विसृज्य सशरं चापं शोकसंविग्नमानसः॥ एवं प्रथमोऽध्यायः।
visṛjya sa-śaraṃ cāpaṃ śoka-saṃvigna-mānasaḥ / iti śrī-mad bhagavad-gītāsūpaniṣatsu brahma-vidyāyāṃ yoga-śāstre śrī-kṛṣṇārjuna-saṃvāde arjuna-viṣāda-yogo nāma prathamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Bow down, arrows scattered, warrior collapsed — this is where the Gita begins.
Word by word (4)
- visṛjya
- — having let go / having set aside · Deliberate release, not a drop. Arjuna has made a choice. The Gandiva which slipped in V29 is now consciously released — the warrior's instrument of identity placed down.
- sa-śaram cāpam
- — his bow together with his arrows / the Gandiva with its quiver · Both bow and arrows — the complete instrument of war. Not half-measures. Arjuna has laid down everything.
- śoka-saṃvigna-mānasaḥ
- — his mind overwhelmed with grief / his heart overcome with sorrow · 'Śoka-saṃvigna': deeply agitated (saṃvigna) by grief (śoka). The compound carries both the depth and the agitation — not quiet sadness but convulsive grief. This is the state that makes the Gita necessary.
- arjuna-viṣāda-yogaḥ
- — the Yoga of Arjuna's Grief / Arjuna Vishada Yoga · The chapter's formal title, given in the closing colophon. Calling grief a 'yoga' — a path toward union — is itself a teaching. Grief, rightly held, can be the first step toward wisdom.
Sanjaya said: 'And having spoken these words — in the middle of the battlefield — Arjuna set aside his bow with its arrows. He sank down into the seat of his chariot, his mind completely overwhelmed with grief.' Here ends the First Chapter of the Bhagavad Gita — the Yoga of Arjuna's Grief.
A modern analogy
You've prepared everything. You know your craft. You have every resource. And at the critical moment, you find you cannot move — not from fear of failure, but from the weight of what acting truly means. Every person who has ever been stopped not by inability but by the full recognition of what they're being asked to do — this verse is their mirror.
Take with you
- The Gita's teaching does not begin with strength. It begins with collapse — because only complete exhaustion of ordinary resources creates openness to a deeper teaching.
- 'Visṛjya' (having set aside) — deliberate. Arjuna makes a choice. He is not rendered incapable. He chooses to stop. That choice is what makes the teaching possible.
- Chapter 1's title: 'Arjuna Vishada Yoga' — the Yoga of Grief. Grief, when it arises from compassion, is the first yoga. The teaching is always available inside the crisis.
The final image of Chapter 1 is carefully constructed. Three elements: the bow set aside, the arrows scattered, the warrior seated. In the Katha Upanishad (3.3), the self is compared to a charioteer: 'Know the Self as the lord of the chariot, the body as the chariot itself, know intellect as the charioteer, and mind as the reins.' Arjuna sits in his chariot (body), with Krishna as his charioteer (the divine wisdom available to him), his mind overwhelmed (the reins have gone slack). The stage for the Gita is perfectly and symbolically set. The chapter's colophon — 'arjuna-viṣāda-yogo nāma prathamo 'dhyāyaḥ' — calls grief a yoga. This is radical. Yoga means union, skillful path, means of liberation. Calling Arjuna's grief a yoga implies that the grief itself — if rightly understood and lived through — is a path toward the very liberation the Gita teaches. The chapter title is the teaching.
Advaita lens
For Shankaracharya, 'śoka-saṃvigna-mānasaḥ' — mind overwhelmed by grief — is the precise description of moha (delusion): the state in which the manas (lower mind) has lost contact with its deeper ground, the Atman. The entire Gita is the restoration of that contact. V47 is the diagnosis; V18.73 ('naṣṭo mohaḥ' — my delusion is gone) is the cure confirmed.
Bhakti lens
Ramanuja: the bow set down is the first unconscious act of surrender. Arjuna cannot yet consciously say 'I take refuge in You' (that will come in Ch.2.7). But the setting aside of his own instrument — the relinquishment of his 'I can do this myself' — is the beginning of śaraṇāgati (refuge-taking). The bhakti path's ultimate destination (18.66: 'take refuge in Me alone') begins here, in this involuntary gesture of release.
Karma-Yoga lens
Tilak's reading: Arjuna has reached the end of action grounded in personal attachment. The bow that slips (V29) and then is set aside (V47) represents the failure of ego-motivated action. The Karma Yoga teaching will restore the bow to his hand — but held by a different person: one who acts from duty without attachment to the outcome. The instrument is the same; the wielder has been transformed.
Modern parallels
Psychologists distinguish between 'breakdown' and 'breakthrough.' A breakdown is the collapse of an existing structure. A breakthrough is the emergence of a new one. Arjuna's V47 is not a breakdown but a prerequisite for breakthrough — the old structure (warrior-identity grounded in ego and personal relationships) must fully fail before the new one (action grounded in Atman-awareness) can emerge. Carl Jung called this process 'enantiodromia' — the reversal at the extreme. When any one-sided attitude is pushed to its limit, its opposite emerges. Arjuna has been the perfect warrior. At the extreme of that identity, its opposite (the collapsed, weeping man in the chariot) appears. From that opposite, integration becomes possible.
Practice
Sit quietly. Bring to mind something you are carrying that is too heavy — some duty, some decision, some grief. Now imagine, just for a moment, setting it down. Not abandoning it. Just placing it beside you, the way Arjuna placed his bow beside him. Notice what happens in the body when you allow yourself to stop — even briefly. This is not surrender. This is the stillness in which the deeper teaching becomes audible. Arjuna's chariot seat is this stillness. Krishna speaks into it.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
Sanjaya said: Having thus spoken in the middle of the battlefield, Arjuna sat down on the seat of the chariot, casting aside bow and arrow, his heart overcome with sorrow. [1]
Sanjaya said: Arjuna, having thus spoken on the battlefield, cast away his bow and arrows and sat down on his chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief. [4]
Sanjaya said: Thus speaking, Arjuna sat down on the seat of his chariot, in the middle of the battlefield, letting fall his bow and arrows, his heart overcome with grief. [5]
Sanjaya said: Having thus spoken, Arjuna cast down upon the chariot his bow and arrow and sank down on the seat, his heart overwhelmed with grief. [6]
Sanjaya: So speaking, in the face of those two hosts, Arjuna sank upon his chariot's seat, And let fall bow and arrows, sick at heart. [7]
Sanjaya said: Having spoken thus on the field of battle, Arjuna threw aside his bow and arrows and sat down on his chariot, his mind overwhelmed with grief. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Sanjaya describes what the blind king cannot see: Arjuna weeping, overwhelmed with compassion.
I am your student. My mind is bewildered about what is right. Teach me.
You grieve for those who should not be grieved for — and call it wisdom.
Destroyed is my delusion, memory restored by Your grace — I stand firm, free of doubt, and will do Your word.
The bow falls. The warrior sinks. Chapter 1 ends where the Gita's teaching must begin.
Arjuna sees his own people ready to die — and his body breaks before his mind can argue.