1 Dhritarâshtra said: On the holy plain, on the field of Kuru, gathered together, eager for battle, what did they, O Sanjaya, my people and the Pândavas?
Whenever there is decay of righteousness ... then I [Krishna] Myself come forth. 4:7
1:1-11
1 Dhritarâshtra said: On the holy plain, on the field of Kuru, gathered together, eager for battle, what did they, O Sanjaya, my people and the Pândavas?
Two armies, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, assemble for battle. [1]
2 Sanjaya said: Having seen arrayed the army of the Pândavas, the Prince Duryodhana approached his teacher, and spake these words:
3Behold this mighty host of the sons of Pându, O teacher, arrayed by the son of Drupada, thy wise disciple.
4Heroes are these, mighty bowmen, to Bhîma and Arjuna equal in battle: Yuyudhâna, Virâta, and Drupada of the great car.
5 Drishtaketu, Chekitâna and the valiant King of Kâshi, Purujit and Kuntibhoja, and Shaivya, bull among men;
6Yudhâmanyu the strong, and Uttamaujas the brave; Saubhadra and the Draupadeyas, all of great cars.
7Know further all those who are our chiefs, O best of the twice-born, the leaders of my army; these I name to thee for thy information:
8Thou, Lord, and Bhîshma, and Karna and Kripa, conquering in battle; Ashvatthâmâ, Vikarna, and Saumadatti also;
9And many others, heroes, for my sake renouncing their lives, with divers weapons and missiles, and all well-skilled in war.
10Yet insufficient seems this army of ours, though marshalled by Bhîshma, while that army of theirs seems sufficient, though marshalled by Bhîma;
11Therefore in the rank and file let all, standing firmly in their respective divisions, guard Bhîshma, even all ye generals.
1:12-19
12To enhearten him, the Ancient of the Kurus, the Grandsire, the glorious, blew his conch, sounding on high a lion's roar.
When the armies assembled, many conchs, drums, and cow horns blared loudly.
13Then conches and kettledrums, tabors and drums and cowhorns, suddenly blared forth, and the sound was tumultuous.
14Then, stationed in their great war-chariot, yoked to white horses, Madhava and the son of Pandu blew their divine conches.
Krishna (Madhava) and Arunja (the son of Pandu) arrived in a chariot pulled by white horses and blew their divine conchs.
15 Pânchajanya by Hrishîkesha, and Devadatta by Dhananjaya. vrikodara of terrible deeds blew his mighty conch, Paundra;
Many others also blew conchs, filling the earth and sky with sound.
16The King Yudhishthira, the son of Kuntî, blew Anantavijaya; Nakula and Sahadeva, Sughosha and Manipushpaka.
17And Kâshya, of the great bow and Shikhandî, the mighty car-warrior, Drishtadyumna and Virâta and Sâtyaki, the unconquered.
18 Drupada and the Draupadeyas, O Lord of earth, and Saubhadra, the mighty-armed, on all sides their several conches blew.
19That tumultuous uproar rent the hearts of the sons of Dhritarâshtra, filling the earth and sky with sound.
1:20-47
20Then, beholding the sons of Dhritarâshtra standing arrayed, and flight of missiles about to begin, he whose crest is an ape, the son of Pându, took up his bow,
When Arjuna saw the assembled armies, he said,
21And spake this word to Hrishîkesha, O Lord of Earth: Arjuna said: In the midst, between the two armies, stay my chariot, O Achyuta,
Place my chariot between the armies, so that I can get a good view of those who will be fighting on each side.
22That I may behold these standing, longing for battle, with whom I must strive in this outbreaking war,
23And gaze on those here gathered together ready to fight, desirous of pleasing in battle the evil-minded son of Dhritarâshtra.
24 Sanjaya said: Thus addressed by Gudâkesha, Hrishîkesha, Bhârata, having stayed that best of chariots in the midst, between the two armies,
25Over against Bhîshma, Drona and all the rulers of the world, said: "O Pârtha, behold these Kurus gathered together."
