Chapter 11, Verse 26
अमी च त्वां धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्राः सर्वे सहैवावनिपालसङ्घैः | भीष्मो द्रोणः सूतपुत्रस्तथासौ सहास्मदीयैरपि योधमुख्यैः ||११-२६||
amī ca tvāṃ dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putrāḥ sarve sahaivāvanipālasaṅghaiḥ . bhīṣmo droṇaḥ sūtaputrastathāsau sahāsmadīyairapi yodhamukhyaiḥ ||11-26||
Meaning
11.26 All the sons of Dhritarashtra, with the hosts of kings of the earth, Bhishma, Drona and Karna, with the chief among our warriors.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
The cosmic vision now becomes intensely personal. Arjuna no longer sees only abstract gods and worlds — he sees the very men gathered on the battlefield of Kurukshetra. The sons of Dhritarashtra, the assembled kings, the revered elders Bhishma and Drona, Karna the charioteer's son, and even his own chief warriors are all being drawn into the form.
This is a devastating recognition. The grandfather he loves, the teacher he honours, kinsmen and comrades alike — all are caught in the same current. The war he agonised over in chapter one is here shown from the vantage of eternity: its outcome already woven into the fabric of Time. The vision answers Arjuna's earlier grief in a startling way. The deaths he so dreaded to cause are not finally in his hands at all. A power far greater than the warrior is already at work, and the battle is the unfolding of something already decided in the heart of the Divine.
💡 Key Takeaway
Even those we love most are held within the Divine's vast unfolding, far beyond our hands to save or destroy.
Related Verses
श्रीभगवानुवाच | पश्य मे पार्थ रूपाणि शतशोऽथ सहस्रशः | नानाविधानि दिव्यानि नानावर्णाकृतीनि च ||११-५||
śrībhagavānuvāca . paśya me pārtha rūpāṇi śataśo.atha sahasraśaḥ . nānāvidhāni divyāni nānāvarṇākṛtīni ca ||11-5||
11.5 The Blessed Lord said Behold, O Arjuna, forms of Mine, by the hundreds and thousands, of different sorts, divine, and of various colours and shapes.
पश्यादित्यान्वसून्रुद्रानश्विनौ मरुतस्तथा | बहून्यदृष्टपूर्वाणि पश्याश्चर्याणि भारत ||११-६||
paśyādityānvasūnrudrānaśvinau marutastathā . bahūnyadṛṣṭapūrvāṇi paśyāścaryāṇi bhārata ||11-6||
11.6 Behold the Adityas, the Vasus, the Rudras, the two Asvins and also the Maruts; behold many wonders never seen before, O Arjuna.
इहैकस्थं जगत्कृत्स्नं पश्याद्य सचराचरम् | मम देहे गुडाकेश यच्चान्यद् द्रष्टुमिच्छसि ||११-७||
ihaikasthaṃ jagatkṛtsnaṃ paśyādya sacarācaram . mama dehe guḍākeśa yaccānyad draṣṭumicchasi ||11-7||
11.7 Now behold, O Arjuna, in this, My body, the whole universe centred in one including the moving and the unmoving and whatever else thou desirest to see.