Arjuna sees nothing, on earth or in heaven, that could lift his grief.
An unrivalled kingdom over the whole earth, even lordship over the gods: Arjuna sets his grief against the highest prizes he can name, and the grief stands larger than all of them. No prize is the right size for this wound, so he stops looking outward at all.
I see nothing that could drive away this grief drying up my senses, not even an unrivaled and prosperous kingdom on earth, nor lordship over the gods.
Having laid down his bow in the previous verse and confessed that his nature is overcome, Arjuna now gives his reason for turning to a teacher: he can see no remedy of his own, and so he cannot reason his own way out.
Where they agreethe convergence
Across schools and centuries the commentators come to the same ground. These are the points they share, and the voices that hold each one.
You say it plainly: you look everywhere and find nothing that would lift this grief; no remedy is anywhere in view, and the sorrow is drying up your senses, parching every faculty the way drought withers a small pond.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, Bhedābheda, Śuddhādvaita, and the modern voicesĀnandagiri · Madhusūdana · Dhanapati · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Bhāskara · Jñāneśvar · Tilak · PuruṣottamaIn Ānandagiri, Madhusūdana, and 8 others’ words
Arjuna says plainly that he can find nothing that would lift his grief. The Sanskrit 'na hi prapashyami' means 'for I do not see'; he looks and sees no remedy anywhere. This is the heart of the verse: not that he refuses a cure, but that no cure is in view. Several commentators stress that the grief is described as 'drying up the senses' (uchchhoshanam indriyanam), meaning it parches or withers his faculties the way drought withers a small pond, a sorrow that torments without pause. So Arjuna is not making a debating point; he is reporting that his whole inner life has gone dry and that he cannot locate anything to moisten it.
And no outward gain reaches it, however great: not an unrivalled, thornless kingdom over the whole earth, not even the lordship of the gods; win all of it and the sorrow still stands, larger than any prize.
Across Advaita, Śuddhādvaita, Bhedābheda, Bhakti, and the modern voicesĀnandagiri · Madhusūdana · Dhanapati · Puruṣottama · Bhāskara · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Jñāneśvar · Tilak · RamsukhdasIn Ānandagiri, Madhusūdana, and 9 others’ words
The decisive claim is that no external gain, however great, can remove this grief. Arjuna names the two highest prizes a warrior could imagine: an unrivalled, thornless, prosperous kingdom over the whole earth (asapatnam riddham rajyam), and beyond even that the lordship of the gods, the rank of Indra and the seat of Brahma. He says that even if he won all of it, his sorrow would still stand. The commentators read this as Arjuna measuring his grief against every possible outcome and finding the grief larger than any of them. As one puts it, no external object is on a par with the disease.
This is why you turn to a teacher rather than reason your own way clear: you can see no means at all to dispel the grief, so you ask to be taught instead of trusting your own counsel.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, ŚuddhādvaitaMadhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīdhara · Viśvanātha · Baladeva · Puruṣottama · DhanapatiIn Madhusūdana, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 5 others’ words
The verse is read as Arjuna's reason for becoming a disciple and asking Krishna to teach him. The commentators set it against an unspoken objection: 'You are learned in scripture; weigh your own good and act on it. Why make yourself a pupil?' Arjuna's answer is that he cannot solve this himself, since he can see no means at all to dispel the grief; therefore he needs instruction. Several connect this directly to his words in the previous verse, hearing behind it the scriptural cry, 'I grieve; carry me across to the far shore of grief.' The verse thus completes his surrender: it explains why he turns to a teacher rather than reasoning his own way out.
Battle too is no answer; victory would hand you the kingdom and death would open heaven, yet neither touches the sorrow, so you ask for some other peace, one reached by withdrawal and not by conquest.
Across Advaita, Bhakti, and the modern voicesMadhusūdana · Baladeva · Viśvanātha · Nīlakaṇṭha · RamsukhdasIn Madhusūdana, Baladeva, and 3 others’ words
War in particular is ruled out as a remedy. The commentators raise the natural reply: striving in battle will end the grief, because by victory you gain the kingdom and by death you gain heaven, so either way you win. Arjuna heads this off. Even the kingdom won by victory, even the heaven won by dying, would leave the sorrow untouched. So the very fight that others propose as the solution is dismissed; he asks instead for some other means of peace, a peace reached by withdrawal rather than by conquest.
And in refusing empire here and heavenly rule hereafter, a quiet dispassion shows through; what looks like collapse is the detachment that readies one to receive the higher knowledge.
Across AdvaitaMadhusūdana · Nīlakaṇṭha · ĀnandagiriIn Madhusūdana, Nīlakaṇṭha, and 1 others’ words
Through Arjuna's despondency the verse quietly displays the marks of a seeker ready for higher knowledge. By refusing both earthly empire and heavenly rule, Arjuna shows dispassion (vairagya) toward enjoyments here and hereafter, which the commentators name as a qualification of one fit for the knowledge of Brahman, the absolute. What looks on the surface like collapse is, on this reading, the dawning of the detachment that genuine teaching requires.
This is the shared ground; it can be carried as it is. Below is where they differ.
