Sanskrit
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः । यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥
kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥ pṛcchāmi tvāṃ dharmasammūḍhacetāḥ yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃ brūhi tan me śiṣyas te'haṃ śādhi māṃ tvāṃ prapannam
Translation
My heart is weighed down with the vice of faintness; my mind is confused as to duty. I ask thee which may be the better—that tell me decisively. I am thy disciple, suppliant to Thee; teach me.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The turning point of the whole opening. Arjuna stops arguing and asks to be taught: “I am your disciple; instruct me, for I have taken refuge in you.” This single line changes the register of the entire dialogue — from a warrior stating his objections to a student asking a teacher a real question — and everything from verse 11 onward is Krishna’s answer to it. The word he uses for his own state is dharma-sammūḍha — utterly confused about what is right — and the move he makes is prapatti, taking refuge. Together they are the precondition the Gita treats as necessary for teaching to land: the honest admission of not knowing, paired with śraddhā toward the one who might.
Study deeper
Word by word
- kārpaṇyadoṣopahatasvabhāvaḥकार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः
- my nature crippled by the taint of pity/weakness (kārpaṇya-doṣa-upahata-svabhāvaḥ)
- pṛcchāmiपृच्छामि
- I ask
- tvāṃत्वां
- you
- dharmasammūḍhacetāḥधर्मसंमूढचेताः
- with a mind confused about dharma (dharma-sammūḍha-cetāḥ)
- yac chreyaḥ syān niścitaṃयच् छ्रेयः स्यान् निश्चितं
- what would be definitely better (yat + śreyaḥ + syāt + niścitam)
- brūhiब्रूहि
- tell
- tan meतन् मे
- that, to me (tat + me)
- śiṣyasशिष्यस्
- [I am] your disciple (śiṣyaḥ)
- te'haṃतेऽहं
- I am yours (te + aham)
- śādhiशाधि
- instruct, discipline
- māṃमां
- me
- tvāṃत्वां
- you
- prapannamप्रपन्नं
- who has taken refuge [in you]
Commentary
Site Commentary
One word changes the entire scene: “śiṣyas te’ham” — I am your disciple. Up to this verse Arjuna has been arguing as an equal, objection against objection; this line converts the relationship itself, and everything Krishna says from verse 11 onward is instruction to a student, not persuasion of a peer. The content of the teaching hasn’t started yet, but the terms it will be received under have already changed.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice the difference between arguing your case and actually asking to be taught — the second requires admitting you don't already have the answer, which is a harder and more useful thing to say out loud than another objection.
Professional
- When you're stuck in a debate with a mentor or senior colleague, notice if the more productive move is to stop defending your position and explicitly ask to be taught instead — that shift in framing often gets you a different, more useful kind of answer.
Family & Social
- If you're in a repeating argument with someone whose judgment you actually trust, try explicitly asking them to just teach you their view instead of countering it — the shift from debate to genuine asking changes what they're able to give you.
Ask yourself
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