Who speaks · अर्जुन
Arjuna
The one who asks, and the one who changes. His questions are the structure of the book.
What happens to Arjuna over the course of the Bhagavad Gita?
Arjuna begins unable to stand. His bow slips, his skin burns, his mind reels (1.28–1.30). Then he stops arguing, calls himself a student and asks to be taught (2.7), and after that the book proceeds by his questions: seven of the eighteen chapters open with one. He objects when the teaching sounds impossible, telling Krishna that holding the mind is like holding the wind (6.34). He asks to see Krishna whole, and is frightened by it. He ends saying the confusion is gone (18.73).
Hansi Gita Bhawan Trust · counted from the text
In the text
Verses spoken, chapter by chapter. Counted from the speaker recorded with each verse, not inferred from where a speaker-announcement falls.
The Gita’s first description of Arjuna is physical, not philosophical. The Gandiva slips out of his hand, his skin burns all over, his limbs give way, and he says in plain words that he cannot keep standing (1.28–1.30). Only after that does he argue, and the text lets him argue at length: families broken, dharma lost, a victory not worth having. Then he does something different from arguing. He says his own nature is struck down, that his mind is confused about dharma, calls himself a student and asks to be taught (2.7). That sentence is what turns a collapse into a conversation.
What follows is shaped by him. Seven of the eighteen chapters begin with an Arjuna question, and they are the questions an honest reader would ask. If you think understanding is better than action, why push me into this terrible work (3.1). You praise renunciation and you also praise yoga; say clearly which is better (5.1). What is a person of settled understanding actually like — how does such a one sit, speak, walk (2.54). What marks a person who has got past the three gunas (14.21). He is not a device for prompting a sermon. He interrupts, asks for definitions, and more than once refuses to accept two answers where he wants one.
His most human moment is in chapter six. Krishna has described a mind held steady; Arjuna replies that he cannot see how it could ever hold, because the mind is restless and stubborn and churns everything up, and holding it back seems as hard as holding back the wind (6.34). He is not being difficult. He is reporting what he has found to be true of himself, and the Gita keeps the objection in rather than smoothing it away. Later he asks to see Krishna as he really is. He gets it, and it is more than he can take: thrilled and shaking at once, he asks for the ordinary form back (11.45–11.46).
Between those two there is an apology easy to read past. Having seen who he was talking to, Arjuna says he called him friend, and Yadava, and hey Krishna, out of carelessness or out of affection; that he made him the butt of jokes at play, at meals, at rest, alone and in front of others; and he asks pardon for all of it (11.41–11.42). It is the grief of a man who learns that a friendship was not what he thought. At the end he says the delusion is destroyed, his memory has come back, his doubt is gone, and he will do as he is told (18.73). He does not claim to have become someone else, only to be no longer confused.
Where something changes
The verses that turn.
Bhagavad Gita 1.28–1.30Arjuna
दृष्ट्वेमं स्वजनं कृष्ण युयुत्सुं समुपस्थितम् ॥
सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति ।
वेपथुश्च शरीरे मे रोमहर्षश्च जायते ॥गाण्डीवं स्रंसते हस्तात्त्वक्चैव परिदह्यते ।
न च शक्नोम्यवस्थातुं भ्रमतीव च मे मनः ॥Krishna, I see my own people standing here, come together and eager to fight. My limbs give way beneath me and my mouth goes dry. My body trembles and the hair on it stands on end. The Gandiva slips from my hand and my skin burns all over. I cannot keep standing, and my mind seems to be reeling.
Where he starts. The collapse is described in the body before it is argued in words: the bow slips, the skin burns, and he says he cannot keep standing.
Bhagavad Gita 2.7Arjuna
कार्पण्यदोषोपहतस्वभावः
पृच्छामि त्वां धर्मसम्मूढचेताः ।
यच्छ्रेयः स्यान्निश्चितं ब्रूहि तन्मे
शिष्यस्तेऽहं शाधि मां त्वां प्रपन्नम् ॥My own nature is struck down by a poverty of spirit. My mind is confused about dharma, and so I ask you: tell me plainly what is better. I am your student. I have come to you. Teach me.
The turn from protest to question. He admits his mind is confused about dharma, calls himself a student and asks to be taught. Everything after this is a reply to that request.
