Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 11
अयनेषु च सर्वेषु यथाभागमवस्थिताः।
भीष्ममेवाभिरक्षन्तु भवन्तः सर्व एव हि।।
भीष्ममेवाभिरक्षन्तु भवन्तः सर्व एव हि।।
ayaneṣu ca sarveṣu yathā-bhāgamavasthitāḥ
bhīṣmamevābhirakṣantu bhavantaḥ sarva eva hi
also searched as "ayaneshu cha sarveshu yathabhagam avasthitah"
Translation
Therefore, all of you, taking your places firmly in your respective divisions, should guard Bhisma at all costs.
Vāṇi's rendering
Hold your posts along every front, all of you — and above all, guard Bhishma.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अयनेषुayaneṣu | in the approach-ways, the marching lines and entry points of the army |
| चca | and |
| सर्वेषुsarveṣu | in all of them |
| यथाभागम्yathā-bhāgam | each according to his own assigned share or post |
| अवस्थिताःavasthitāḥ | standing firm, stationed |
| भीष्मम्bhīṣmam | Bhishma |
| एवeva | precisely, above all |
| अभिरक्षन्तुabhirakṣantu | let them guard on every side |
| भवन्तःbhavantaḥ | you honoured ones, all of you |
| सर्वsarva | all (sarve, shortened where it meets eva) |
| एवeva | indeed, without exception |
| हिhi | surely |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 11 mean?
Duryodhana closes his survey of the armies with a command: every commander is to hold his assigned position along the approach-ways, and all of them together are to protect Bhishma. It reads as tactics. It is also a confession — the vast force he has just praised depends on one aged man surviving the day.
What does 'ayaneshu cha sarveshu' mean in the Gita?
Ayana means the ways in — the marching lines, the openings through which an army can be entered. Duryodhana wants every one of them held, each man standing yathā-bhāgam, at the share of the field allotted to him. Nobody wanders. Nobody improvises. Everyone stays where he was placed.
Why does Duryodhana ask everyone to guard Bhishma?
Because Bhishma is the one irreplaceable piece. Numbers can be replaced; the grandsire cannot. Duryodhana's boast and his anxiety are the same sentence spoken twice. Whatever a person names as the thing that must be protected at all costs — that is where their real estimate of their own strength lives.
Is there a teaching for me in a verse about battle formations?
Yes, and it is a plain one. Hold the post you were given rather than the post you would prefer. Much of what we call failure is simply people leaving their assigned stretch of the line to go be impressive somewhere else. Stand where you were placed, and the front holds.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Count the words Duryodhana has spent. Eleven verses of listing, naming, boasting — and it ends with an order to protect one old man. The army he called limitless needs guarding at its centre. That is how fear speaks once it has learned to sound like strategy: confident in the survey, trembling at the hinge. Bhishma is the hinge. Duryodhana knows it, and by saying it aloud he tells everyone where to strike. You do this too — the thing you most insist is secure is usually the thing you are most afraid to lose. Listen for the point in your own speech where the voice tightens.