Chapter One

Observing the Armies on the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra

Gita 01.01 The Gita's first word dharma conveys its essential, universal theme
Gita 01.02 Sanjaya addresses not just the content of Dhritarashtra's question but also its intent
Gita 01.03 Context can convert compliment into criticism
Gita 01.04 Duryodhana tries to change Drona's emotion for the opposite side from affection to anger
Gita 01.05 Our mode of description reflects our intention
Gita 01.06 Duryodhana diplomatically continues to incite Drona against the Pandava army
Gita 01.07 Be aware of how what we say to one person may be heard by others
Gita 01.08 We need to be calm-headed, not cold-blooded
Gita 01.09 Duryodhana's slip of tongue leads to his speaking the truth unintentionally
Gita 01.10 Symmetry of structure stresses contrast in content
Gita 01.11 The protector too needs to be protected
Gita 01.12 Just because we get others to do what we want them to do doesn't mean we have won them over to our side
Gita 01.13 Actions that throw caution to the winds are preceded by caution
Gita 01.14 The Gita's audio-visual camera starts with the character of the questioner's interest, but shifts now to the central characters
Gita 01.15 The devoted see God before they see the world, the undevoted see only the world
Gita 01.16 Yudhishthira doesn't come first in the list of warriors but is still their undisputed leader
Gita 01.17 Don't let minor grammatical disputes overshadow major narrational and philosophical thrust
Gita 01.18 The Pandavas lost Pandu but gained Drupada as a father figure
Gita 01.19 The Pandavas win the mental battle before the physical battle
Gita 01.20 Life is so unpredictable that it can unbalance the unflappably balanced
Gita 01.21 The non-partisan position of the Gita's revelation points to its universality
Gita 01.22 Asking to see something that is already known points to a dynamic that is not known
Gita 01.23 Virtue doesn't count when determining the military count in a fight
Gita 01.24 The position of maximum visibility is also the position of maxiumum vulnerability
Gita 01.25 What catches ouar attention is determined by what is prominent in our external situation and in our internal disposition
Gita 01.26 When we can't fight the circumstances that make us fight against our loved ones, we have to fight against our loved ones
Gita 01.27 The sequence of perception determines the consequence on our emotion
Gita 01.28 Our thought-train’s journey from intentions to actions is diverted by our emotions
Gita 01.29 Know which emotion is mental and which spiritual not just by content, but also by context and consequence
Gita 01.30 When we face challenges bigger than ourselves, we look for omens to sense the intentions of forces bigger than ourselves
Gita 01.31 What we think of as long-term may not be long-term enough
Gita 01.32 Don't let the means to an end become an end that diverts us from the actual ends
Gita 01.33 When various purposes pull us in different directions, we need to prioritize our purposes
Gita 01.34 To retaliate and cause death requires courage, but to not retaliate at the cost of one's own death requires greater courage
Gita 01.35 Our pleasure-pain calculation determines our decisions and is determined by our worldview
Gita 01.36 The ethical tension between kula-dharma and kshatriya-dharma leads to emotional over-reaction and physical inaction
Gita 01.37 Consciousness that is contaminated becomes conquered and covered
Gita 01.38 To restrain a violent madman, their restrainers may have to fight like the madman
Gita 01.39 Our sense of honor coming from our lineage can raise us but can also stop us from rising to the highest
Gita 01.40 Dharma prevents human society from being ruled by the law of the jungle
Gita 01.41 When the family is disrupted, the faith of the children is also devastated
Gita 01.42 Disruption of dharma leads to overpopulation of disruptive souls, causing total breakdown of dharma
Gita 01.43 Hearing is important, but from whom we are hearing is even more important
Gita 01.44 When our emotion rules our reason, we rationalize a one-sided view of reality
Gita 01.45 The war was not to gain a kingdom but to protect the rule of law
Gita 01.46 The significance of our actions depends not just on the actions but also on the situations in which we do those actions