Arjuna's Vishada Yoga: Prince Arjuna's anguish

Disclaimer: All details are with regards to the book Bhagavad Gita As it is by his divine grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada founder-Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.  However, the summary, views expressed and errors in the interpretation and understanding are the authors' own opinions. The goal of this write-up is to serve as class notes for the author in the upcoming exams.

Chapter 1: With 46 shlokas (in contrast to 47 in other versions), the first chapter "Arjuna's Vishada Yoga" is of intermediate length and sets the stage for the chapters that follow. 

• Dhritrashtra (Shloka 1): 1 sholka
• Sanjaya (Shloka 2-20; 24-27; 46): 24 shlokas
• Arjuna (Shloka 21-23; 28-45): 21 sholkas

Brief Summary: In this chapter, the Kurukshetra battlefield is described by Sanjaya, (the counselor of king Dhritrashtra) in response to the request of the blind king Dhritrashtra. With the help of the special power given to Sanjaya by his guru Vyasa, he was able to envision the battlefield from Dhritrashtra's room. This chapter deals with the apprehensions of the Pandava prince Arjuna in waging a war against his cousins the Kauravas despite his proficiency as a warrior (being a Kshatriya). Sometimes we are also very indecisive and are not wanting to take up new challenges despite being skilled and capable. Our mind has a tendency to underestimate our abilities and comes up with numerous reasons for not performing a particular task. The mind tends to remain in its comfort zone. This chapter highlights this aspect of the human mind. 

Salient observations:

1. The warriors on the side of the Pandavas included Yuyudhana (i.e., Satyaki), Virata, Drupada (i.e., Yajnasena), Dhristaketu, Chekitana, and the King of Kashi, Purujit, Kuntibhoja, Saibya, Yudhamanyu, Uttamauja, sons of Draupadi and the son of Subhadra with Bhima as their General. (Shlokas 4-6)
2. With Bhishma as their General, the Kauravas had great warriors like Drona, Karna, Kripa, Ashwathama, Vikarna, and son of Somadatta (i.e., Bhurishrava). (Shloka 8)
3. The battle cry signifying the beginning of the war is characterized by the blowing of various musical instruments which was started by Bhishma. The description of conch shells blown by various warriors is given in detail with conch shell names of the 5 Pandava princes and Lord Krishna (Lord Krishna: Panchajanya; Arjuna: Devadatta; Bhima: Paundra; King Yudhisthira: Anantavijaya; Nakula: Sughosa; Sahadeva: Manipushaka). (Shlokas 12-19)
4. In Shloka 12 it is mentioned that Bheeshma roared like a lion. In Shloka 14 it is described that Arjuna's chariots were drawn by white horses. 
5. Having seen the combatants in both the armies prince Arjuna refuses to fight and provides the following reasons for his refusal (this observation is inspired by writings of DiscoverSuperSoul):

D: Discontentment (inability to enjoy victory): Shlokas 32-35 

I: Indecision: (confusion regarding the correct path): Sholkas from chapter 2

C: Compassion (attachment towards his own kinsmen): Shloka 31

E: End of the dynasty (and the consequences thereof): Shlokas 39-43

F: Fear of accruing sin (karmic consequences of sin): Shlokas 36-38

          

We provide the mnemonic of DICE-F (remember as DICE Failure) to remember the reasons given by Arjuna. The entire war is the consequence of gambling with dice and Yudhiṣṭhira's failure.

Favorite Shlokas:

Sholka 10:

aparyaptam tad asmakam balam bhismabhiraksitam

paryaptam tv idam etesam balam bhimabhiraksitam

Sholkas 28-29:

drstvemam sva-janam krsna yuyutsum samupasthitam

sidanti mama gatrani mukham ca parisusyati

vepathus ca sarire me roma-harsas ca jayate

gandivam sramsate hastat tvak caiva paridahyate

Sholka 44:

aho bata mahat papam kartum vyavasita vayam

yad rajya-sukha-lobhena hantum sva-janam udyatah

Our Doubts:

1. Why are the conch shells described in such great detail? What is the significance of these sounds?
2. Should one perform his duties diligently even if it is going to cause suffering for others?

Names of Arjuna and Krishna:

Arjuna:

1. Gudakesha
2. Partha
3. Kaunteya
4. Dhananjaya
5. Kapi-dhvajah

Krishna:

1. Hrishikesha
2. Madhava
3. Janardhana
4. Varshneya
5. Achyuta
6. Keshava
7. Madhusudhana

Bhagwad Geeta in numbers - a speculative commentary

The data in this table is compiled from the resources available online and corresponds to the version of the Bhagwad Geeta that has 700 shlokas/slokas.

