28. krpaya fiaraya 'visto
visidann idam abravit drstve 'mam svajanam krsna yuyutsam samuuasthitam
(28) He was overcome with great compassion and uttered this in sadness;
svajanam: his own people, kinsmen. It is not so much slaughter but slaughter of one's own people that causes distress and anxiety to Arjuna. See also I, 31, 37, and 45. We are generally inclined to take a mechanical view of wars and get lost in statistics. But, with a little imagination, we can realize how our enemies are human beings, "fathers and grandfathers" with their own individual lives, with their longings and aspirations. Later on, Arjuna asks whether victory is worth much after we make the place a desert waste. See I, 36.
The Distress of Arjuna
When I see my own people arrayed and eager for fight 0 Krsna,
29. sidanti mama gatram
mukham ca parisusyati
vepathus ca Sarire me
romaharsas ca jayate
(29) My limbs quail, my mouth goes dry, my body shakes and my hair stands on end.
30. gandivam sramsate hastat
tvak cat 'va paridahyate
na ca saknomy avasthatum
bhramati 'va ca me manah
(30) (The bow) Gandiva slips from my hand and my skin too is burning all over. I am not able to stand steady. My mind is reeling.
Arjuna's words make us think of the loneliness of man oppressed by doubt, dread of waste and emptiness, from whose being the riches of heaven and earth and the comfort of human affection are slipping away. This intolerable sadness is generally the experience of all those who aspire for the vision of Reality.
31. nimittam ca pasyam
viparitam kes`ava
na ca sreyo 'nupasyami
hatva svajanam ahave
(31) And I see evil omens, O Kesava (Krsna), nor do I foresee any good by slaying my own people in the fight Arjuna's attention to omens indicates his mental weakness and instability.
