BG 1.39 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.39Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · Janārdana · anuṣṭubh

कथं न ज्ञेयमस्माभिः पापादस्मान् निवर्तितुम् ।

कुलक्षयकृतं दोषं प्रपश्यद्भिर् जनार्दन ॥

kathaṃ na jñeyam asmābhiḥ pāpād asmān nivartitum

kula-kṣaya-kṛtaṃ doṣaṃ prapaśyadbhir janārdana

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

meaning

Arjuna asks: O Janārdana, how could we not know to turn from sin, when we can see right before us the evil that comes from destroying a family line?

ekras · bhāṣya

Arjuna draws the asymmetry. "O Janardana, how could we — who can clearly see the evil of destroying a family — fail to know enough to turn back from this sin?" The argument completes itself across two verses. 1.38: granted that the Kauravas, blinded by greed, do not see the wrong. 1.39: but we are not blinded. We see. So we are MORE accountable. Prapashyadbhih — "by those who clearly see." The prefix pra strengthens pashya (look) into something like "see thoroughly, see all the way through." Arjuna is claiming this seeing for himself and his side. Papat asman nivartitum — to turn ourselves away from this sin. Nivartitum is "to cease, to come back, to withdraw." The same root as nivritti — withdrawal — that will become a central term in later chapters. Here Arjuna uses it for what he wants to do right now: pull back from the war. Arjuna's reasoning is structurally complete. Knowledge condemns us; therefore we must withdraw. The Gita will respond to this for the next 17 chapters by showing that the same knowledge can also commit us — not to withdraw but to act differently.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna · vocative Janārdana

preceded by — BG 1.38

Greed has so clouded their minds that they cannot see the wrong of tearing a family apart, nor the sin of turning against allies.

What's going on

Arjuna asks: O Janārdana, how could we not know to turn from sin, when we can see right before us the evil that comes from destroying a family line?

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.39───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.39───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.39───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.39───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.39───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.39───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.39───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.39───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.39───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.39───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.39───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.39───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.39───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.39───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

───→here1.39───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.39───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.39───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.39───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.39───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.39───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.39───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Should we not turn backstation · other · station 9/20

───→here1.39───→

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

1.30Skin burns, mind reels───→here1.39───→2.20The unborn dehī

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.39───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.39───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.39───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.39───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.39───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.39───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.39───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.39───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.39───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.39───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.39───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.39───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.39───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

───→here1.39───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

───→here1.39───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.39───→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───→here1.39───→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.───→here1.39───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.39───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.39───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.39───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.39───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.39───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.39───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

───→here1.39───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.39───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.39───→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.───→here1.39───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.───→here1.39───→11.21The cosmic-form catalogue is bracketed.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.39───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.39───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.39───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.39───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.39───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.39───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.39───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.39───→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.───→here1.39───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.39───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.39───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.39───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.39───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.39───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.39───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.39───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.39───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 13 occurrences)

कथम् katham — how?
न na — not (negation particle)

show all 13

ज्ञेयम् jñā — to know (verbal root) · nominative neuter singular gdv noun
अस्माभिः mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · instrumental plural noun
पापात् pāpa — sin, evil, demerit · ablative neuter singular noun
अस्मात् idam — this (proximal demonstrative) · ablative neuter singular noun
निवर्तितुम् nivṛt — to cease, turn back (ni- + √vṛt 'turn') · infinitive
कुल kula — family, lineage, clan · compound
क्षय kṣaya — decay, destruction (from √kṣi) · compound
कृतम् √kṛ — to do, make (verbal root) · accusative masculine singular participle noun
दोषम् doṣa — fault, defect, sin · accusative masculine singular noun
जनार्दन janārdana — rouser of people (epithet of Kṛṣṇa: jana + √ard) · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.36, 1.44, 3.1, 3.2, 10.18, 11.51
प्रपश्यद्भिः pra-√dṛś · instrumental masculine plural present participle verb

