Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

Transcript of Bhakti-Shastri class on this verse by Chaitanya Charan

Now Arjuna comes into action.  

             Bg 1.20

atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā

dhārtarāṣṭrān kapi-dhvajaḥ

pravṛtte śastra-sampāte

dhanur udyamya pāṇḍavaḥ

hṛṣīkeśaṁ tadā vākyam

idam āha mahī-pate

Word for word: 

atha — thereupon; vyavasthitān — situated; dṛṣṭvā — looking upon; dhārtarāṣṭrān — the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra;kapi–dhvajaḥ — he whose flag was marked with Hanumān; pravṛtte — while about to engage; śastra–sampāte — in releasing his arrows; dhanuḥ — bow; udyamya — taking up; pāṇḍavaḥ — the son of Pāṇḍu (Arjuna); hṛṣīkeśam— unto Lord Kṛṣṇa; tadā — at that time; vākyam — words; idam — these; āha — said; mahī–pate — O King.

Translation: 

At that time Arjuna, the son of Pāṇḍu, seated in the chariot bearing the flag marked with Hanumān, took up his bow and prepared to shoot his arrows. O King, after looking at the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra drawn in military array, Arjuna then spoke to Lord Kṛṣṇa these words.

atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā, as they are situated they observed , 

dhārtarāṣṭrān, the army of Dhritarastra was arranged. He saw them, who saw them? That person who was kapi-dhvajaḥ, dhvajaḥ refers to the flag, kapi means monkey. Later on in Mahabharata it is stated that when Kauravas would look at Arjuna’s chariot they would feel that there is a monkey on the flag and the monkey is real and screaming, the monkey is causing terror in the heart of enemies of Arjuna, they would think what is this? Every warrior would have his flag by which other warriors would recognize him; that is the standard. Arjuna always had a kapi-dhvajaḥ flag, but in this war on the request of Bhima, Hanuman Ji had entered in that flag. That is the reason, the flag which was just supposed to be a flag was alive and Kauravas were horrified by seeing that.

When Pandavas were in the forest, Arjuna went to heaven to collect weapons and mystic powers, at that time Bhima went more north from Badrikashram and there he met a monkey who humbled him and he was Hanuman Ji. Both of them were brothers as being sons of Vayu… So in this way Arjuna’s magnificent chariot Mahti Sandana is having kapi-dhvajaḥ, this is a sign of auspiciousness and victory.

pravṛtte śastra-sampāte, they are all equipped with weapons.

dhanur udyamya pāṇḍavaḥ, that means Arjuna took up this bow, and he was ready to fight.

Then what happened?

hṛṣīkeśaṁ tadā vākyam, at that time he spoke to Hṛṣīkeśa.

What did he speak? idam āha mahī-pate, so here mahī-pate refers to O’ King, this Sanjaya is speaking to Dhritarastra, O’ King this is what pandava (Arjuna) spoke to Hrishikesa

End of transcription.