Chapter 1: Arjuna Vishada Yoga

Arjuna's despair

The blind king Dhritarashtra asks his adviser Sanjaya what is happening at Kurukshetra, where two armies of one family face each other. Arjuna, the great archer, asks his charioteer Krishna to drive between the lines. Seeing teachers, elders and cousins on both sides, he is overcome with grief, puts down his bow and says he will not fight.

The Gita does not begin with a lecture. It begins with a person who is stuck, and it takes that seriously.

Chapter 1 and the first verses of Chapter 2 (2.1 to 2.10) are told as a short illustrated story in the Kanha app, so there are no verse cards for them here. The reading begins at verse 2.11.