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Ch 1 · Bg 1.1 · Para 1/4

Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kuruksetra

Bg 1.1
Text
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya
Synonyms

dhṛtarāṣṭraḥ-King Dhṛtarāṣṭra; uvāca-said; dharma-kṣetre-in the place of pilgrimage; kuru-kṣetre-in the place named Kurukṣetra; samavetāḥ-assembled; yuyatsavaḥ-desiring to fight; māmakāḥ-my party (sons); pāṇḍavāḥ-the sons of Pāṇḍu; ca-and; eva-certainly; kim-what; akurvata-did they do; sañjaya-O Sañjaya.

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, what did my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu do, being desirous to fight?

Purport

Bhagavad-gītā is the widely read theistic science summarized in the Gītā-māhātmya (Glorification of the Gītā). There it says that one should read Bhagavad-gītā very scrutinizingly with the help of a person who is a devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and try to understand it without personally motivated interpretations. The example of clear understanding is there in the Bhagavad-gītā itself, in the way the teaching is understood by Arjuna, who heard the Gītā directly from the Lord. If someone is fortunate enough to understand Bhagavad-gītā in that line of disciplic succession, without motivated interpretation, then he surpasses all studies of Vedic wisdom, and all scriptures of the world. One will find in the Bhagavad-gītā all that is contained in other scriptures, but the reader will also find things which are not to be found elsewhere. That is the specific standard of the Gītā. It is the perfect theistic science because it is directly spoken by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa.