Bhagavad-gītā 1.1 – Study Guide

1. Purport Metrics & Overview

Purport Metrics	Details
No. of times cited by Śrīla Prabhupāda	82
Total No. of Words in Purport	599
No. of Paragraphs in Purport	4
Purport Paragraph Titles	1. Why and How to Read Bhagavad-gītā? 2. Prelude to Bhagavad-gītā 3. Envy, Anxiety, and Fear Due to Material Attachment 4. Real Significance of Dharma-kṣetra Kurukṣetra

High-Level Flow of the Purport

Importance of studying Bhagavad-gītā under a bona fide devotee to avoid misinterpretation.
Setting the stage for the Bhagavad-gītā, where dharma and adharma are being tested.
Material attachment causes anxiety, fear, and spiritual blindness, exemplified by Dhṛtarāṣṭra.
Kurukṣetra’s spiritual influence ensures that dharma will ultimately prevail.

2. Verse & Translation

Sanskrit:
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
dharma-kṣetre kuru-kṣetre
samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva
kim akurvata sañjaya

Translation:
“Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O Sañjaya, after assembling in the place of pilgrimage at Kurukṣetra, desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pāṇḍu do?”

3. Sambandha, Abhidheya, or Prayojana?

Category: Sambandha-tattva (Understanding our relationship with Krishna and the material world)

Sambandha-tattva defines our connection with Krishna, including the nature of the jīva, īśvara, prakṛti, kāla, and karma.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment to his sons blinds him from reality—a condition of the materially conditioned soul.
His fear of dharma’s influence represents how the conditioned soul resists surrendering to Krishna due to material desires and envy.
His separation of the Pāṇḍavas from his own dynasty mirrors how the jīva separates itself from Krishna due to envy.

Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Purport Citation:
“He deliberately claimed only his sons as Kurus, and he separated the sons of Pāṇḍu from the family heritage.”

✅ This verse is purely Sambandha-tattva because it describes:

The distorted vision of the conditioned soul (Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment and bias).
The real nature of dharma (which he is afraid of).
The influence of Krishna, even indirectly, as the controller of dharma.

4. Analysis of Key Terms

Dharma-kṣetra (Field of Dharma)

Kurukṣetra is not just a battlefield; it is a sacred land where dharma has always been upheld.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra fears that the holiness of this place will favor the Pāṇḍavas, as righteousness naturally prevails in such an environment.Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Purport Citation:
“Because the battle was arranged to be fought at Kurukṣetra, which is mentioned elsewhere in the Vedas as a place of worship—even for the denizens of heaven—Dhṛtarāṣṭra became very fearful about the influence of the holy place on the outcome of the battle.”

Māmakāḥ (My Sons) vs. Pāṇḍavāḥ (Sons of Pāṇḍu)

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s bias and attachment are exposed in his words.
He does not refer to the Pāṇḍavas as his own family but only as “sons of Pāṇḍu,” distancing them from the Kuru lineage.Śrīla Prabhupāda’s Purport Citation:
“One can thus understand the specific position of Dhṛtarāṣṭra in his relationship with his nephews, the sons of Pāṇḍu.”

5. Connection to the Five Topics of Bhagavad-gītā

Topic	Connection in Verse 1.1
Īśvara (Supreme Lord)	Krishna is indirectly present as the guiding force of dharma at Kurukṣetra.
Jīva (Living entity)	Dhṛtarāṣṭra represents the conditioned soul, blinded by material attachments.
Prakṛti (Material nature)	Kurukṣetra, though part of the material world, is spiritually potent.
Kāla (Time)	The war represents the force of time, ensuring karma’s results unfold.
Karma (Actions & Results)	Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s past misdeeds now manifest as unavoidable consequences.

6. Practical Lessons

Material Attachment Leads to Spiritual Blindness
- Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment to his sons distorts his sense of dharma, just as material attachments cloud our decisions.
Envy Separates Us from Krishna
- Just as Dhṛtarāṣṭra envied the Pāṇḍavas, the conditioned soul envies Krishna and remains in illusion.
Dharma Always Prevails in the End
- Kurukṣetra symbolizes how righteousness ultimately triumphs over material ambition.
Spiritual Vision Comes from a Guru
- Like Sañjaya receiving vision from Vyāsa, we need a spiritual master to understand the Gītā.

