Link to purport by A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada

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

Arjun Vishad Yoga (Arjuna’s lamentation) – 26 to 46

In previous verse Krishna told Arjuna that you wanted to come between two armies so I bring you here, Pasyata Partha, O Arjuna See, Pasyatam Bhisma Drona Pramuktaha, so brought in front of Bhisma and Drona 

So now we will see how Arjuna became bewildered and how Sri Krishna removed this, so Pratyaksha causes illusion and Shabda takes the person out of illusion.

Bg 1.26

tatrāpaśyat sthitān pārthaḥ

pitṝn atha pitāmahān

ācāryān mātulān bhrātṝn

putrān pautrān sakhīṁs tathā

śvaśurān suhṛdaś caiva

senayor ubhayor api

Word for word: 

tatra — there; apaśyat — he could see; sthitān — standing; pārthaḥ — Arjuna; pitṝn — fathers; atha — also; pitāmahān — grandfathers; ācāryān — teachers; mātulān — maternal uncles; bhrātṝn — brothers; putrān — sons; pautrān — grandsons; sakhīn — friends; tathā — too; śvaśurān — fathers-in-law; suhṛdaḥ — well-wishers; ca — also; eva — certainly; senayoḥ — of the armies; ubhayoḥ — of both parties; api — including.

Translation: 

There Arjuna could see, within the midst of the armies of both parties, his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, friends, and also his fathers-in-law and well-wishers. 

Tatrāpaśyat, there he could see, 

sthitān pārthaḥ, they were situated, who were there? Several generation of relatives were there, pitṝn atha pitāmahān, 

So, normally in a family get-together is a joyful occasion, in today’s world when both husband and wife are working, husband, wife & children coming together itself is a big thing. So for children, parents & grandparents coming together is a rare occasion, so even 3 generations coming together is a rare occasion, but here we have 5 generations coming together. So family get together is normally a joyous occasion but this is a very gravest occasion because family is getting together not for some celebration but for mutual destruction. 

So, what are these 5 generations pitṝn atha pitāmahān, so pitṝn are the people who are in father’s generation, so for example Salya, who is relative of Madhre who is his mother, step mother, i.e. mother of Nakul and Sahadev. There are several other people in father’s generation like Burisharava and several other people are there. 

There is another generation which is older, there is  Bhisma Pitamaha who is in grand grandfather generation.

ācāryān mātulān bhrātṝn

ācāryān refers to teachers, there are two teachers Kripa-Acharya and Drona-Acharya, Drona-Acharya is a permanent teacher. 

Mātulān is maternal uncle which refers to Shakuni, not directly maternal uncle,  

bhrātṝn, brothers, whole 100 Kauravas are there brothers.

putrān pautrān sakhīṁs tathā, 

putrān refers to sons, Duryodhana’s sons were also in the battlefield like Arjuna’s son and by that time Duryodhana was old enough that his pautrān, grandsons were also there. On this side also we know that by the time of war Abhimanu was married and Maharaj Parikshit was already in the womb of mother Uttara, Maharaj Parikshit was born after the war but the point is that there were others in the generation of Abhimanu who were married and old enough to get children and these children were not small. 

putrān pautrān sakhīṁs tathā, and his friends were there, who were friends – Kritavarman was the friend for him, Asvatthama was also a friend. Asvatthama and Arjuna were together in the gurukool, and both of them were expert archers although some envy was there in Ashvatthama’s heart for Arjuna because Ashvattthama wanted to be best student of his father, but Arjuna has defeated him and excelled him, but still they were close friends while they were in Gurukul 

śvaśurān suhṛdaś caiva, father-in-law and many others who were well wishers 

so in this way senayor ubhayor api, all of them assembled over there, 

Now these people are not only on the opposite side, they were on his side also like Drupada. Actually when Arjuna came and saw, he was not only seeing the opposite side, he saw his side also, when he saw both sides in the middle, primarily vision was Bhisma Drona Pramukta, but he is looking all around and he saw all of them senayor ubhayor api.

End of transcription.