Bhagavad-gītā 11.26-27
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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bhīṣmaḥ
—
Bhīṣma
Nominative — named. The grandsire is not a general category but a specific person Arjuna loves, and Arjuna sees him by name entering the mouths. The vision is unsparing in its particularity.
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droṇaḥ
—
Droṇa
Nominative — named. Arjuna's own teacher of archery. The verse will not let Arjuna shelter behind abstractions; the persons most dear to him are named first.
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sūta - putraḥ
—
the son of a charioteer (Karṇa)
Compound: charioteer + son. The Mahābhārata's standard epithet for Karṇa, recalling his caste-charged identity. Even Karṇa, Arjuna's secret elder brother, is named within.
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tvaramāṇāḥ
—
rushing
Present participle of tvar, 'to hurry.' The warriors are not pulled — they hurry. Even at the moment of being devoured, the agency of the doomed is preserved, which is theologically important.
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viśanti
—
they enter
Same verb as 11.21, now applied to warriors instead of devas. Both surrender and destruction are 'entering' the Lord — only the angle differs.
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cūrṇitaiḥ
—
with smashed (heads)
Instrumental plural of cūrṇita, past participle of cūrṇ, 'to grind to powder.' The vocabulary is unsoftened; the Gītā does not aestheticise war.
In a previous verse the Lord promised to show Arjuna things he would be very interested in seeing. Now Arjuna sees that the leaders of the opposite party (Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa and all the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra) and their soldiers and Arjuna’s own soldiers are all being annihilated. This is an indication that after the death of nearly all the persons assembled at Kurukṣetra, Arjuna will emerge victorious. It is also mentioned here that Bhīṣma, who is supposed to be unconquerable, will also be smashed. So also Karṇa. Not only will the great warriors of the other party like Bhīṣma be smashed, but some of the great warriors of Arjuna’s side also.
Krsna had said to Arjuna that he would be able to see the future too. All the great fighters and soldiers in the opposing side, that Arjuna feared, are going to be killed.
Now Arjuna describes Kala-rupa
COMMON THEME: Text 11.19 marks the beginning of description of ‘Kala-rupa’ (The form as Time) which
continues up till Text 11.31
PLEASE NOTE: All points of the purports are included as the sub-points; as such there are no individual ‘Focus of
Learning’ sections for these verses.
ARJUNA’S FURTHER DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSAL FORM AS ‘KALA-RUPA’.
ARJUNA’S QUESTIONS
11.26 अमी these? च and? त्वाम् Thee? धृतराष्ट्रस्य of Dhritarashtra? पुत्राः sons? सर्वे all? सह with? एव even? अवनिपालसङ्घैः hosts of kings? भीष्मः Bhishma? द्रोणः Drona? सूतपुत्रः Karana? तथा also? असौ this? सह with? अस्मदीयैः with (those) of ours? अपि also? योधमुख्यैः (with) warrior chiefs.Commentary Karna? though he was the son of Kunti? the mother of the Pandavas? was brought up by a charioteer and hence came to be regarded as his son.
- Recognize that Kṛṣṇa is already accomplishing what we fear we must accomplish.
- Trust that the cosmic plan unfolds.
- Stop carrying the weight you don't actually carry.
- What weight am I carrying that's not actually mine?
- What does Kṛṣṇa's accomplishment release?
Watching a great waterfall from the cliff, you do not see individual drops — you see the river going over. Arjuna sees Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Karṇa, the chief warriors of both sides going over the edge into the mouths — a continuous river of human life pouring into the Lord's fangs.
Long before Kurukṣetra, Bhīṣma had received the boon of dying only at his chosen time (icchā-mṛtyu) from his father Śantanu (Mahābhārata, Ādi-parva 100). At Kurukṣetra he chose to fall when Śikhaṇḍī faced him (Bhīṣma-parva 119). What looked like Arjuna's arrows ending Bhīṣma was already, beforehand, Bhīṣma's own choice — and behind that choice, the Lord's arrangement.
Arjuna's vision in 11.26–27 of Bhīṣma already entering Kṛṣṇa's mouths shows him the truth: the deaths he is about to deal have already been dealt by Time.
My note
Source: vedabase.io