Where they differthe divergence
Advaita Vedānta, in their fuller words
These commentators read the verse as exposing why pleasure can never cure sorrow and as marking Arjuna out as ready for liberating knowledge. The fullest account argues the point with scripture and reason: the texts say that the world won by action here, and the world won by merit hereafter, both wear away; the inference 'whatever is made is non-eternal' applies to every enjoyment; and we plainly see worldly things perish. From this it follows that enjoyment not only fails to remove grief but actually produces it, because we depend on it while it lasts and are wounded when it breaks off. So Arjuna's refusal of kingdom and godhood is not mere despair but the dispassion (vairagya) toward enjoyment here and hereafter that qualifies one for the knowledge of Brahman, the absolute reality.
Bhakti, in their fuller words
These devotional commentators frame the verse as Arjuna's turn to Krishna specifically as his refuge and teacher. One pictures Krishna raising a sharper objection: 'You feel only friendship toward me, not reverence; how then can I make you my disciple? Go to someone you revere, a Vyasa or the like.' Arjuna answers that in all three worlds he sees no one but Krishna who could dispel his grief, knowing none wiser than himself, not even Brihaspati, teacher of the gods; stricken as he is, whom else could he approach? The same lineage cites the scripture that the world won by action wastes away just as the world won by merit wastes away, to show that happiness gained by battle, in this life or the next, cannot take away sorrow, and so Arjuna takes refuge in the Lord alone.
Śuddhādvaita, in their fuller words
This commentator presses on why even unlimited gain leaves the grief in place, locating the reason in the nature of the senses themselves. The little word 'hi' ('for') in the verse, he says, confirms the point: the senses by their very nature are not easily filled. So it is futile to look for an end of sorrow in any acquisition, even sovereignty over the gods, because the faculties that would have to be satisfied can never be satisfied by objects. He also reads the verse as Arjuna's reply to the bond of friendship and refuge: granting that this obligates him to do whatever Krishna wishes, Arjuna still has nothing left to ask, since he sees nothing that could dry up the scorching of his senses.
Bhedābheda, in their fuller words
This commentator reads 'I do not see' as a precise act of the intellect: 'I do not discern with my mind' any cause that would remove the grief. He underlines Arjuna's standing, a sovereign of all, ready to die, whose senses and their functions are contracted and dried up by sorrow, and notes that even the aid of someone able to give beneficial counsel has not shown such a cause. Arjuna therefore asks Krishna in the express expectation that Krishna will be the one to remove it.
A modern reading, in their fuller words
This commentator stays close to Arjuna's own thought and spells out the assumption being rejected. Krishna might suppose that Arjuna, by fighting, will win, and by winning will gain the kingdom, and that the kingdom will make his grief and worry vanish and leave him content. Arjuna's state, however, has become such that even a kingdom rich in wealth and grain, free of enemies, where the people are wholly happy and nothing necessary is lacking, would still not remove his grief. The point is pressed at the level of plain human experience rather than scriptural proof.
A few questions to carry
These ask for understanding, not recall; each answer is settled by the commentary itself.
For a second sitting
Carry this with youwhat stays
Return to this verse over the coming days. Read once, it stays a phrase; sat with, it begins to settle.
The place where every remedy runs out is where a seeker finally stops reasoning alone and asks to be taught.
Read deeper
Everything a full study holds, folded below.
Word by word
All the commentary, woven together
The commentary, woven together
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
rjuna says plainly that he can find nothing that would lift his grief. The Sanskrit 'na hi prapashyami' means 'for I do not see'; he looks and sees no remedy anywhere. This is the heart of the verse: not that he refuses a cure, but that no cure is in view. Several commentators stress that the grief is described as 'drying up the senses' (uchchhoshanam indriyanam), meaning it parches or withers his faculties the way drought withers a small pond, a sorrow that torments without pause. So Arjuna is not making a debating point; he is reporting that his whole inner life has gone dry and that he cannot locate anything to moisten it.
Braided from 10 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrī Bhāskara · Sant Jñāneśvar · Lokmanya Tilak · Śrī Puruṣottama
The decisive claim is that no external gain, however great, can remove this grief. Arjuna names the two highest prizes a warrior could imagine: an unrivalled, thornless, prosperous kingdom over the whole earth (asapatnam riddham rajyam), and beyond even that the lordship of the gods, the rank of Indra and the seat of Brahma. He says that even if he won all of it, his sorrow would still stand. The commentators read this as Arjuna measuring his grief against every possible outcome and finding the grief larger than any of them. As one puts it, no external object is on a par with the disease.
Braided from 11 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama · Śrī Bhāskara · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Sant Jñāneśvar · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas
The verse is read as Arjuna's reason for becoming a disciple and asking Krishna to teach him. The commentators set it against an unspoken objection: 'You are learned in scripture; weigh your own good and act on it. Why make yourself a pupil?' Arjuna's answer is that he cannot solve this himself, since he can see no means at all to dispel the grief; therefore he needs instruction. Several connect this directly to his words in the previous verse, hearing behind it the scriptural cry, 'I grieve; carry me across to the far shore of grief.' The verse thus completes his surrender: it explains why he turns to a teacher rather than reasoning his own way out.
