Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 1, Verse 28
अर्जुन उवाच
कृपया परयाऽऽविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत्।
दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम्।।
कृपया परयाऽऽविष्टो विषीदन्निदमब्रवीत्।
दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम्।।
arjuna uvāca
kṛpayā parayāviṣṭo viṣīdann idam abravīt
dṛṣṭvemaṁ sva-janaṁ kṛṣṇa yuyutsuṁ samupasthitam
also searched as "kripaya parayavishto vishidann idam abravit"
Translation
He was filled with deep compassion and said these words in despair:
Vāṇi's rendering
Krishna, I see my own people gathered here, standing eager for battle against one another.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| अर्जुनःarjuna | Arjuna |
| उवाचuvāca | said |
| कृपयाkṛpayā | with compassion, with pity |
| परयाparayā | supreme, overwhelming (joined by sandhi to the next word) |
| आविष्टःāviṣṭaḥ | entered, taken over, filled through |
| विषीदन्viṣīdan | sinking down, in despair |
| इदम्idam | this |
| अब्रवीत्abravīt | he spoke |
| दृष्ट्वाdṛṣṭvā | having seen (joined by sandhi to the next word) |
| इमम्imam | this |
| स्व-जनम्sva-janam | my own people, my own kin |
| कृष्णkṛṣṇa | O Krishna |
| युयुत्सुम्yuyutsum | eager to fight |
| समुपस्थितम्samupasthitam | gathered, standing ready |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 Verse 28 mean?
Arjuna finally speaks, and his first words are not strategy but recognition. He looks across both armies and calls everyone there sva-jana — my own people. Compassion has entered him completely, and with it, despair. This is the verse where the war stops being political and becomes personal.
What is the meaning of 'kripaya parayavishto vishidann idam abravit'?
It describes how Arjuna spoke before it tells us what he said. Kṛpayā parayā āviṣṭaḥ — entered by an overwhelming compassion. Viṣīdan — sinking. The Gītā takes care to note that his collapse begins in tenderness, not cowardice. That distinction matters for everything Krishna says afterwards.
Why does Arjuna call the enemy army his own people?
Because they are. Teachers, uncles, cousins, boyhood friends stand on both sides. Dhṛtarāṣṭra could divide the field with a word; Arjuna cannot. Seeing kinship where you were trained to see targets is the beginning of his crisis — and the reason the whole teaching becomes necessary.
Is Arjuna's compassion here a virtue or a failing?
Krishna will later call his reaction unworthy, but never the compassion itself. What fails is not the feeling — it is the paralysis the feeling produces. Wide seeing is right. Collapsing under it is what has to be met. Hold both, and you understand where Chapter 2 must begin.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Dhṛtarāṣṭra split the field in two — my sons, Pandu's sons. Arjuna, looking at the same field, says sva-jana: my own. Both armies. That one word is the whole distance between a blind king and a grieving archer. The first name he speaks is Krishna's, and it comes wrapped in this seeing. And the seeing hurts — parayā āviṣṭaḥ, entered by compassion, not merely visited by it. The Gītā does not call this weakness yet, and neither should you. Before any teaching can arrive, something in you has to widen enough to say my own about the people you came prepared to fight.