Chapter 1 • Verse 26

Arjuna Vishada Yoga

The Yoga of Arjuna's Dejection

Sanskrit Verse

tatrapa shyat sthitan parthah pitrin atha pitamahan, acaryan matulan bhratrin putran pautran sakhims tatha

Translation & Meaning

There Arjuna could see, standing in both armies, fathers and grandfathers, teachers, maternal uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends. The full weight of familial and social bonds becomes suddenly, terribly visible to Arjuna — what had been an abstraction (war against the enemy) becomes devastatingly personal.

Key Teachings

  • •The faces of the beloved transform abstract duty into agonizing personal choice
  • •Every war is fought between people who share deep human bonds
  • •Seeing the full human cost of conflict is the beginning of moral seriousness

Topics

familyrelationshipsgriefattachmentwar
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