7. Keyword Index for Study and Reference

Dharma-kṣetra – The field of righteousness
Kuru-kṣetra – Battlefield of Kurus
Māmakāḥ – Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons
Pāṇḍavāḥ – Sons of Pāṇḍu
Yuyutsavaḥ – Desiring to fight
Envy – Root cause of material bondage
Spiritual Blindness – Conditioned soul’s ignorance
Divine Vision – Only possible by mercy of a Guru
Law of Karma – Actions determining destiny

8. Preaching Relevance & Application

Preaching Topic	How This Verse is Relevant
Material Attachment & Family Bonds	Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s blind love for his sons kept him in illusion, just as excessive attachment pulls us away from Krishna.
The Power of Holy Places	Kurukṣetra influences the war; similarly, pilgrimages purify consciousness.

9. Realisations

The Blind King, the Field of Dharma, and the Anatomy of Spiritual Failure

The first verse of the Bhagavad Gita isn’t casual. It’s not a poetic preamble. It’s a surgical opening—one that immediately diagnoses a disease we all suffer from: the conflict between material attachment and moral truth.

“Dharmakshetre kurukshetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ… kim akurvata, Sañjaya?”

What did they do, O Sanjaya?

At face value, it’s a father asking for a battlefield update. But if you listen closely, it’s something much deeper. It’s the voice of fear.

Dhritarashtra is afraid—not of war, not even of loss—but of truth. Why?

Because deep down, he knows his sons are wrong. Duryodhana has defied righteousness at every step—cheating, insulting, conspiring. But Dhritarashtra couldn’t stop him. Not because he was unaware, but because he was attached. Attached to his blood, to his lineage, to his illusion that maybe unrighteousness could still win.

This is spiritual blindness. And it’s not caused by a physical defect—it’s caused by material attachment.

Attachment clouds judgment. It rewrites your values. It convinces you to twist dharma just enough to protect your comforts. And when that happens, even if you’re a king, you become a beggar, begging the universe to favour falsehood without consequences.

But Krishna doesn’t deal in delusion. He is Dharma personified, and He will not bend to sentimentality.

That’s why this war is taking place in Kurukshetra, the land of truth. Srila Prabhupada points out that this place is not ordinary. It is a dharmic field, where saints performed sacrifices and the Lord Himself walked. Such holy places don’t just hold memory—they amplify truth. They have a spiritual resonance that pulls out the real character of everyone who stands upon them.

So when Dhritarashtra asks, “What did they do?”—he’s not just asking about movement.

He’s grasping in fear: Did my sons fall under the power of this holy place? Did righteousness finally shake their corruption?

Because that’s what dharma does: it doesn’t conform to your attachments—it challenges them.

Now let’s go deeper.

What separated Dhritarashtra from clear vision? Not just attachment. Envy.

Envy of the Pandavas. Envy of their favour with Krishna. Envy of their righteousness and their strength. And envy, Srila Prabhupada explains elsewhere, is the root cause of separation from Krishna. It was envy that led the soul to want independence from God. It was envy that made the soul think, “Why should Krishna be the centre?”

So in Dhritarashtra, we don’t just see a worried father.

We see the archetype of the soul attached to the world, fearful of letting go, and envious of those closer to God.

But there is hope in this very verse. The hope is in Sanjaya—the speaker.

Sanjaya sees what Dhritarashtra cannot. How? Because he received vision from his spiritual master, Vyasa.

This is a key lesson: spiritual vision comes from the guru. Not from speculation. Not from sentiment. But from submission to one who sees through the eyes of scripture.

Dhritarashtra has eyes but cannot see. Sanjaya has no physical presence on the battlefield, yet sees everything with perfect clarity.

This is the Vedic principle: real seeing is not through these eyes—it’s through śāstra-cakṣus, the eyes of divine knowledge given by the guru.

And here lies the turning point:

The holy place is real.

Dharma is real.

The Lord is present.

And righteousness will prevail.

Despite envy. Despite attachment. Despite blindness.

Krishna will always protect dharma. He will always uplift those who serve Him with sincerity.

And it begins with a choice:

Will you cling to illusion like Dhritarashtra, or seek vision like Sanjaya?

Because one leads to destruction.

And the other… leads to Krishna.

10. Conclusion

Bhagavad-gītā 1.1 is more than just an introduction to a battle—it symbolizes the conditioned soul’s illusion. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s attachment and envy mirror our own material struggles. Krishna’s presence at Kurukṣetra assures us that dharma will always triumph.