अथ व्यवस्थितान् दृष्ट्वा धार्तराष्ट्रान्कपिध्वजः।प्रवृत्ते शस्त्रसंपाते धनुरुद्यम्य पाण्डवः॥
atha vyavasthitān dṛṣṭvā dhārtarāṣṭrān kapi-dhwajaḥpravṛtte śastra-sampāte dhanurudyamya pāṇḍavaḥhṛṣīkeśaṃ tadā vākyam idam āha mahī-pate
Word by word
The verse says
Then, seeing Dhritarashtra's men drawn up and the weapons about to fly, Arjuna, whose banner bears the monkey, raised his bow and spoke to Krishna.
In plain words
Arjuna is ready. This is the last moment in the Gita when he is a working soldier.
He lifts his bow. Everything about the verse is ordinary and professional — the enemy is in position, the weapons are about to start, he takes up his weapon and turns to his driver with an instruction.
The next thing he says will end the battle for him before it starts.
Where you've felt this · in failure
The last normal minute before bad news. You are doing something dull — filling a kettle, checking a bag. Later you can recall that minute in strange detail. Nothing was happening in it, and that is why it stuck.
Going deeper
The monkey on Arjuna's banner is Hanuman, who in another epic crossed an ocean for a friend and is the pattern of devoted service. He is riding above the chariot of a man who is about to discover he cannot serve.
There is no sign yet of what is coming. Arjuna raises his bow like a man who has done this many times, because he has. Whatever breaks in him a few verses from now is not fear of fighting. He is among the finest fighters alive and has never shown any reluctance before.
That is the point the chapter is carefully setting up. What undoes Arjuna is not the danger, and not the odds, and not the prospect of dying. It is looking closely at who is on the other side. The Gita is not a book about how to become brave. Arjuna is already brave. It is a book about what to do when courage turns out to be beside the point.