BG 1.37 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.37Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · Mādhava · anuṣṭubh

तस्मान् नार्हा वयं हन्तुं धार्तराष्ट्रान् स्वबान्धवान् ।

स्वजनं हि कथं हत्वा सुखिनः स्याम माधव ॥

tasmān nārhā vayaṃ hantuṃ dhārtarāṣṭrān sva-bāndhavān

svajanaṃ hi kathaṃ hatvā sukhinaḥ syāma mādhava

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

meaning

We have no right to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra, who are our own kin. How could we ever be happy, Madhava, having slain our own people?

ekras · bhāṣya

Arjuna draws the conclusion. "Therefore we have no right to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra, our own kinsmen. How could we ever be happy after killing our own people, Madhava?" The argument from the last several verses lands here. Tasmat — therefore. The argument has been: the kingdom is for the family; the family is here; killing them produces sin even when the law permits the killing; even the act of contemplating it brings grief. Therefore we should not. Sva-bandhavan — our own kinsmen. Bandhavan is the warm word for relations — those who are bound to us, who hold us. Even hostile, the Kauravas are still bandhavah. Katham hatva sukhinah syama — how could we be happy after killing? The verse is asking a real question. Arjuna is canvassing a future he cannot picture — himself, alive, in a kingdom built on the deaths of his own teachers and grandfathers. The picture refuses to render.

Ramsukhdas Maharaj points to the structural problem. Arjuna has been overrun by mamata-janita-moha — the delusion born of attachment. Attachment looks like love and feels like clarity. But when it runs strong it suppresses viveka, the discrimination that distinguishes one kind of action from another. Without viveka, the kshatriya's duty becomes invisible. Arjuna cannot see what he is supposed to do because he can only see whom he is supposed to do it to.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna · vocative Mādhava

preceded by — BG 1.36

What joy could come to us from killing the Dhārtarāṣṭras, O Janārdana? Sin alone would cling to us for slaying these aggressors.

What's going on

We have no right to kill the sons of Dhritarashtra, who are our own kin. How could we ever be happy, Madhava, having slain our own people?

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.37───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.37───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.37───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.37───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.37───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.37───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.37───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.37───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.37───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.37───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.37───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.37───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.37───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.37───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

───→here1.37───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.37───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.37───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.37───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.37───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.37───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.37───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

We must not kill kinstation · other · station 7/20

───→here1.37───→

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

1.30Skin burns, mind reels───→here1.37───→2.20The unborn dehī

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.37───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.37───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.37───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.37───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.37───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.37───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.37───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.37───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.37───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.37───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.37───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.37───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.37───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

───→here1.37───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

───→here1.37───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.37───→2.11Madhva first speaks, Jayatīrtha supplies.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunabetween

1.30'Gandivam sramsate hastat tvak chaiva paridahyate, na cha shaknomy avasthatum bh───→here1.37───→2.3Krishna's first response. 'Klaibyam ma sma gamah Partha naitat tvayy upapadyate.

MadhusūdanaclassicalK

Arjuna's grief has two roots, not onebetween

1.1Discrimination overrun by grief and confusion.───→here1.37───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.37───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.37───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.37───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.37───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.37───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.37───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

───→here1.37───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.37───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.37───→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.───→here1.37───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.───→here1.37───→11.21The cosmic-form catalogue is bracketed.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.37───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.37───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.37───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.37───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.37───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.37───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.37───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.37───→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.───→here1.37───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.37───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.37───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.37───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.37───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.37───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.37───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.37───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.37───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 16 occurrences)

हन्तुम्·हत्वा han ×2 — to slay, kill, strike (verbal root) · infinitive / conv
स्व sva ×2 — own, self · compound

show all 14

तस्मात् tasmāt — therefore, from that
न na — not (negation particle)
अर्हाः arha — worthy, deserving (from √arh) · nominative masculine plural noun
वयम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · nominative plural noun
धार्तराष्ट्रान् dhārtarāṣṭra — son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra (esp. Duryodhana et al.) · accusative masculine plural noun
बान्धवान् bāndhava — kinsman, relative; (loose) friend · accusative masculine plural noun
जनम् jana — person, people, folk · accusative masculine singular noun
हि hi — for, indeed, because (particle)
कथम् katham — how?
सुखिनः sukhin — happy one; possessor of sukha · nominative masculine plural noun
स्याम √as — to be (verbal root) · present optative 1st person plural verb
माधव mādhava — Mādhava (epithet of Kṛṣṇa, 'descendant of Madhu') · vocative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01When two parties in a conflict share the same formal sin (vadha-doṣa), on what basis can one party claim moral standing that the other has forfeited — and is that basis accessible to both parties or only to the one who still sees clearly?
02Śrīdhara distinguishes Arjuna's seeing the doṣa from the Kauravas' blindness caused by rājyalobha: is moral clarity itself a form of adhikāra (qualification) that creates a different obligation rather than a license to act identically?