Bhagavad Gita 6.34Arjuna
चञ्चलं हि मनः कृष्ण प्रमाथि बलवद्दृढम् ।
तस्याहं निग्रहं मन्ये वायोरिव सुदुष्करम् ॥The mind is restless, Krishna; it churns everything up, it is strong and stubborn. Holding it back seems to me as hard as holding back the wind.
He tells Krishna the teaching is not working on him. The mind is restless and stubborn; holding it is like holding the wind. The Gita records the objection instead of smoothing it away.
Bhagavad Gita 11.41–11.42Arjuna
सखेति मत्वा प्रसभं यदुक्तं
हे कृष्ण हे यादव हे सखेति ।
अजानता महिमानं तवेदं
मया प्रमादात्प्रणयेन वापि ॥यच्चावहासार्थमसत्कृतोऽसि
विहारशय्यासनभोजनेषु ।
एकोऽथवाप्यच्युत तत्समक्षं
तत्क्षामये त्वामहमप्रमेयम् ॥Whatever I blurted out, taking you for a friend — 'Hey Krishna, hey Yadava, hey friend' — not knowing this greatness of yours, whether out of carelessness or out of affection, and however I slighted you to raise a laugh, at play, at rest, sitting or eating, alone or in front of others, Achyuta — for all of that I ask your pardon, immeasurable one.
Having seen who he was speaking to, he apologises for the familiarity — the nicknames, the joking at meals and at rest, all of it offered out of affection and ignorance.
Bhagavad Gita 11.45–11.46Arjuna
अदृष्टपूर्वं हृषितोऽस्मि दृष्ट्वा
भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे ।
तदेव मे दर्शय देव रूपं
प्रसीद देवेश जगन्निवास ॥किरीटिनं गदिनं चक्रहस्त
मिच्छामि त्वां द्रष्टुमहं तथैव ।
तेनैव रूपेण चतुर्भुजेन
सहस्रबाहो भव विश्वमूर्ते ॥I am thrilled to have seen what no one had seen before, and at the same time my mind is shaking with fear. Show me that earlier form of yours, God. Be kind, lord of gods, home of the world. I want to see you exactly as you were: crowned, carrying the mace, the discus in your hand. Take on that four-armed form again, you of the thousand arms, you whose body is the universe.
He asked for the vision and cannot bear it. Thrilled and badly frightened at the same time, he asks for the familiar form back.
Bhagavad Gita 18.73Arjuna
नष्टो मोहः स्मृतिर्लब्धा त्वत्प्रसादान्मयाच्युत ।
स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देहः करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥My delusion is destroyed and I have regained my memory through Your grace, O Achyuta. I stand firm, my doubt gone; I shall do as You say.
His last words. The delusion is destroyed, the memory has returned, the doubt is gone, and he will act. He claims nothing more than that.
Read them in place
Every verse Arjuna speaks is marked in the full text, chapter by chapter, with the speaker named above it. Begin at 1.21.
Common questions
About Arjuna in the Gita.
Why does Arjuna refuse to fight at the start of the Gita?
He gives two kinds of reason. The first is bodily: he cannot hold his bow or keep standing (1.29–1.30). The second is moral: the men opposite are his own people, killing them destroys families, and a victory bought that way is not worth having. It is Sanjaya who reports that he said “I will not fight” and fell silent (2.9).
Does Arjuna argue with Krishna?
Throughout. He asks why he is being pushed into a terrible act if understanding is better than action (3.1), demands one answer where he has been given two (5.1), and tells Krishna outright that steadying the mind looks impossible because the mind is like the wind (6.34). The teaching moves in response to these objections rather than around them.
Is Arjuna afraid of Krishna’s universal form?
Yes, and the text says so plainly. He is thrilled at seeing what no one had seen, and in the same verse says his mind is shaking with fear; he asks Krishna to take on the familiar form again (11.45–11.46). Sanjaya adds that he spoke in a choked voice, badly frightened (11.35).
Does Arjuna agree with Krishna at the end?
At 18.73 he says his delusion is destroyed, his memory has returned, his doubt is gone, and that he will do as Krishna says. That is a statement about his own clarity, made immediately after Krishna told him to weigh everything and act as he wished (18.63). The Gita ends with a free decision, not a surrender.