THE HOLI GEETA
ARJUNA’S ARGUMENTS
The rest of the chapter is devoted to the hysterical blabbering of
Arjuna, symptomatic his neurotic condition. The endeavour is to give
the complete case-history of a patient suffering from the typical
‘Arjuna disease’.
Arjuna said: Seeing these my kinsmen, O Krishna, arrayed eager to
fight, my limbs fail & my mouth is parched, my body quivers & my hair
stand on end.
The Gandiva -bow slips from my hand & my skin burns all over; I am
also unable to stand & my mind is whirling round as it were.
And I see adverse omens, O Keshava. Nor do I see any good in killing
my kinsmen in battle.
(Verses 1.28 to 1.31)
T K G Namboodhiri

11. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
INADVISABILITY OF WAR
Arjuna continues his arguments against the advisability of such
a civil war.
I desire not victory, nor kingdom, nor pleasures. O Krishna. Of
what avail are pleasures or even life itself?
They for whose sake we desire kingdom, enjoyment &
pleasures, stand here in battle, having renounced life & wealth.
Teachers, fathers, sons & also grandfathers, maternal uncles,
fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law & other relatives.
These I do not wish to kill, though they may kill me, even for the
sake of dominion over the three worlds; how much less for the
sake of the earth. ( Verses 1.32 to 1.35)

12. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
NO KIILING OF KAURAVAS
Killing the sons of Dhritarashtra, what pleasure can be ours, O
Janardana? Sin alone will be our gain by killing these felons.
Therefore, we shall not kill the sons of Dritarashtra, our
relatives; for how can we be happy by killing our own people?
Though these, with their intelligence clouded by greed, see no
evil in the destruction of the families in the society, & no sin in
their cruelty to friends.
Why should not we, who clearly see evil in the destruction of
the family units, learn to turn away from this sin, O Janardana ?
( Verses 1.36 to 1.39)

13. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DESTRUCTION OF FAMILY
In the destruction of a family, the immemorial religious rites of that family
perish; on the destruction of spirituality, impiety overcomes the whole
family.
By the prevalence of impiety, O Krishna, the women of the family become
corrupt; & women being corrupted, there arises ‘intermingling of castes’.
‘Confusion of castes’ leads the slayer of the family to hell; for their
forefathers fall, deprived of the offerings of PINDA and water.
By these evil deeds of the ‘destroyers of the family’, which cause confusion
of castes, the eternal religious rites of the caste & the family are destroyed.
We have heard that it is inevitable for those men, in whose families the
religious practices have been destroyed, to dwell in hell for an unknown
period of time.
(Verses 1.40 to 1.44)

14. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
HEIGHT OF ARJUNA’S CONFUSION
Arjuna continues his blabbering:
Alas! We are involved in a great sin, in that we are prepared to kill
our kinsmen, from greed for the pleasure of the kingdom.
If the sons of Dhritarashtra weapons-in-hand, slay me in battle,
unresisting & unarmed, that would be better for me.
Sanjaya said:
Having thus spoken in the midst of the battlefield, Arjuna sat down
on the seat of the chariot, casting away his bow & arrow, with a
mind distressed with sorrow.
(Verses 1.46 & 1.47)

15. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
IMPORTANCE OF ARJUNA VISHADA YOGA
The Arjuna-condition of utter despair is the auspicious mental
attitude wherein the Geeta-seeds are to be sown, & the flowers
of Krishna-perfection gathered. Religion & philosophy will
generally be in demand when the heart has come to experience
the Arjuna-grief.
To the extent the world of today has felt its incompetence to
face the battle of life, to that extent it is fit for listening to the
message of the Geeta. The scriptural text cannot, in themselves,
help anyone; it must be learned & lived. For this, Arjuna-
condition is the initial Sadhana.
End of Chapter 1