BG 1.47 — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 1.47Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · Arjuna → Krishna · anuṣṭubh

एवमुक्त्वार्जुनः संख्ये रथोपस्थ उपाविशत् ।

विसृज्य सशरं चापं शोकसंविग्नमानसः ॥

evam uktvārjunaḥ saṃkhye rathopastha upāviśat

visṛjya saśaraṃ cāpaṃ śoka-saṃvigna-mānasaḥ

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

meaning

Having said this on the battlefield, Arjuna sank into the chariot seat, let fall his bow and arrows, and sat there with his mind shaken by grief.

ekras · bhāṣya

Sanjaya speaks for the first time in nineteen verses. "Having said this, Arjuna — his mind shaken through with grief — sat down in the middle of the chariot, throwing aside his bow along with the arrows." The first chapter ends with a body. Not an argument. Not a counter-thesis. Arjuna has finished talking. The arguments have been laid out, the elders cited, the social cost named, the prayashchitta proposed. Now the body answers in its own language. The left hand sets down the Gandiva. The right hand sets down the arrows. The man who came to the field eager, asking to be wheeled into the gap between armies, lowers himself onto the chariot floor and sits.

Ramsukhdas Maharaj points to the cause that runs under all the fine reasoning. The reasoning was correct in form. Cite the elders, name the social damage, fear naraka. Anyone hearing it would say: this is a thoughtful, dharma-respecting man. But the engine that produced the reasoning was not viveka. It was kautumbika-moha — the fog that wrapped itself around family-attachment, took the shape of dharma-talk, and made the most clear-eyed warrior in the world unable to see his own situation. The chapter that opened with Dhritarashtra asking what is happening on the field of dharma ends with Arjuna becoming the answer. The colophon names this chapter Arjuna-vishada-yoga — the yoga of Arjuna's despondency. Despondency is being treated as the first yoga. The body that has collapsed is the necessary precondition for the teaching to begin. Tomorrow's verse opens chapter two.

Krishna is finally going to speak.

Context

where

Chapter 1 · Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Arjuna → Krishna

preceded by — BG 1.46

If the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra slay me here, unarmed and unresisting, that would be the greater good for me.

What's going on

Having said this on the battlefield, Arjuna sank into the chariot seat, let fall his bow and arrows, and sat there with his mind shaken by grief.

Sūtras through this verse (99)

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

1.1Means and end set out as one paired axis.───→here1.47───→2.39Wisdom closes, action opens. Same axis.

MadhvaclassicalT1

Hari is supreme — the running reading-ruleapproach

───→here1.47───→2.12Every soul named here is a real distinct self.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)approach

───→here1.47───→2.47Hold no mine-ness on body or on fruit.

show all 99

Madhvaclassicalmadhva_pratibimba

Madhva Pratibimbaapproach · other

───→here1.47───→2.18Image perishes, source endures

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closeapproach

───→here1.47───→2.18The mirror breaks but the sun is unhurt.

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesapproach

───→here1.47───→2.23Even great gods are unequal in their glory.

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionapproach

───→here1.47───→2.50Release is embodied, blissful, never merging.

MadhvaclassicalT5

Mirror-and-image — how seeming-action worksapproach

───→here1.47───→2.18The image perishes, but the source endures.

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadapproach

───→here1.47───→2.23Nāradīya names what reason cannot prove.

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39The two paths name one practice, one fruit.

MadhvaclassicalT8

Direct vision — the only proximate causeapproach

───→here1.47───→2.46Scripture is a small well when the flood arrives.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do aloneapproach

───→here1.47───→2.23Without worship of Hari no one ever crosses.

MadhvaclassicalT11

Only revealed scripture decides — reason alone cannotapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13Self-survival is settled by śruti, not by reason.

MadhvaclassicalT12

Closure by gloss — the small repertoireapproach

───→here1.47───→2.55'Self' here means mind — a single word redirects.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here1.47───→

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47Only a human body can do new action.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionapproach

───→here1.47───→2.55Drop desire, and the sense of doing falls.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

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

───→here1.47───→2.45Rise above the modes, said in chapter two.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipapproach

───→here1.47───→2.31A warrior's own duty is the war he faces.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterapproach

───→here1.47───→2.41A one-pointed mind is the seeker's mark.

RamsukhdasclassicalG

Equanimity in everythingapproach

───→here1.47───→2.14Bear pleasure and pain as a passing season.

