Saturday, August 20, 2011

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 1

asmaakam tu vishishtaa ye taannibodha dvijottama |
naayakaa mama sainsyasya sangnyartham taanbraveemi te || 7 ||


O twice-born Drona, now I would like to bring to your attention to our competent warriors. Let me point you to some of my army's commanders.

dvija-uttama: O twice born
asmaakam: on our side
tu: also
ye: those
vishishtaaha: select
taan: on them
nibodhaa: to draw your attention
te:for you
sangya-artham: indicate for your information
mama: my
sainyasya: army
naayakaaha: commanders
taan: about them
braveemi: I will speak

Duryodhana continued his conversation with Drona in this verse. As is apparent from the text of the verse, he wanted to now talk to Drona about his army, having assessed the capabilities of the Pandava army.

Notice how each verse gives an indication of Duryodhana's state of mind. Initially, he saw the well-formed army of the Pandavas that was marching with a single vision, and began to worry that it may prove to be a formidable opponent. His worry prompted him to instigate Drona. Now in this verse Duryodhana's worry unleashed a condescending, mean attitude by calling Drona a "twice born". In Swami Ramdas Samaratha's Dasbodh, there is an entire chapter on signs exhibited by foolish people. According to him, anyone who insults his guru out of pride is considered a fool.

Twice-born usually refers to individuals in the brahman, kshatriya and vaishya classes. However, in this verse, this was a veiled insult because although Drona was a accomplished warrior, he was a brahmin by birth. Duryodhana wanted to imply that Drona, being a brahmin, would be soft on his disciples the Pandavas.In addition, use of the phrase "my army" also indicates that Duryodhana's ego was puffed up at this point.

Negative emotions like fear and worry, when allowed to simmer in the mind, tend to unleash the worst in us. Later, the Gita will go in great detail into how this happens.

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