Sanskrit
योत्स्यमानानवेक्षेऽहं य एतेऽत्र समागताः । धार्तराष्ट्रस्य दुर्बुद्धेर्युद्धे प्रियचिकीर्षवः ॥
yotsyamānān avekṣe'haṃ ya ete'tra samāgatāḥ dhārtarāṣṭrasya durbuddher yuddhe priyacikīrṣavaḥ
Translation
And gaze on those here gathered together ready to fight, desirous of pleasing in battle the evil-minded son of Dhritarâshtra.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Arjuna is still speaking with clear moral confidence here, openly calling Duryodhana “evil-minded” and framing the opposing warriors as merely currying favor with him. This is worth noting precisely because it’s the last moment of that confidence — once he actually looks (verse 26), the people he’s describing stop being an abstract “them” and become specific, named relatives.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yotsyamānānयोत्स्यमानान्
- those about to fight
- avekṣe'haṃअवेक्षेऽहं
- I wish to see
- ya ete'traय एतेऽत्र
- who these here
- samāgatāḥसमागताः
- have assembled
- dhārtarāṣṭrasyaधार्तराष्ट्रस्य
- of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's son
- durbuddherदुर्बुद्धेः
- the evil-minded
- yuddheयुद्धे
- in battle
- priya-cikīrṣavaḥप्रिय-चिकीर्षवः
- wishing to do him a favour
Commentary
Site Commentary
Calling an opponent “evil-minded” is easy while the opponent is still a category — “those fighting for him.” That kind of certainty is cheap right up until the category gets faces attached to it, which is exactly what’s about to happen. Confidence about a group and confidence about the actual individuals inside it are not the same confidence, even when they feel identical in the moment.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice how much easier it is to hold a firm judgment about a group in the abstract than about the specific people inside it once you actually see them — expect your certainty to wobble, and don't treat that as weakness.
Professional
- It's easy to be decisive about 'underperformers' or 'the other team' as a category, and harder once you're looking at named individuals and their actual circumstances — build that expectation into how you make hard people decisions.
Family & Social
- Strong opinions about 'that side of the family' as a category tend to soften once you're actually sitting across from a specific relative — notice the shift rather than treating it as inconsistency.
Ask yourself
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