Chapter	Title	Total	Krishna	Arjuna	Sanjaya	Dhritrashtra	Percentage_by_chapter	Cumulative percentage
1	Arjuna_s_Vishada_Yoga	47	0	21	25	1	6.71	6.71
2	Sankhya_Yoga	72	63	6	3	0	10.29	17.00
3	Karma_Yoga	43	40	3	0	0	6.14	23.14
4	Jnana-Karma-Sanyasa_Yoga	42	41	1	0	0	6.00	29.14
5	Karma-Sanyasa_Yoga	29	28	1	0	0	4.14	33.29
6	Atma-Samyama_Yoga	47	42	5	0	0	6.71	40.00
7	Jnana-Vijnana_Yoga	30	30	0	0	0	4.29	44.29
8	Aksara-ParaBrahma_Yoga	28	26	2	0	0	4.00	48.29
9	Raja-Vidya-Raja-Guhya_Yoga	34	34	0	0	0	4.86	53.14
10	Vibhuti_Yoga	42	27	7	8	0	6.00	59.14
11	Viswarupa-Darsana_Yoga	55	22	33	0	0	7.86	67.00
12	Bhakti_Yoga	20	19	1	0	0	2.86	69.86
13	Ksetra-Ksetrajna-Vibhaga_Yoga	34	34	0	0	0	4.86	74.71
14	Gunatraya-Vibhaga_Yoga	27	26	1	0	0	3.86	78.57
15	Purushottama_Yoga	20	20	0	0	0	2.86	81.43
16	Daivasura-Sampad-Vibhaga_Yoga	24	24	0	0	0	3.43	84.86
17	Shraddhatraya-Vibhaga_Yoga	28	27	1	0	0	4.00	88.86
18	Moksha-Sanyasa_Yoga	78	71	2	5	0	11.14	100.00
Total	Bhagwad_Geeta	700	574	84	41	1
	Percentage_by_character		82.00	12.00	5.86	0.14

The table given above provides the count of slokas in each of the chapters of Bhagwad Geeta. Details of the number of slokas are further separated by the characters attributed to these slokas. In addition to the actual numbers, the values are also summarised as sums, percentages, and cumulative percentages to help with the speculative commentary given below.

Commentary:

1. The Bhagwad Geeta has been described as "a dialogue between Pandava prince Arjuna and his guide and charioteer Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead". However, these numbers help highlight the fact that in addition to Krishna and Arjuna, the text contains two more characters (i.e., Sanjaya and Dhritrashtra).
2. It should be noted that Dhritrashtra appears only in the first chapter. The first shloka of the first chapter to be precise. Although his counselor Sanjaya appears in four chapters (the first two, chapter 10, and the last chapter), the actual number of shlokas attributed to the kuru king Dhritrashtra is only 1. It looks almost as if the character of Dhritrashtra was forgotten. Even the sporadic appearance of Sanjaya at the beginning middle and end seems a bit surprising. Is it possible that these two characters were added to the Bhagwad Geeta at a later date?
3. Although the Bhagwad Geeta is considered a "dialogue", the percentage of shlokas attributed to each character shows that the bulk of the shlokas (82%) is coming from the lord Krishna and only 12% is from Arjuna. Even Sanjaya with his observer status has almost 6% of slokas. In fact, five chapters (i.e., 7, 9, 13, 15, and 16) are monologues with only the lord Bhagavan Krishna speaking. Even the other chapters are strongly skewed with the lord Bagvan Krishna speaking more than 90% of the time in eight chapters (i.e., 3, 4, 5, 8, 12, 14, 17, and 18) and more than 85% in another two chapters (i.e., 2 and 6). Only chapters 10 and 11 seem more balanced with the lord contributing ~64% and 40% respectively. Chapter-1 again stands out with 0% contribution from the supreme personality of godhead.
4. Half the shlokas are completed by the time we reach the 9th of the 18 chapters. Overall, the content is rather evenly distributed across the 18 chapters with the exception of chapters 2 and 18 which contribute more than 10% each. 

Several luminaries have written commentaries or Bhashya's on the interpretation of the Gita. Apparently writing a commentary on the god's song was considered a requirement for scholastic advance in the ancient world. However, it is unclear to me how many of these commentaries were written without anticipation of results.