Bhagavatgita a detailed study-chapter1

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20. aTha vyavasThithaan dhrshtvaa dhaarthrashtraan

kapidhvajaH

pravrtthe sasthrasmpaathe Dhanurudhyamya paandavaH

 

21. hrsheekeSam thadhaa vaakyam idham aaha maheepathe

 

Then Arjuna, who had Hanuman on his banner, seeing the sons of Dhratharaashtras, took up his bow when the missiles were about to fly.

Oh king, he then spoke these words to Krishna .

arjuna uvaacha

 

Arjuna said,

 

Senayoh ubhayoH maDhye raTham sThapaya me achyutha

 

Achyutha, place my chariot between the two armies.

 

vyavasThithaan dhaartharaashtran dhrshtva- seeing the sons of Dhrthraashtra assembled there. This shows that Arjuna when he asked Krishna to take his chariot between the two armies, senayoH ubhayoH maDhye, saw only Dhuryodhana and his brothers and people like Bheeshma and Drona were far from his mind . This is explicit from his words in the next sloka. But what he wanted to see and what he actually saw was entirely different, as per the will of the Lord.

 

Arjuna is referred to as kapidhvaja, because he had Hanuman as a flag of his chariot. Hanuman when Bheema met him without knowing his identity and challanged him and later knowing who he was requested him to help them in the battle, he agreed to be on the flag of the chariot of Arjuna, to give him victory. Sanjaya here reminds Dhratharaashtra of this.

 

Pravrtthe Sasthra sampaathe, when the warriors were about to discharge their missiles,

 

Dhanurudhyamya- raising his bow, which shows his eagerness to fight which was later changed by the will of the Lord to make him say, gaandeevam sramsathe hasthaath, my bow is slipping from my hand.

 

Hrsheekesam- The Lord is the Hrsheekesa, who controls our senses and hence he brought about the transformation in Arjuna out of His krpaa because he wanted to give the gospel of the Gita to humanity and the context was apt because we all need Gita only when we are at the brink of war or of taking an important decision of our life. This will be elaborated later at the end of the chapter.