Verse 1.31

निमित्तानि च पश्यामि विपरीतानि केशव ।

न च श्रेयोऽनुपश्यामि हत्वा स्वजनमाहवे ॥

1.31

Transliteration

nimittāni ca paśyāmi viparītāni keśava |

na ca śreyo'nupaśyāmi hatvā svajanamāhave ||

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · @indic-transliteration/sanscript 1.3.3

Translation

And I see adverse omens, O Kesava. I do not see any good in killing my kinsmen in battle.

From the owner's sheet · +1 more

Word by word

omens
and
I see
adverse
O Keshava

not
and
good
do I foresee
by killing
own kinsmen
in battle

By Sanskrit System · Machine draft · claude-opus-5-5 · 2026-11-08

Explanation

Arjuna moves from bodily symptoms to judgement. He sees adverse omens, signs that in epic culture were taken to foretell disaster, and he can see no good, śreyas, in killing his own kin. The word śreyas, the higher good, will return many times in the Gita, and Arjuna will later ask Krishna directly what it is. Here he simply cannot find it in this war. The verse marks the point where his distress becomes an argument, the first of several reasons he will offer for not fighting.