अथ प्रथमोऽध्यायः
अर्जुनविषादयोगः
धृतराष्ट्र उवाच ।
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः ।
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ॥ 1 ॥
Dharmakshetre kurukshetre samavetA yuyutsavaH .
mAmakAH pANDavAshcaiva kimakurvata Sanjaya .. 1 ..
धर्मक्षेत्रे - In the field of righteousness
कुरुक्षेत्रे - in kurukshetra
समवेता -having gathered
युयुत्सवः -desirous of fighting
मामकाः -my people
पाण्डवाः -son of pandu
च -and
एव -only
किम् -what
अकुर्वत -did they do
सञ्जय -O Sanjaya
Meaning :
In the Battlefield, which is also the field of righteousness, O Sanjaya, What did my sons and the sons of Pandu do ?
Significance :
The first verse of Bhagavad Gita is one among the important verses. It reflects the mindset of Dhritharashtra. His thought that he has been denied the kingdom that belongs to him, his thought that only his son should become a king, his jealousy, his insecurity , his partiality, his blindfold love for his son, is the root cause of the this war. This is the only verse spoken by him in the Bhagavad Gita, he uses the terms ‘mAmakAH’ and ‘PAndavaH’, he says kauravas as my children and names yudhishtira and his brothers as ‘the sons of Pandu’. He, being the elder brother of Pandu, on his demise should have treated all the children equally. He did not fulfil the duty of a brother. He, being the ruler, should have used his power to choose the qualified person as the Prince and the next ruler. He did not fulfil his duty as a King. He, being a father should have shown the right path to Duryodhana. He did not fulfil his duty as a father too. Because of his negligence, his whole race is now standing in the war field. Still his mind expects the Pandavas to retreat from the war being influenced by the righteous nature of Kurukshetra. Both Pandavas and Kauravas are entitled to be called as Kauravas , as they belong to the Kuru clan. Here the words of Dhritharashtra reflects his mind!
Bhagavad Gita , the Holy book , serves as an excellent physological text. It gives solutions for each and every situation we face in our life. We can easily see us when we personify our good qualities as the Pandavas and our bad qualities as the Kauravas. This battle happens in our mind everyday. The good need to win the battle for our own betterment. We need a person to whom we can go and talk our mind. We choose that person, with their qualities again. They should be good, they should be kind and at the same time they should be firm, they should live by their words, they should possess good vitues, they should be compassionate etc etc. Here comes Bhagavad Gita with the words of such a person, Lord Krishna. He guides us throughout, to win the battle in our mind, to choose the right path when we are in dilemma.
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