8 June 2025 · Dr. Rajesh Takyar

Understanding the First Chapter of the Shrimad Bhagavad Gita

Dharmakshetre Kurukshetre Samveta Yuyutsavah.

Mamaka: Pandavaschaiva Kimkurvat Sanjay॥ 1॥

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita begins with the Panchavinshodhyay of Bhishma Parva of the third part of Mahabharata. The first verse of the first chapter of this, which Dhritrashtra, who has been blind since birth, asks his advisor, minister and charioteer Sanjay -

Explanation: Shriman Maharshi Vedvyas ji has written this verse in very simple language in the very beginning. But these verses are being asked by an arrogant king, blind from birth, drowned in pride, obsessed with his son, to his servant. His question itself is wrong. Pandu's sons never desired war. Like Shri Krishna, he too had made every possible effort to prevent this great war from happening in any way. All this had happened in front of him. He himself was both the author and witness of that incident. To make us humans understand what to do is karma? What is religion? He was there.

It can be said that Dhritarashtra was the king of such a big kingdom. But he was blind since birth. Due to his love for his son, he had also become inferior in intelligence. Had he wanted, there were many such occasions when war could have been avoided. But the intellectually blind sons of King Dhritarashtra only wanted a war. That's why there was a war and the entire dynasty of blind King Dhritarashtra along with millions of people was destroyed. This war might have been avoided if he had asked Sanjay‘What have my sons done who desire war??’ But he asked, 'What did my sons and Pandu's sons, who wanted to fight, do?' He himself had made the distinction between sons in the words he had said earlier. Which was not necessary. Now, according to what he had been saying for a long time, all of them were his sons. Obeying his father's orders and being a son, Yudhishthir had come to gamble both times. He himself says that I cannot disobey the orders of a king like my father.

Later on, the pride and greed which is talked about in Srimad Bhagvad Gita, starts from the first verse of Srimad Bhagvad Gita itself. Everyone should understand that there is a difference between being blind and being blind with conscience. ‘There will be a war’ – Dhritarashtra has told this through the first stanza itself. They consider only their Kaurava sons as their own, not the Pandavas. This reflects their mentality and biases. Had it not been so, they would have simply asked, what did my sons do who wanted to fight? It is because of this mentality and bias that all the sons of blind King Dhritarashtra are standing in front of their brothers on the battlefield. And they also know that if there is a war then its purpose is only to gain the kingdom but they are trying to deceive themselves. When man reaches this place, he definitely falls. However, his asking this also reflects his inner fear.

One thing that Maharaj Dhritarashtra himself has accepted is that this area is a religious area. These are the lands where religion is protected, where truth and justice are protected. The fear visible in his heart also shows that he is not on the side of religion, hence he may be defeated. This war is going to take place in Dharmabhoomi. That's why a lot of fear is spreading in his heart.

And secondly he is also saying that the war is going to take place in Kurukshetra, this land is Kurukshetra, saying this shows his pride. Even while standing in the battlefield, he did not forget that this was Kuru land. This is their land, it is their pride that all the people of their family are standing face to face in this battlefield for war. Who loses and who wins in a war or who will die and who will survive, no one can know before the war starts. It is possible that after the war this land will not be called Kurukshetra. But even here they are claiming their land as theirs and imagining that it will remain theirs even after the war.

Dharmakshetra can never be anyone's land. Only Shri Krishna is its master. There may be a caretaker for it, but not an owner. If Dhritarashtra is calling this battlefield Kurukshetra then it is not religious land. And if this is Dharma land then it cannot be Kuru land. Wherever religion resides, Shri Krishna resides. And wherever they reside, that is their abode. When it belongs to them, how can it belong to the Kauravas or anyone else? It will remain theirs only. They may have servants living in their residence, but they cannot become masters. He will remain the owner. Man has to always remember this.

No land can remain in the name of any human being forever.

Where to go - Part 1