VERSES 26 AND 27 OF ARJUNA VISHADA YOGA OF THE HOLY GITA

VERSE NUMBER 26:

Text in Transliteration:

 Tatraa ‘pasyat sthitaan paarthah

Pitrrn atha pitaamahaan

Aachaaryaan maatulaan bhraatrrn

Putraan pautraan sakheems tathaa

Text in English:

Standing there Partha then beheld in both the armies, paternal uncles, grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, cousins, sons, grandsons, comrades, fathers-in-law and benefactors.

VERSE NUMBER 27:

Text in Transliteration:

Svasuraan suhrdas chai ‘va

Senayor ubhayor api

Taan sameekshya sa kounteyah

Sarvaan bandhoon avasthitaan

Text in English:

He, the son of Kunt, gazing at those kinsmen posted in positions spoke thus in sadness, filled as he was with choking compassion.

Comments for the verses 26 and 27:

It would seem that Arjuna asked for this state of hesitation and despondency by bidding the charioteer to take the chariot and position it between the two armies so he could see those who have come to the land of war, kurutchetra, to give him battle. But, it is a must that, Arjuna, which means the one pure in mind, should become clouded over in his perception. In Ramayana, Sri Sita had to remonstrate with her husband’s brother, Letchumana, who had refused to pursue Ravana, the kidnapper who had come in the garb of a golden deer, and Letchumana had to obey her bidding. Even then, Letchumana drew a line around the ashrama and advised his brother’s wife never to transgress that line. But Ravanan came to her hut, this time, in the garb of a hermit with a pitcha patram! So only, according to the tradition, as the householder had to step out of the house in veneration before giving alms to the wandering monks, Sita transgressed the line of protection drawn by her brother-in-law. And we know the consequences. Otherwise, if Sita had not transgressed the line, the letchumana reka, and stepped over it to give alms to the monk in Ravana, the story of Ramayana would have to be stopped there. The crisis was provided in the dramatic epic only when Sita transgressed the Letchumana Reka!

Here, the very term Arjuna, stands for the one pure in mind. But he becomes deluded in his perception. It is good for him, and the world. Ordinary people encounter in their mundane life ordinary problems. Only extraordinary people go through extraordinary problems. Here, Arjuna’s excellence defied description. Yet his mind was deluded and become clouded over at the sight of his kinsmen and friends and the acharya and pithamaha.

Moreover it is necessary to look into the ways Arjuna is addressed in these two verses. In verse number 26 he is addressed by the Lord as Partha, which means the son of Prithi, Kunti. And in the verse number 27 he is addressed as Kaunteya, that is the son of Kunti. There is a subtlety involved: when referred to as Prithi, Kunti’s status before she became pregnant and deliver the sons, but, when addressed as kaunteya , the son of Kunti, Arjuna becomes an ordinary son delivered by any average mother. So, the degree of delusion increases from verse number 26 to 27!

When a great warrior like Arjuna gives way to emotions then he becomes an ordinary man begotten by any average mother, who is susceptible to give in to ordinary emotions like any ordinary son born of an ordinary average mother without any extraordinary elements involved.

But the Lord informs him in such subtle ways as to the nature of the dereliction of his duty at the war field. The Lord knows His friend’s greatness.

And Arjuna’s hesitation and despondency is not incurable, but transitory only!