RamsukhdasclassicalH

All paths arrive at the same roomapproach

───→here1.47───→2.55Each path names its sage in its own words.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here1.47───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here1.47───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

1.30Skin burns, mind reels───→here1.47───→2.20The unborn dehī

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictbetween · other

1.46Better that they kill me───→here1.47───→2.5Better to live by alms

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

1.1Dialectical chain present from line one.───→here1.47───→2.39Nanu… tatrāha: one pair, named.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

1.2Same form repeats on the next verse.───→here1.47───→2.10Word-fit holds even at the dialogue's pivot.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→2.47Right to action

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→2.13Bodies pass, the dehī does not

Ekrasmodernvairagya

Vairāgya — dispassion as instrumentapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→2.55Sthitaprajna defined

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmoderntrigunametry

Trigunametry — guṇas as embodied statesapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→2.41Single-pointed buddhi

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here1.47───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementapproach · other

───→here1.47───→2.62Brooding breeds attachment

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Shankara Jnana Nishthaapproach · other

───→here1.47───→2.10Thesis flat

ŚaṅkaraclassicalA

Sorrow and delusion are the diseaseapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10Sorrow and delusion are the seed of saṁsāra.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10First lay down all action, then knowledge frees.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10Some say: combine knowledge with rites.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39So far for the seeker of the real; now hear yoga.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalE

Ignorance is the only enemyapproach

───→here1.47───→2.69Wisdom rises; ignorance fades like dawn-darkness.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here1.47───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10Pāṇḍitya is knowing the Self — Bṛhadāraṇyaka.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalK

Liberation while still embodiedapproach

───→here1.47───→2.72Standing in this state, one reaches Brahman..

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asiapproach

───→here1.47───→2.1First hexad opens, tvam-pada implicit.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47Primary fitness needs ripened conditions.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsapproach

───→here1.47───→3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologyapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47No-fruit ≠ no-karma: kāmya-tyāga ≠ nitya-tyāga.

ĀnandagiriclassicalG

Anūdyate, na vidhīyateapproach

───→here1.47───→2.55A description, not a command. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhiapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47Action stays; the wish for fruit goes.

ĀnandagiriclassicalK

Upasaṃhāra — recap as instrumentapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Wisdom section wound up here.

JayatīrthaclassicalA

Body and embodied — the inference runs on the dehī sideapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13Same I as a child is now in this body.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseapproach

───→here1.47───→2.12Plurals block monistic absorption.

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13One-self-many-bodies runs out of grammar.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyaapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Wrap prior section, then announce next.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here1.47───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

───→here1.47───→2.13Pratyabhijñā backed by śruti citation.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

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

───→here1.47───→2.13Two objections, three pādas glossed.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availableapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13Recognition is literal across bodies.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥapproach

───→here1.47───→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───→here1.47───→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.───→here1.47───→2.1Pity and despair treated as guests, not host.

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanaapproach · other

───→here1.47───→2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningapproach

───→here1.47───→2.62'Dhyayato vishayan pumsah sangas teshupajayate, sangat sanjayate kamah.' The out

Gauravmodernheart_leadership

Heart Leadershipapproach

───→here1.47───→2.48'Yoga-sthah kuru karmani sangam tyaktva Dhananjaya, siddhy-asiddhyoh samo bhutva

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47Middle finger. Nishkama karma plus the failure-gym. 'Karmany evadhikaras te, ma

Gauravmodernmemorial_pastoral

Memorial Pastoralapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13The memorial-register anchor. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, ta

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101approach

───→here1.47───→2.13Reincarnation pillar. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara, tatha deha

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidapproach

───→here1.47───→3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiapproach

───→here1.47───→2.13Body changes. 'Dehino'smin yatha dehe kaumaram yauvanam jara.' Gaurav opens the

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

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

───→here1.47───→3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Two minds, two paths, never one rule for all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Pure mind for knowing, impure mind for acting.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingapproach

───→here1.47───→2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Like light and dark, they cannot share a place.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runapproach

───→here1.47───→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.───→here1.47───→11.50Sañjaya names the viśva-rūpa as witness.

VallabhaclassicalJ

Strategic silence — pointers, not absencesbetween

1.31The despondency catalogue goes to Viṭṭhaleśa.───→here1.47───→11.21The cosmic-form catalogue is bracketed.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10The teaching opens at the carama-bracket.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here1.47───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorapproach

───→here1.47───→2.12Plurals refute the unitary-self read.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39What chapter 3 will resolve, named here.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Sāṅkhya and yoga: not two roads.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefapproach

───→here1.47───→2.10Krishna smiles before the first mā-śucaḥ.

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedapproach

───→here1.47───→3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesapproach

───→here1.47───→2.1Six-verse prelude lays out the whole map.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39The yoga-mind is just the sāṅkhya-mind, retold.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personapproach

───→here1.47───→2.12The eternal among the eternal, conscious among the conscious.

VallabhaclassicalH

Stilling the mind — into the Lordapproach

───→here1.47───→2.48Yoga itself is just sameness of mind.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridapproach

───→here1.47───→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.───→here1.47───→2.7I am sunk in pity; ask, do not order.

ŚrīdharaclassicalB

The Lord descends out of compassionbetween

1.1The first epithet: supremely compassionate.───→here1.47───→4.7When right wanes, I take a body.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingapproach

───→here1.47───→2.39Work polishes the inner instrument first.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here1.47───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerapproach

───→here1.47───→2.24The self is one unbroken awareness.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessapproach

───→here1.47───→2.45Exit the modes — not better modes are the goal.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalG

Saṃvit: one referent under many namesapproach

───→here1.47───→2.20Cit alone — the self cannot be destroyed.

