Bhagavad Gita 1.30
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 30 of 47 · Arjuna's Journey
न च शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः। निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव॥
na ca śaknomy avasthātuṃ bhramatīva ca me manaḥ / nimittāni ca paśyāmi viparītāni keśava
He cannot stand. His mind spins. He sees only bad signs ahead.
Word by word (5)
- na ca śaknomi avasthātum
- — I cannot stand / I am unable to remain
- bhramati iva ca me manaḥ
- — my mind seems to whirl / reel · 'Bhramati' — to wander, to spin, to be confused. The mind is no longer stable. This is the mental dimension of the collapse accompanying the physical symptoms in V28-29.
- nimittāni ca paśyāmi
- — and I see omens
- viparītāni
- — inauspicious / adverse / reversed · Traditional: bad omens (crows calling, trembling earth, etc.) that signal catastrophe. Modern reading: Arjuna's perception has inverted — he sees defeat rather than victory in what lies ahead.
- keśava
- — O Kesava — Krishna (one with beautiful hair / slayer of Keshi demon)
'I cannot stay on my feet. My mind is reeling. And O Kesava — all the signs I see point to disaster.'
A modern analogy
The feeling before a very bad diagnosis, or the moment you realize a relationship is ending, or when you see financial ruin approaching — when the body won't hold still and the mind won't focus, and everything you look at seems to confirm the worst. This is Arjuna's state: dizziness, spinning thoughts, and a perceptual field organized entirely around catastrophe.
Take with you
- When the mind whirls, it loses the capacity for discernment — this is why the Gita cannot be learned in crisis without prior practice.
- Nimittāni (omens) were taken seriously in ancient India — but here they may also represent Arjuna's distorted perception: seeing disaster everywhere because his mind is already overwhelmed.
- The inability to stand — both literally and metaphorically — is the body saying: the current frame cannot hold this moment.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Even the striving wise man's mind is forcibly stolen by turbulent senses. This is honest — not shameful.
Restless, turbulent, strong, unyielding — O Krishna, restraining the mind is as hard as restraining the wind.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.
Peaceful, fearless, vowed to brahmacharya, mind on Krishna — yoked in practice, with the Supreme as the final goal.
More daivī qualities: ahiṃsā, satya, akrodha, tyāga, śānti, apaiśuna, dayā, aloluptva, mārdava, hrī, acāpala.
Seeing the opposing army, a worried prince rushes to his teacher for reassurance.
Verse 30 of 47 · back to Chapter 1