26Then saw Pârtha standing there, uncles and grandfathers, teachers, mother's brothers, cousins, sons and grandsons, comrades,
Arjuna saw his relatives and friends in both armies [2], and said,
27Fathers-in-law and benefactors also in both armies; seeing all these kinsmen thus standing arrayed, Kaunteya,
28Deeply moved to pity, thus uttered in sadness: Arjuna said: Seeing these my kinsmen, O Krishna, arrayed, eager to fight,
Oh Krishna, I am sad to see my relatives and friends fighting each other.
29My limbs fail and my mouth is parched, my body quivers, and my hair stands on end,
My limbs fail, my body quivers, and my hair stands on end.
30 Gândîva slips from my hand, and my skin burns all over, I am not able to stand, my mind is whirling,
My skin burns and my mind is whirling.
31 And I see adverse omens, O Keshava. Nor do I foresee any advantage from slaying kinsmen in battle.
I see no good from killing my family and friends in battle.
I desire neither victory, kingdom, nor pleasures.
32For I desire not victory, O Krishna, nor kingdom, nor pleasures; what is kingdom to us, O Govinda, what enjoyment or even life?
33Those for whose sake we desire kingdom, enjoyments and pleasures, they stand here in battle, abandoning life and riches.
34Teachers, fathers, sons, as well as grandfathers, mother's brothers, fathers-in-law, grandsons, brothers-in-law, and other relatives.
35These I do not wish to kill, though myself slain, O Madhusûdana, even for the sake of the kingship of the three worlds; how then for earth?
I don't want to kill for the sake of a kingdom.
36Slaying these sons of Dhritarâshtra, what pleasure can be ours, O Janârdana? Killing these desperadoes, sin will but take hold of us.
37Therefore we should not kill the sons of Dhritarâshtra, our relatives; for how, killing our kinsmen, may we be happy, O Madhava?
We shouldn't kill our relatives.
How can we be happy by killing our relatives?
38Although these, with intelligence overpowered by greed, see no guilt in the destruction of a family, no crime in hostility to friends,
39Why should not we learn to turn away from such a sin, O Janârdana, who see the evils in the destruction of a family?
We should not commit such a sin.
40In the destruction of a family the immemorial family traditions perish; in the perishing of tradition, lawlessness overcomes the whole family;
If we destroy a family, the traditions of that family die with it.
41Owing to predominance of lawlessness, O Krishna, the women of the family become corrupt; women corrupted, O Vârshneya, there ariseth caste confusion;
When lawlessness predominates, women become corrupt. [2]
And when women become corrupt, the caste system is confused,
42This confusion draggeth to hell the slayers of the family, and the family; for their ancestors fall, deprived of rice-balls and libations.
which leads people to hell.
43By these caste-confusing misdeeds of the slayers of the family, the everlasting caste customs and family customs are abolished.
The duties of castes and families are destroyed.
44The abode of the men whose family customs are extinguished, O Janârdana, is everlastingly in hell. Thus have we heard.
Those whose family customs are destroyed go to hell.
45Alas! in committing a great sin are we engaged, we who are endeavouring to kill our kindred from greed of the pleasures of kingship.
It's a great sin to kill our own family for the greed and pleasures of a kingdom.
46If the sons of Dhritarâshtra, weapon in hand, should slay me, unresisting, unarmed, in the battle, that would for me be the better.
I'd rather be killed, unarmed, in the battle.
47 Having thus spoken on the battle-field, Arjuna sank down on the seat of the chariot, casting away his bow and arrow, his mind overborne by grief.
And Arjuna sat in his chariot in the middle of the field, and cast aside his bow and arrows.
I'm ignoring the various mythological characters that are mentioned in the first chapter of the Gita, since they have nothing much to do with the story. It's one of the worst cases of name-dropping in all literature.
I am, however, providing Wikipedia links to those characters when such links are available.
All of these characters could, and probably should, be added to the absurdities, since none of them exist today or have ever existed. It is embarrassing to humankind to think that there are any alive today that still believe in them - but more than a billion do. They are called hindus.
Arjuna, who is a Pandava, is reluctant to fight against the Kauravas, since they consist of his relatives and friends.
In The Bhagavad-Gita As it is, His Divine Grace, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (the founder of Hare Krishnas) explains, "According to the sage Canakya Pandita, women are generally not very intelligent and therefore not trustworthy."
