BG 1.27 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.27Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · anuṣṭubh

श्वशुरान् सुहृदश् चैव सेनयोरुभयोरपि ।

तान् समीक्ष्य स कौन्तेयः सर्वान् बन्धूनवस्थितान् ॥

śvaśurān suhṛdaś caiva senayor ubhayor api

tān samīkṣya sa kaunteyaḥ sarvān bandhūn avasthitān

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Arjuna, son of Kuntī, looked across both armies and saw his fathers-in-law, dear friends, and all his kinsmen standing there.

ekras · bhāṣya

Arjuna sees more. Beyond what 1.26 named, he sees fathers-in-law — Drupada, Saibya — and dear friends, suhrid, those who wish him well without expectation. He sees his great-grandfather Bahlika. He sees his brothers-in-law: Dhrishtadyumna, Shikhandi. He sees his sister's husbands: Jayadratha. The whole web of relations that holds his life together is standing in both armies, half on either side. Sanjaya names what arrives. Sa kaunteyah kripaya parayavishtah — that son of Kunti, possessed by supreme pity. Sanjaya picks the name that runs through Arjuna's mother. The maternal-line awareness has caught up. The same man who an hour ago commanded Krishna to position the chariot in the middle is now seized by kripa. Avishtah — possessed, occupied. Arjuna does not feel pity; pity has entered him and taken the room.

Krishna will later call this kashmalam — impurity — and hridaya-daurbalyam — weakness of heart. Arjuna himself in 2.7 will call it karpanya-dosha, the pettiness that has overrun his nature.

Ramsukhdas Maharaj points to one detail. This pity has just arrived. It was not there at 1.20 when Arjuna lifted his bow. It arrived between the lifting and the seeing. Because it just arrived — agantuka, like a guest — it will not stay. Heroism is Arjuna's nature. The pity is a visitor.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna

preceded by — BG 1.26

There Arjuna saw them all standing before him: his fathers, grandfathers, teachers, uncles, brothers, sons, grandsons, and friends.

What's going on

Arjuna, son of Kuntī, looked across both armies and saw his fathers-in-law, dear friends, and all his kinsmen standing there.

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.27───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.27───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.27───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.27───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.27───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.27───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.27───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.27───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.27───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.27───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.27───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.27───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.27───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.27───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workapproach

───→here1.27───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.27───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.27───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.27───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.27───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.27───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.27───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.27───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.27───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→1.29The body fails

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.27───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.27───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictapproach · other

───→here1.27───→1.31Bad omens

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.27───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.27───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.27───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.27───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.27───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.27───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.27───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.27───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.27───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātraapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhaapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.27───→2.11Madhva first speaks, Jayatīrtha supplies.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

1.1Discrimination overrun by grief and confusion.───→here1.27───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.27───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.27───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaapproach

───→here1.27───→1.28Arjuna at the edge: 'Drishtvemam svajanam Krishna yuyutsum samupasthitam, sidant

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.27───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.27───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.27───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.27───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningapproach

───→here1.27───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.27───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.27───→3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalJ

Sañjaya's frame — evidentiary, not ornamentalbetween

1.2Dṛṣṭvā tu — Sañjaya speaks to be heard later.───→here1.27───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.1See Viṭṭhaleśa's hand for chapter one's gloss.───→here1.27───→1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.27───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.27───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.27───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.27───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.27───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.27───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.27───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.27───→2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.

ŚrīdharaclassicalA

The Gītā as raft across griefbetween

1.1A raft of teaching crosses the grief-sea.───→here1.27───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.27───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.27───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.27───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.27───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.27───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.27───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.27───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.27───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 14 occurrences)

समीक्ष्य samīkṣ — to look upon together (sam- + √īkṣ) · conv
कौन्तेयः kaunteya — son of Kuntī (epithet of Arjuna) · nominative masculine singular noun

show all 13

तान्·स tad ×2 — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · accusative masculine plural noun / nominative masculine singular noun
श्वशुरान् śvaśura — father-in-law · accusative masculine plural noun
सुहृदः suhṛd — (su- + hṛd: heart) · accusative masculine plural noun
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
सेनयोः senā — army · locative feminine dual noun
उभयोः ubhaya — both, of both kinds · locative feminine dual noun
अपि api — also, even, although
सर्वान् sarva — all, entire · accusative masculine plural noun · also at 2.55, 2.71, 4.21, 4.32, 6.24, 11.15
बन्धून् bandhu — kinsman, relative (from √bandh 'bind') · accusative masculine plural noun
अवस्थितान् ava-√sthā — state, condition, situation · accusative masculine plural participle noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does the text name Arjuna 'kauṇteya' (son of Kuntī) at the precise moment of emotional collapse — what does the matrilineal address signal about the nature of the grief being disclosed?
02Śrīdhara distinguishes āviṣṭa (seized, pervaded) from mere seeing — what is at stake in the difference between observing one's kinsmen and being inhabited by their presence?