Praśna · so what (7)

01Arjuna says 'we who clearly see' (prapaśyadbhiḥ) — does ethical clarity by itself constitute a sufficient reason not to act, or does it merely reframe what kind of action is required?
02Madhusūdana argues that even survivors (children, women) are 'swallowed' by adharma when the lineage's practitioners are killed — what theory of moral contagion or institutional fragility does this imply, and how does it compare across the five schools represented here?

show all 7

03Rāmānuja's bhāṣya at this juncture describes Arjuna as supremely dharmic (paramadharmikaḥ) even as he refuses to fight — does this mean the most dharmic response to a dharmic dilemma is sometimes paralysis, and if so, why does Kṛṣṇa rebuke it?
04The verse addresses Kṛṣṇa as Janārdana — the one who stirs or agitates people — precisely when Arjuna is asking permission to stop. What is the exegetical significance of this name-choice at the moment Arjuna seeks inaction?
05Madhusūdana treats the destruction of kula-dharma as an 'evil chain' (anarthanubandha) that makes victory undesirable: is this a consequentialist argument, a virtue-ethics argument, or something structurally different that Indic moral philosophy requires its own category for?
06Three of six commentators (Śaṅkara, Madhva, Vallabha) are silent on this verse. Does that silence itself carry doctrinal information — i.e., does beginning commentary at 2.10/2.11 signal that the first chapter's moral anguish is framed by those schools as phenomenologically real but soteriologically irrelevant?
07Arjuna uses the first-person plural 'asmābhiḥ' (by us) — not 'by me.' What does the shift to collective agency imply about the nature of the sin he fears, and how do Advaita (individual avidyā) and Dvaita (distinct jīvas each accountable) read this plurality differently?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you find yourself constructing an airtight ethical argument for why you should withdraw from a difficult situation — noticing the reasoning is perfectly clear, the fault is visible, the logic is sound — pause. Advaita asks: is this clarity of analysis (vyāvahārika buddhi) being mistaken for the discernment that can actually free you? The sharpness of the argument may itself be the moha (delusion). Sit with the question before acting on the conclusion.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

When compassion for others — family, colleagues, community — becomes the reason you stop showing up fully, Rāmānuja's reading of Arjuna offers a corrective. The qualities that make you deeply relational (mahāmanāḥ, great-souled; kāruṇikaḥ, compassionate) are real and good, but they must be surrendered into action rather than converted into inaction. Feel the grief fully, then offer it to the one you serve — and act.

show all 6

Dvaita

You can correctly perceive that a course of action will cause harm (you see the doṣa, the fault) and still be wrong about what to do next, because your assessment is not the final authority. Madhva's frame: moral clarity is necessary, not sufficient. The next question is always — what has been asked of me by the one I am accountable to? Integrity requires that subordination, not just the accuracy of your ethical perception.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's Puṣṭi-mārga suggests that when an action feels like it will damage something you love — a relationship, a tradition, a family structure — and yet it keeps being placed in front of you, consider the possibility that what looks like destruction from your vantage point is being woven into something by a larger will. This is not passive fatalism; it is the discipline of holding grief and trust simultaneously rather than letting grief alone decide.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's philological instinct applied practically: before deciding that a situation is beyond repair, name exactly what is being destroyed and by whom. Arjuna is precise — it is kula-kṣaya (lineage-destruction), and it is the kul-dharmas (specific inherited duties) that will have no one left to perform them. The practice is specificity: vague dread is not the same as named harm. Naming the harm clearly is the first act of honest discernment.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's insight about adharma swallowing even those who survive — bāla-ādi (children and others) — maps directly onto organizational or family life: when a community's core practitioners are eliminated or demoralized, the damage does not stay contained to them. It propagates to the inexperienced, the young, the unprotected. The application is structural: protect the carriers of practice, not just the practice in the abstract, because the living transmission is what holds the whole.

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 39: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga