Bhagavad Gita 11.26
Spoken by Arjuna · Verse 26 of 55 · Arjuna's Journey
अमी च त्वां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्राः सर्वे सहैवावनिपालसङ्घैः। भीष्मो द्रोणः सूतपुत्रस्तथाऽसौ सहास्मदीयैरपि योधमुख्यैः ॥
amī ca tvāṃ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve sahaivāvanipālasaṅghaiḥ| bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūtaputrastathā'sau sahāsmadīyairapi yodhamukhyaiḥ ||
All sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra — Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa, our champions — rush rapidly into Your terrible, tusk-ridden mouths!
Word by word (3)
- dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve
- — all sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra · The 100 Kauravas and their allied kings — the entire enemy army from Arjuna's perspective. This verse is unique in the Gita: the cosmic vision names SPECIFIC individuals from the Mahābhārata narrative. The abstract cosmic terror (V20-V25) suddenly becomes personal — Arjuna is seeing people he knows rushing into dissolution. The cosmic form has made the battle's outcome visible BEFORE IT HAPPENS. This is the precognitive dimension: what Arjuna feared (killing these people) is shown as already determined in cosmic time.
- bhīṣma-droṇa-sūtaputra
- — Bhīṣma, Droṇa, and the charioteer's son (Karṇa) · Sūtaputra = charioteer's son = Karṇa, born of Kuntī and the sun-god Sūrya but raised by the charioteer Adhiratha. Arjuna uses this socially derogatory epithet rather than his name. The three names represent the highest moral and martial challenges of the battle: Bhīṣma = the unassailable grand-patriarch; Droṇa = Arjuna's own guru; Karṇa = Arjuna's equal/rival, also Kuntī's son (Arjuna's half-brother, unknown at this point). These are the three people Arjuna most dreads killing. The cosmic form shows them entering without Arjuna's choice — the outcome is cosmic, not personal.
- tvaramāṇāḥ viśanti
- — rushing hastily, they enter · Tvaramāṇāḥ = hastening, rushing (from √tvar = to hasten, be quick). This same viśanti (enter) was used in V11.21 for the sura-saṅghāḥ (divine hosts) entering the cosmic form. Now it applies to human armies. The haste motif (tvaramāṇāḥ) will be amplified in V27 and V28-V29: the speed increases, the inevitability deepens. This is not forced entry — they RUSH in. The cosmic dissolution attracts as much as it consumes.
Arjuna now sees specific people from the coming battle — all the Kauravas, Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa, and even his own warriors — rushing swiftly into the cosmic form's terrifying mouths. The abstract cosmic vision suddenly becomes personal.
A modern analogy
Imagine watching a vision of history in which the people you most love and most dread are swept together into the same inevitable current, and you see it before it happens. Not a dream — a cosmic fact already accomplished in time.
Sit with this: Arjuna sees even his beloved teacher Droṇa and his rival-half-brother Karṇa entering the cosmic mouths before the battle happens. How does knowing that outcomes are 'already done' change how you approach a difficult task or conflict?
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
[V26-27 combined in Swarupananda] Into Thy mouths, fearful with teeth and terrible as Yama's fires of dissolution, — all yonder kings and warriors of the two armies rush with speed — some are found with their heads crushed between Thy teeth. [4]
Lo! to the cavern hurled of Thy wide-opened throat, and lips white-tushed, I see our noblest ones, Great Dhritarashtra's sons, Bhishma, Drona, and Karna, caught and crushed! The Kings and Chiefs drawn in, that gaping gorge within; the best of both these armies torn and riven! [7]
And all these sons of Dhritarashtra, together with all the bands of kings, and Bhishma and Drona, and this charioteer's son likewise, together with our principal warriors also, are rapidly entering your mouths, fearful and horrific by reason of your jaws. [9]
And all these sons of Dhritarashtra, together with the hosts of kings, and Bhishma, and Drona, and also this Suta's son (Karna), accompanied by even the principal warriors of our side, are quickly entering thy terrible mouths rendered fierce by thy tusks. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Even the fathers-in-law and dearest friends — on both sides. No one is safely 'other.'
I am Time, the world-destroyer — even without you, none of these warriors shall survive; they are already slain!
The soul does not slay, and cannot be slain — both the slayer and the slain have mistaken the soul for the body.
Whoever does not turn the cosmic wheel of giving — living only for sense-pleasure — lives in vain.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises — I project Myself forth. The divine responds to every crisis.
Verse 26 of 55 · back to Chapter 11