Braided from 7 commentators
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrī Puruṣottama · Dhanapati Sūri
War in particular is ruled out as a remedy. The commentators raise the natural reply: striving in battle will end the grief, because by victory you gain the kingdom and by death you gain heaven, so either way you win. Arjuna heads this off. Even the kingdom won by victory, even the heaven won by dying, would leave the sorrow untouched. So the very fight that others propose as the solution is dismissed; he asks instead for some other means of peace, a peace reached by withdrawal rather than by conquest.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Swami Ramsukhdas
Through Arjuna's despondency the verse quietly displays the marks of a seeker ready for higher knowledge. By refusing both earthly empire and heavenly rule, Arjuna shows dispassion (vairagya) toward enjoyments here and hereafter, which the commentators name as a qualification of one fit for the knowledge of Brahman, the absolute. What looks on the surface like collapse is, on this reading, the dawning of the detachment that genuine teaching requires.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrī Ānandagiri
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
These commentators read the verse as exposing why pleasure can never cure sorrow and as marking Arjuna out as ready for liberating knowledge. The fullest account argues the point with scripture and reason: the texts say that the world won by action here, and the world won by merit hereafter, both wear away; the inference 'whatever is made is non-eternal' applies to every enjoyment; and we plainly see worldly things perish. From this it follows that enjoyment not only fails to remove grief but actually produces it, because we depend on it while it lasts and are wounded when it breaks off. So Arjuna's refusal of kingdom and godhood is not mere despair but the dispassion (vairagya) toward enjoyment here and hereafter that qualifies one for the knowledge of Brahman, the absolute reality.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrī Ānandagiri
Bhakti
These devotional commentators frame the verse as Arjuna's turn to Krishna specifically as his refuge and teacher. One pictures Krishna raising a sharper objection: 'You feel only friendship toward me, not reverence; how then can I make you my disciple? Go to someone you revere, a Vyasa or the like.' Arjuna answers that in all three worlds he sees no one but Krishna who could dispel his grief, knowing none wiser than himself, not even Brihaspati, teacher of the gods; stricken as he is, whom else could he approach? The same lineage cites the scripture that the world won by action wastes away just as the world won by merit wastes away, to show that happiness gained by battle, in this life or the next, cannot take away sorrow, and so Arjuna takes refuge in the Lord alone.
Śrīla Viśvanātha · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrīdhara Svāmī
Śuddhādvaita
This commentator presses on why even unlimited gain leaves the grief in place, locating the reason in the nature of the senses themselves. The little word 'hi' ('for') in the verse, he says, confirms the point: the senses by their very nature are not easily filled. So it is futile to look for an end of sorrow in any acquisition, even sovereignty over the gods, because the faculties that would have to be satisfied can never be satisfied by objects. He also reads the verse as Arjuna's reply to the bond of friendship and refuge: granting that this obligates him to do whatever Krishna wishes, Arjuna still has nothing left to ask, since he sees nothing that could dry up the scorching of his senses.
Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhedabheda
This commentator reads 'I do not see' as a precise act of the intellect: 'I do not discern with my mind' any cause that would remove the grief. He underlines Arjuna's standing, a sovereign of all, ready to die, whose senses and their functions are contracted and dried up by sorrow, and notes that even the aid of someone able to give beneficial counsel has not shown such a cause. Arjuna therefore asks Krishna in the express expectation that Krishna will be the one to remove it.
Śrī Bhāskara
Modern
This commentator stays close to Arjuna's own thought and spells out the assumption being rejected. Krishna might suppose that Arjuna, by fighting, will win, and by winning will gain the kingdom, and that the kingdom will make his grief and worry vanish and leave him content. Arjuna's state, however, has become such that even a kingdom rich in wealth and grain, free of enemies, where the people are wholly happy and nothing necessary is lacking, would still not remove his grief. The point is pressed at the level of plain human experience rather than scriptural proof.
Swami Ramsukhdas
A Seeker Asks
If neither worldly success nor any imagined heaven can touch real grief, then where could a cure possibly come from?
The verse first asks you to take seriously that the cure is not where we usually look. Arjuna measures his grief against the highest earthly and heavenly gains and finds it larger than all of them; the lesson the commentators draw is that no external object is the right size for this wound, so continuing to chase acquisitions is a dead end.
Śrī Ānandagiri · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrī Puruṣottama
One strand of commentary explains why this is structurally true and not just Arjuna's mood: everything won by action or merit wears away, whatever is made is non-eternal, and so enjoyment actually breeds grief, since we lean on it while it lasts and are cut when it ends. If pleasure itself carries the seed of sorrow, then no amount of it can be the answer.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīla Baladeva
The verse points toward the cure by what Arjuna does next: he stops trying to solve it alone and turns to a teacher, saying in effect, 'I grieve; carry me across to the far shore of grief.' The relief is expected to come not from a new possession but from knowledge received in surrender, and the very refusal of kingdom and heaven is read as the dispassion that readies a person to receive it.
Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīla Baladeva
All the translations and commentary
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