The Bhagavad-gita’s first chapter depicts how Arjuna was overwhelmed on seeing his relatives assembled on the battlefield of Kurukshetra (01.27).

Why was Arjuna so overwhelmed? It couldn’t have been the mere sight of his relatives arrayed against him — he had seen them not too long ago in the battle at Virata without feeling such emotional turbulence. Was he overwhelmed by fear of his own death? No; if that had been the case, the odds there had been worse than here: both numerically and strategically. There, he had been a lone warrior fighting against the entire Kaurava army. Here, he had his brothers and many other illustrious warriors on his side. Additionally and far more importantly, there, his charioteer had been the inexperienced Matsya prince, Bhuminjaya, who had initially fled at the sight of the vast Kaurava army — that prince had been of no strategic help for him. Here, his charioteer was Krishna, who was not just a charioteer par excellence, but also a close friend and a great strategist. (These attributes of Krishna remained relevant even after Krishna’s decision to be a non-combatant had put his supreme martial prowess out of the equation). 

If fear of his own death wasn’t the cause of Arjuna’s discombobulation, then what was? It was the far greater stakes. At Virata, he had no intention of killing his relatives; he had just wanted to defend the Virata kingdom and demonstrate his prowess, thereby seeking to deter the Kauravas from future military adventurism. A part of him had still been hopeful of a peaceful resolution. That part had died when Duryodhana had killed the peace negotiations by trying to arrest Krishna. Now, at Kurukshetra, Arjuna had no alternative but to kill his relatives. In fact, he was vow-bound to kill the principal Kaurava warriors, including his beloved grandfather Bhishma. 

One-sentence summary: 

Unlike Virata, what overwhelmed Arjuna at Kurukshetra was the dreadful prospect of the death of his relatives — and the even more dreadful burden of being the cause of their death. 

Think it over: 

  • Was Arjuna’s emotional turbulence at Kurukshetra due to fear of his own death?
  • How were the stakes at Kurukshetra different from Virata?
  • What overwhelmed Arjuna at Kurukshetra? 

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01.27: When the son of Kunti, Arjuna, saw all these different grades of friends and relatives, he became overwhelmed with compassion and spoke thus.