Bhagavad Gita



ಶ್ವಶುರಾನ್ ಸುಹೃದಶ್ಚೈವ ಸೇನಯೋರುಭಯೋರಪಿ ।
ತಾನ್ ಸಮೀಕ್ಷ್ಯ ಸ ಕೌಂತೇಯಃ ಸರ್ವಾನ್ ಬಂಧೂನವಸ್ಥಿತಾನ್ ॥೨೭॥
śvaśurān suhṛdaścaiva senayorubhayorapi |
tān samīkṣya sa kauṃteyaḥ sarvān baṃdhūnavasthitān ||27||
Sloka 1:27
Gist of the sloka:
Seeing all his relatives and friends at the same battlefield, Arjuna felt the sense of emotions and in great sorrowfulness spoke as follows
Explanation:
Seeing all the assembled relatives/friends; Arjuna felt deep pity, sorrow on the possible destructions of them, and poured out his heart to Lord Krishna.
Before proceeding on to rest of the Gita, there is an important issue which needs to be understood well.
At the initial glance, it appears as though Lord Krishna is trying to force Arjuna who appears to be reluctant to fight his relatives. The point to be noted is as a King under Yudhishthira and as a Kshatriya, Arjuna should have noted that those who side with truth and Dharma are his relatives and those who don’t are his enemies. This is the only criteria for a ruler.
It is similar to role of a judge, who irrespective who appears in front of him, the judge is expected to be impartial and implement the judgement favoring dharma.
Also, if Arjuna had expressed the wish that the people of country are risk due to war; not necessarily his relatives/friends he would have demonstrated his even mindedness. Rather he was only concerned with his relatives/friends making him fail as a kshatriya.
Lord Krishna, was therefore trying to set right Arjuna’s value systems by forcing the situation as a step towards psychotherapy,
Arjuna tries multiple ways to convince Lord Krishna about his point of view. Lord Krishna refuses to answer Arjuna on his viewpoints directly, as it would have led to empty discussions based on wrong foundations. Lord Krishna wanted to rather spend the effort in discussing the truth and set right Arjuna’s [and our] value system.