show all 7

03Rāmānuja reads Arjuna's compassion as a genuine attribute continuous with Bhagavān's kāruṇya — does this rehabilitate emotional vulnerability as a spiritual quality rather than merely an obstacle to be overcome?
04Madhusūdana identifies two separate movements of compassion (for own soldiers and then for the enemy army) — what does the doubling of compassion across the battle-line reveal about the structure of Arjuna's crisis?
05If Vallabha is right that Kṛṣṇa staged this entire scene as līlā-prasāda, in what sense is Arjuna's grief real rather than performed — and does the answer to that question change what the Gītā is teaching?
06The verse records seeing (samīkṣya — beholding together, fully) fathers-in-law (śvaśurān) alongside companions (suhṛdaḥ) — two very different relational registers. Why does the text place these two categories in the same syntactic breath, and what does that juxtaposition disclose?
07Across five schools with surviving commentary, the emphasis falls on the quality of Arjuna's perception rather than on what he sees — what does it mean for a sacred text to locate the moral problem in the mode of seeing rather than in the external situation?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before any consequential decision, notice the moment when familiar faces in the room — colleagues, family, long-known rivals — suddenly feel like claims on you rather than simply people present. That moment of 'āviṣṭa-ness' (being seized by relational identity) is the Advaita diagnostic: the ātman has been momentarily covered by the superimposition of 'mine.' The practice is not to suppress the feeling but to observe it without immediately acting from it — a breath-length pause in which the witness (sākṣin) is not yet the grieving one.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When you feel genuine compassion for someone on the 'opposing side' of a conflict — a competitor, an estranged family member, even someone who has harmed you — Rāmānuja's reading invites you to recognize that this feeling is not weakness or confusion but a modality of Bhagavān's own kāruṇya flowing through you. The practice is to let that compassion be real and present without immediately translating it into paralysis: Arjuna's compassion does not disqualify him from action; it qualifies him to receive teaching that elevates action.

show all 6

Dvaita

In a difficult meeting or negotiation, each person across the table is a distinct jīva with real interests and real dignity — not a projection of your mind, not a role in your story. Madhva's insistence on genuine otherness (nitya-bheda) is a practical corrective to the tendency to either sentimentalize those we love (turning them into extensions of ourselves) or demonize those we oppose. The discipline is to hold both as irreducibly real: your bond to them is real; their separateness from you is equally real; only Hari holds the relational whole.

Śuddhādvaita

When a life situation renders you suddenly incapable — grief, shock, the moment your careful plan collapses — Vallabha's Puṣṭi-mārga reading offers a reframe: this radical vulnerability may be precisely what is being arranged so that something you could not have received in your competent state can now enter. The practice is not to fight the collapse or to analyze it immediately, but to stay in it long enough to notice whether something is being offered through it — the prasāda that arrives in the space opened by kāraṇā.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's viṣīdan — 'viśeṣeṇa sīdan,' specially sinking — names a recognizable experience: the moments when you are not generically sad but specifically unmade by a particular face, a particular memory, a particular person standing exactly where they are standing. The bhakti-philological practice is to name the specificity precisely rather than managing it into a general category of 'stress' or 'difficulty.' Emotional accuracy (calling avasāda what it is, glāni what it is) is both intellectually honest and spiritually preparatory: you cannot receive teaching addressed to a vague condition.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's observation that Arjuna's second compassion — for the enemy — arose spontaneously, without deliberate cultivation, points to a quality worth tracking in your own life: the moment when care for those outside your circle arrives unbidden, as something svataḥ-siddha (self-arisen). When that happens, Madhusūdana would say, do not immediately judge it as sentimentality or strategic error; notice its source. The capacity to feel genuine kṛpā for someone positioned as your adversary is not a confusion of dharma but a signal that your inner ground is wider than your current role — and it is from that widened ground that the most discerning action eventually becomes possible.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 1, Verse 27: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga