Bg. 7.27 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत । सर्वभूतानि सम्मोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप ॥ २७ ॥

Verse text

icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata sarva-bhūtāni sammohaṁ sarge yānti paran-tapa

Synonyms

icchā — desire ; dveṣa — and hate ; samutthena — arisen from ; dvandva — of duality ; mohena — by the illusion ; bhārata — O scion of Bharata ; sarva — all ; bhūtāni — living entities ; sammoham — into delusion ; sarge — while taking birth ; yānti — go ; param-tapa — O conqueror of enemies.

Translation

O scion of Bharata, O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, bewildered by dualities arisen from desire and hate.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

27. Since the beginning of creation, all living beings have been intensely bewildered by the ignorance caused by duality arising from like and dislike.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

27. Since the beginning of creation, all living beings have been intensely bewildered by the ignorance caused by duality arising from like and dislikecontinuing from previous life.

Purport

The real constitutional position of the living entity is that of subordination to the Supreme Lord, who is pure knowledge. When one is deluded into separation from this pure knowledge, he becomes controlled by the illusory energy and cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The illusory energy is manifested in the duality of desire and hate. Due to desire and hate, the ignorant person wants to become one with the Supreme Lord and envies Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Pure devotees, who are not deluded or contaminated by desire and hate, can understand that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa appears by His internal potencies, but those who are deluded by duality and nescience think that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is created by material energies. This is their misfortune. Such deluded persons, symptomatically, dwell in dualities of dishonor and honor, misery and happiness, woman and man, good and bad, pleasure and pain, etc., thinking, “This is my wife; this is my house; I am the master of this house; I am the husband of this wife.” These are the dualities of delusion. Those who are so deluded by dualities are completely foolish and therefore cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

When do the jīvas become bewildered by Your māyā? At the beginning of the creation of this universe (sarge), all the jīvas (sarva-bhūtāni) become bewildered. How? Desire for objects favorable to the senses, and hatred for things which obstruct the pleasure of the senses, arising from previous actions, give rise to illusion of duality—of respect and disrespect, hot and cold, happiness and distress, and woman and man. A person thinks “I am happy, being respected.” “I am sad, being disrespected.” “This is my wife.” “This is my husband.” This duality gives rise to complete ignorance (moha). That in turn gives rise to complete bewilderment (saṁmoham)—extreme attachment to wife and sons. Those who are extremely attached are not qualified for devotion to Me. I will explain this to Uddhava: yadṛcchayā mat-kathādau jāta-śraddhas tu yaḥ pumān | na nirviṇṇo nāti-sakto bhakti-yogo ’sya siddhi-daḥ || If somehow or other by good fortune one develops faith in hearing and chanting My glories, such a person, being neither very disgusted with nor attached to material life, should achieve perfection through the path of loving devotion to Me. SB 11.20.8

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

“Why is it that the one who knows you is very rare?” “From their very creation, all living entities end up in complete bewilderment. Why? They are bewildered by the illusions of dualities of respect and disrespect, happiness and distress, woman and man. “If I am treated well I will be happy. If I am treated with disrespect, I will feel sad. This is my wife. This is my husband.” Absorbed in such illusory conceptions, they become bewildered. What type of illusion is this? The bewilderment arises in this life by impressions of attachment and hatred, which existed in the previous life (icchā dveṣa samutthena). Icchā means attachment or rāga. Since all living beings are bewildered in this way, one who knows Me is very rare.

Surrender Unto Me

If everybody is born into delusion how some people become devoted? [ 2 . Becoming free: Pious, pure, intelligent persons are free from the dualities rising from delusion can serve Krsna with determined devotion. (28) ]