Arjuna Vishada-yoga

The Arjuna Vishada-yoga (Sanskrit: अर्जुनविषाडयोग, romanized: Arjuna Viṣāda-yōga) is the first of the eighteen chapters of the Bhagavad Gita.[1] The chapter has a total of 47 shlokas. The chapter is the 23rd chapter of Bhishma Parva, the sixth episode of the Mahabharata.

Krishna narrates the Bhagavad Gita to Arjuna

Etymology

Arjuna refers to the third Pandava prince. Vishada-yoga is translated as despondency or dejection.[2]

Content
Sanjaya narrating war to Dhritrashtra

The blind king Dhritarashtra requests his charioteer Sanjaya to offer him an eyewitness account of the events of the Kurukshetra War from the battlefield. Sanjaya begins his narration. Duryodhana, the eldest Kaurava prince, goes to Drona and describes the combatants and the commanders of the Pandava and the Kaurava armies. On the battlefield, Bhishma blows his conch to raise the morale of the warriors. He is joined by Krishna, who blows his conch, called the Panchajanya, and Arjuna, who blows his conch, called the Devadatta. A number of warriors of both sides follow suit. Arjuna asks Krishna, his charioteer, to drive the chariot to the centre of battlefield to survey both the armies. After surveying them, Arjuna expresses his despair to Krishna, wondering how he is to participate in a war that would require him to fight his own kinsmen.[3] He expresses the futility of fighting for victory and pleasure when the people he wishes to fight for bore arms against him. He muses the unrighteousness and the sinful nature of fighting against his teachers and family members. He concludes that such an internecine conflict would only lead to destruction of his family and result in adharma, all for the greed of gaining a kingdom. He reflects that the end of his family would result in the abandonment of traditional rites, impiety, the suffering of women, intermarriage, and the deprivation of his departed forefathers. He exclaims that he would rather be slain by the Kauravas unopposed and unarmed. Arjuna sits within his chariot and sets aside his bow and arrows, overcome with despair.[4][5]

See also

References
  1. Sharma, Amiya Bhushan. Aristotle, Plato and Bhagvad Gita on the "Soul" In the Light Primarily of On the Soul, Phaedo and the Second Chapter of Bhagvad Gita. OCLC 1188954697.
  2. Kapoor, Subodh (2002). Companion Encyclopaedia of Hindu Philosophy: An Exposition of the Principle [sic] Religio-philosophical Systems and an Examination of Different Schools of Thought. Cosmo. p. 379. ISBN 978-81-7755-203-4.
  3. Nadkarni, M. V. (2019-03-20). The Bhagavad-Gita for the Modern Reader: History, Interpretations and Philosophy. Taylor & Francis. p. 248. ISBN 978-0-429-53508-6.
  4. The Bhagavad Gita : with an English translation, explanatory notes and an examination of its doctrines. Robarts - University of Toronto. London ; Madras : Christian Literature Society for India. 1899. pp. 6–10.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. Maitra, Keya (2018-03-22). Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita: A Contemporary Introduction. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 33–37. ISBN 978-1-350-04017-5.
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