Sanskrit
तं तथा कृपयाऽऽविष्टमश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणम् । विषीदन्तमिदं वाक्यमुवाच मधुसूदनः ॥
taṃ tathā kṛpayāviṣṭam aśrupūrṇākulekṣaṇam viṣīdantam idaṃ vākyam uvāca madhusūdanaḥ
Translation
To him thus with pity overcome, with smarting brimming eyes, despondent, Madhusûdana spake these words.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Sanjaya — the narrator, gifted with far-sight so he can report the battle to the blind King Dhritarashtra — describes what he has just witnessed: Arjuna collapsed in grief, and Krishna (Madhusudana, “slayer of the demon Madhu”) about to speak. This single verse is the hinge of the entire text: everything from here through the end of chapter 18 is Krishna’s response to exactly this moment. The whole of the viṣāda — Arjuna’s despair, built across all 47 verses of chapter 1 — is compressed here into one image of a warrior with wet, unfocused eyes. Krishna’s reply begins at BG 2.2, and it is not consolation.
Study deeper
Word by word
- taṃतं
- to him — Arjuna
- tathāतथा
- thus, in that state
- kṛpayāviṣṭamकृपयाविष्टं
- overcome by pity (kṛpayā + āviṣṭam)
- aśrupūrṇākulekṣaṇamअश्रुपूर्णाकुलेक्षणं
- his eyes brimming and blurred with tears (aśru-pūrṇa-ākula-īkṣaṇam)
- viṣīdantamविषीदन्तं
- despairing, sinking down
- idaṃइदं
- this
- vākyamवाक्यं
- word, speech
- uvācaउवाच
- said
- madhusūdanaḥमधुसूदनः
- Madhusūdana — Krishna, 'slayer of the demon Madhu'
Commentary
Site Commentary
This verse does nothing but look. Sanjaya lingers on Arjuna’s tears and confusion for a full breath before Krishna answers, and that pause is doing work: the text doesn’t rush toward correction, it registers the collapse fully first. It’s also a mediated account — Sanjaya, not Arjuna or Krishna, is narrating — a reminder that everything from here is being reported to us, not witnessed directly.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Before you respond to someone's distress, let yourself actually register it fully — the way Sanjaya lingers on Arjuna's tears for a full verse before Krishna speaks. Rushing past what you've just seen to get to the fix skips something that mattered.
Professional
- When a teammate raises a problem in visible distress, resist opening with the fix — acknowledge what you're seeing first. A response that skips straight to solutions can read as not having actually registered the problem.
Family & Social
- When someone close to you is upset, don't let your first words be advice — first show that you've actually seen their state, the way this verse pauses on Arjuna's grief before anyone tries to address it.
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