भीष्मद्रोणप्रमुखतः सर्वेषां च महीक्षिताम्। उवाच पार्थ पश्यैतान् समवेतान् कुरूनिति॥
bhīṣmadroṇapramukhataḥ sarveṣāṃ ca mahīkṣitām / uvāca pārtha paśyaitān samavetān kurūn iti
Krishna says: 'Look.' Two words that will change everything.
Word by word (5)
- bhīṣma-droṇa-pramukhataḥ
- — in front of Bhishma and Drona
- sarveṣām ca mahī-kṣitām
- — and of all the kings of the earth
- uvāca
- — he said / spoke
- pārtha
- — O Partha — Arjuna (son of Pritha/Kunti) · 'Partha' = son of Pritha (Kunti's other name). Used by Krishna — it invokes Arjuna's lineage and the nobility that comes with it.
- paśya etān samavetān kurūn iti
- — behold these assembled Kurus
Krishna placed the chariot directly in front of Bhishma and Drona, in the sight of all the kings of both armies, and said: 'O Partha — look. Look at all the Kurus assembled here.'
A modern analogy
A mentor, when asked by a student what something really looks like, takes them to the place where they can see for themselves — without softening it, without pre-explaining. 'Look.' Then waits while the student sees. Krishna's 'paśya' (behold) is the most powerful two-syllable teaching moment in the Gita.
What it does NOT mean
Krishna's instruction to 'look' is not cruel. He is not showing Arjuna this to break him. He is honoring Arjuna's own request: 'I want to see.' Krishna simply complies — and the sight does what it does. The teacher does not shield the student from reality.
Take with you
- Sometimes the only teaching is: look. Be still. See what is actually there.
- Krishna addresses Arjuna as 'Partha' — son of Pritha — invoking his noble lineage at the moment of greatest challenge.
- What we see when we truly look — not at abstractions but at actual faces and realities — changes everything.
The placement 'in front of Bhishma and Drona' — the two people Arjuna most reveres and most cannot bear to fight — is exact. Krishna did not just place the chariot between armies; he placed it in front of the specific people whose faces will undo Arjuna. The teacher knows where the student's real obstacle lives. The single word 'paśya' — behold — is one of the most potent teaching instructions in Sanskrit literature. It does not say 'think about' or 'analyze' or 'consider.' It says: look. Direct perception. Unmediated by concepts. This is the Gita's first teaching method: before any philosophy, look at the reality.
Advaita lens
The instruction to 'behold' (paśya) points to the direct perception (sākṣātkāra) that Advaita identifies as the mode of liberation. Not conceptual understanding but direct seeing. Of course, in this case Arjuna's direct seeing produces grief rather than liberation — because the seeing is done through the lens of attachment. The Gita will teach seeing through the lens of the Atman instead.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
...in front of Bhishma and Drona, and all the chiefs of the earth, and said: 'O Partha, behold these Kurus assembled together.' [4]
...fronting Bhishma, Drona, all those lords of earth, he said: 'See, O Arjuna! all the Kuru host.' [7]
...in the presence of Bhishma and Drona and all the kings, said: 'O son of Pritha, look at these assembled Kurus.' [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
He looked — and saw everyone he has ever loved, lined up to kill or be killed.
Your natural eyes cannot see Me — I give you the divine eye; behold My supreme Yoga-power.
The sound of righteous forces pierces the hearts of those who know they are on the wrong side.
Even the fathers-in-law and dearest friends — on both sides. No one is safely 'other.'
I would rather be killed than kill them — a statement of love that goes beyond self-preservation.
How do you raise a weapon against the teacher who made you?