show all 7

03Rāmānuja names Arjuna 'mahāmanāḥ' and 'paramakāruṇikaḥ' even as he collapses — does genuine compassion toward persons in lower-order bonds (bāndhava, kinsman) constitute virtue, error, or both simultaneously within a bhakti framework?
04Madhusūdana's 'hetudaśanācca' maxim (the source-cause determines legitimacy) would collapse any appeal to precedent where the precedent-setters were themselves acting from tainted motives: how widely does this principle apply beyond warfare?
05Arjuna asks 'kathaṃ sukhinaḥ syāma' — how could we be happy after slaying our own? Is his framing of sukha (happiness) as the test of a right action a philosophical category error that the Gītā will systematically replace, or a starting premise the teaching accepts and transforms?
06Three schools (Advaita, Dvaita, Śuddhādvaita) have no bhāṣya on this verse — suggesting that for those commentators, Chapter 1 is a prāsthāna-preamble rather than doctrinal territory. What does it mean for a sacred text that its authoritative interpreters disagree on where the text actually begins?
07Vallabha's silence and Rāmānuja's elaborate sympathy for Arjuna represent opposite hermeneutic postures toward the same moment of collapse: does the absence of a gloss constitute a doctrinal statement in a tradition where every verse is presumed significant?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before refusing a difficult decision by naming it 'too costly to those I love,' inquire whether the category 'those I love' is tracking a real distinction in the world or is itself a cognitive boundary your mind has drawn and then mistaken for a fact. The Advaita discipline is to catch the moment you say 'sva-bāndhavān' — my own kin — and ask whose construction 'sva' is. This does not dissolve care; it exposes when care is being used as a reason-stopper rather than a guide.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's Arjuna is not cruel but misaligned: his compassion, loyalty, and moral seriousness are genuine excellences directed at the wrong axis. The everyday application is to audit not whether you care, but whether your care is structured around the right ultimate — whether your 'great-souledness' (mahāmanastā) is tethered to something that can bear it. Virtues pointing inward at a family circle exhaust themselves; virtues that pass through persons toward Bhagavān are inexhaustible.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's framework asks: in a contested situation, are you acting as the primary agent of your own compassion or as a dependent executor of what Hari requires? The practical move is to disentangle 'what I feel is right' from 'what is actually required of me by the order I serve.' Arjuna's error is that he has promoted his emotional calculus — 'we cannot be happy after slaying kin' — to the rank of a dharmic argument without checking it against the will of the one to whom he is answerable.

Śuddhādvaita

Puṣṭi-mārga sees Arjuna's collapse not as a problem to solve but as part of Kṛṣṇa's design: the darkness before disclosure is built into the līlā. The everyday application is to resist the impulse to resolve anguish by force of will alone. Sometimes the fact that you are stuck — that all your relationships feel like obligations that pull against one another — is the exact configuration Kṛṣṇa uses to bring you to a listening posture. Sit with the collapse long enough to hear what comes next.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's specific discipline: when someone else is doing the thing you believe is wrong, and doing it without apparent guilt, do not take their ease as evidence that it is permitted. Their ease may be the product of 'lobhopahata-viveka' — greed-damaged discernment. Clarity of vision is not a reason to follow the comfortable majority; it is a reason to hold a different line. The person who still sees the doṣa has a greater obligation, not a lesser one, to refrain.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's 'hetudaśanācca' maxim has a direct professional and ethical application: when precedent is cited to justify an action, ask what motivated the precedent-setter. If the answer is greed, fear, or self-interest, the precedent carries no normative weight regardless of how senior the person was. 'Bhīṣma did it' is only a valid argument if Bhīṣma's reason was untainted. The discipline is to trace the root cause, not just the surface behavior, before deciding whether an example is worth following.

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 37: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga