Bhagavad Gita 1.23
Spoken by Sanjaya · Verse 23 of 47
योत्स्यमानानवेक्षेऽहं य एतेऽत्र समागताः। धार्तराष्ट्रस्य दुर्बुद्धेर्युद्धे प्रियचिकीर्षवः॥
yoktsyamānān avekṣe 'haṃ ya ete 'tra samāgatāḥ / dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher yuddhe priyacikīrṣavaḥ
Arjuna calls Duryodhana evil-minded — the last moment of moral clarity before grief clouds everything.
Word by word (5)
- yoktsyamānān avekṣe aham
- — I will survey those who are about to fight
- ya ete atra samāgatāḥ
- — those who have assembled here
- dhārtarāṣṭrasya
- — of Dhritarashtra's son (Duryodhana)
- durbuddheḥ
- — the evil-minded / the wrong-thinking · Arjuna here states clearly his assessment of Duryodhana: durbuddhi (wrong-minded). He has no ambiguity about who started this war and why.
- yuddhe priya-cikīrṣavaḥ
- — desirous of pleasing in battle / wishing to do what is pleasing to (Duryodhana) in war
'Let me see all those who have come to fight — those who wish to please Duryodhana, the wrong-thinking son of Dhritarashtra, in this battle.' (Arjuna has no ambiguity here — he knows why this war began and who caused it.)
A modern analogy
A lawyer who must cross-examine a witness they know personally. They have no doubt about the legal truth of what they're doing — but doing it to someone they care about is another matter entirely. The professional clarity and the personal anguish can coexist.
What it does NOT mean
Arjuna's imminent grief is sometimes misread as moral confusion about whether the war is just. This verse clarifies: Arjuna has no confusion about who is wrong here. His grief comes not from moral uncertainty but from love — he knows the war is necessary AND it will destroy people he loves. These are both true. The Gita teaches how to act from the first truth even while feeling the second.
Take with you
- Arjuna's imminent grief is not moral confusion — he is clear about who is wrong. His grief is about love, not about doubt.
- The ability to see someone as both 'wrong' and 'loved' simultaneously is one of the most difficult human capacities.
- Clarity about what is right does not automatically make acting on it easier when personal costs are high.
Public-domain translations (2) compare all →
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Krishna does as Arjuna asks — immediately, without question or hesitation.
He doesn't even know if winning is preferable — because those he'd kill are those without whom life has no meaning.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
He looked — and saw everyone he has ever loved, lined up to kill or be killed.
Even the fathers-in-law and dearest friends — on both sides. No one is safely 'other.'
Kṣatriya dharma: bravery, vigor, fortitude, skill, not-fleeing-battle, generosity, lordly bearing — born of svabhāva.
Verse 23 of 47 · back to Chapter 1