The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

╭ chapter one
of the priestly caste, but in search of wealth he took up the way
of the warrior and excelled in the knowledge of arms. He was
the teacher, the guru, of all the royal princes in their youth, the
sons of Pandu and the sons of Dhritarashtra alike. Thus it was
he who taught both sides the skills of war – an irony which
sharp-tongued Duryodhana points out in verse 3. Arjuna was
Drona’s best pupil when it came to the bow, excelling even
Drona’s own son, Ashvatthama.
Bhishma, “the grandsire” of both sides, is not actually
the princes’ grandfather but a respected elder statesman. As
Dhritarashtra’s advisor of many years’ standing, he considers
it his duty to stand by his king and try to protect him from his
weaknesses and wrong decisions.
Another figure introduced in chapter 1 is Sanjaya, who narrates
the entire Gita to the blind king Dhritarashtra. Sanjaya
is not present on the battlefield, but the text tells us that the
sage Vyasa, the composer of the Gita, has given him divine
sight so that he can see and report everything.
Chapter 1 leaves us acutely aware that we are on a battlefield,
waiting for a catastrophic war to begin; but once Krishna
begins his instruction, we leave the battlefield behind and
enter the realms of philosophy and mystical vision. The first
chapter is but a bridge to the real subjects of the Gita, and thus
need not detain us too long in our study of the poem.
Yet the first chapter has caused a great deal of debate,
largely because of what it has to say about the morality of war.
╭ 74