RāmānujaclassicalB

The śāstra is one bracket (2.12 → 18.66)approach

───→here1.47───→2.10Bracket opens here.

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)approach

───→here1.47───→2.47Act, but not for the fruit of acting.

Śabda · lemmas (13 unique · 13 occurrences)

उक्त्वा vac — to speak (verbal root) · conv
उपाविशत् upa-√viś — (upa- + viś: to enter) · impf indicative 3rd person singular
विसृज्य visṛj — to release, emit, dispatch (vi- + √sṛj) · conv

show all 13

एवम् evam — thus, in this way
अर्जुनः arjuna — Arjuna (the third Pāṇḍava); also: white, bright · nominative masculine singular noun
संख्ये saṃkhya — battle; reckoning (from sam- + √khyā) · locative neuter singular noun
रथोपस्थे rathopastha — the seat of the chariot (ratha + upastha) · locative masculine singular noun
स sa — with, having (prefix); also: he, that (pronoun)
शरम् śara — arrow · accusative masculine singular noun
चापम् cāpa — bow · accusative masculine singular noun
शोक śoka — grief, sorrow (from √śuc) · compound
संविग्न saṃ-√vij — to be agitated, tremble (sam- + √vij) · compound participle (compound member)
मानसः mānasa — pertaining to the mind; mental (from manas) · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Is viṣāda (Arjuna's collapse) a defect to be overcome or a necessary precondition for genuine spiritual instruction — and does the answer differ across schools?
02Arjuna is described as śoka-saṃvigna-mānasaḥ: does saṃvigna (agitated, convulsed) imply moral sensitivity, psychological weakness, or both, and how does each school weigh this?

show all 7

03The verse specifies he drops the bow sa-śaram (together with its arrows): why does the text note the arrows separately, and what doctrinal weight, if any, does this detail carry?
04Rāmānuja calls Arjuna mahāmanāḥ and paramakāruṇika — yet Arjuna refuses to fight. Can compassion (karuṇā) itself be a form of adharma, and how does Viśiṣṭādvaita navigate this tension?
05Vallabha's signal word is ārtatvam ('affliction'): at what point does legitimate grief become the soteriologically productive ārtatva that opens one to divine grace, rather than mere tamas?
06Since Śaṅkara and Madhva both begin commentary at chapter 2, what does their shared silence on Chapter 1 imply about the pedagogical status of Arjuna's viṣāda in their respective systems?
07The chariot-seat (rathopastha) is the battlefield space between the two armies: is Arjuna's sitting down a withdrawal from the field or a re-centering that makes him available to the teaching about to come?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a professional faces total breakdown — burnout so complete that the usual strategies have run out — Advaita reads that emptiness as the cracking of the false 'doer-self' (kartā). The instruction is not to rebuild the ego-machinery faster but to sit with the collapse long enough to ask whose collapse this is. The dropped bow is permission to stop performing competence for a moment and inquire into the witness who remains.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's Arjuna sweats and shakes not from cowardice but from the weight of caring too much. When a caregiver or leader is paralysed by the scale of harm they might cause — a doctor choosing between treatments, a manager forced to downsize a team — Viśiṣṭādvaita says: this anguish is not weakness; it is your dharmic sensitivity speaking. Sit in the chariot-seat; let the Bhagavān (the deeper intelligence present with you) instruct what compassion actually requires.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's framing insists that the jīva is never acting alone. When every plan has failed and you find yourself helpless, Dvaita's everyday counsel is: stop treating this as your solo problem. The Lord who has been present throughout is not absent now. The collapse is the moment the dependent self finally stops over-riding the partnership. Act next as a junior partner asking the senior for the brief — not as someone who has given up.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's ārtatvam points toward a specific devotional posture: when you have genuinely exhausted yourself in service — for a child, a cause, a community — and find yourself sarvatoduhkhena nirviṇṇa ('utterly disheartened on every side'), Puṣṭi-mārga says that is not the time for fresh strategies but for receiving. Put down the instrument (the plan, the project, the argument) and open to grace. The affliction itself is the credential for receiving Kṛṣṇa's unconditional prasāda.

Bhakti

In Śrīdhara's devotional reading, the first requirement for learning is emptiness — the teacher can only fill a vessel that has been set down. Practically: before entering a difficult conversation, a mentoring session, or a retreat, there is value in a deliberate act of 'setting down the bow' — disarming the prepared arguments and the defended identity — so that genuine exchange can begin. Viṣāda as voluntary preparation rather than involuntary collapse.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's synthesis suggests that the deepest grief and the deepest love arrive at the same threshold. In practice: when confusion about 'what is really true' (Advaita inquiry) and grief over what you are about to lose (bhakti longing) coincide, that intersection is not pathological — it is the optimal entry-point for transformation. Do not resolve the paradox prematurely into either pure detachment or pure emotional surrender; hold both, as Arjuna holds the chariot-seat between the two armies.

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 47: Arjuna to Krishna — Arjuna-Viṣāda-Yoga