Bhagavad Gita 18.71
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 71 of 78
श्रद्धावान् अनसूयश् च शृणुयाद् अपि यो नरः । सोऽपि मुक्तः शुभाल् लोकान् प्राप्नुयात् पुण्यकर्मणाम् ॥
śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ | so'pi muktaḥ śubhāl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām ||
Even one who only hears this with śraddhā and without malice is liberated and reaches the pure worlds of the righteous.
Word by word (3)
- śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca
- — śraddhāvān = possessing śraddhā (full of faith/trust in the teaching; śraddhā is not mere belief but the total alignment of heart, mind, and will with the truth); anasūyaḥ = free from malice/envy/fault-finding (a-asūyā = without the carping, competitive, resentful attitude that blocks reception); ca = and — two qualities of the ideal hearer: open-hearted faith + absence of malice
- śṛṇuyāt api yo naraḥ
- — yo naraḥ = whatever person; śṛṇuyāt = hears/listens (śru = to hear; optative — whoever may hear); api = even — the 'even' is significant: even one who ONLY hears (not one who studies, practises, teaches, or fully understands), if they hear with śraddhā and without malice, receives the full promise
- so'pi muktaḥ śubhān lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām
- — saḥ api = that one too (even they); muktaḥ = liberated (released from pāpa/sin-bondage); śubhān lokān = auspicious/happy worlds (śubha = pure, auspicious, beautiful); prāpnuyāt = shall attain/reach (optative of prāp = to attain); puṇya-karmaṇām = of those whose karmas are meritorious/virtuous — the listener without practice attains the worlds of the virtuous practitioner; hearing with śraddhā IS itself puṇya-karma
And even that person who simply hears this teaching with śraddhā (faith, open-heartedness) and free from malice — that one too, liberated, attains the auspicious worlds of the virtuous.
A modern analogy
This is the Gita's gift to the ordinary person. You do not have to be a yogi, a philosopher, a renunciant, or a warrior. You do not even have to understand every teaching. If you hear it with an open heart (śraddhā) and without the closed-fist of malice or cynicism (anasūyaḥ), you receive the full merit of those who lived it. Like attending a concert: you need not be a musician to receive the music's gift — but you must attend with an open heart, not arms-crossed and looking for flaws.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
And the man also who hears, full of faith and free from malice, even he, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of the righteous. [1]
And even that man who hears this, full of Shraddha and free from malice, he too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of the righteous. [4]
And he too who will hear this merely with faith and without carping, he, liberated from sin, will attain the holy worlds of those whose actions are meritorious. [9]
He also who will hear this with devotion and without malice will, being liberated, attain to the happy regions of those whose actions are meritorious. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Tāmasic yajña: against ordinance, no food-sharing, no mantras, no dakṣiṇā, no śraddhā — declared tāmasic.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
This knowledge, more secret than all secrets, has been declared to you — reflect on it fully and act as you wish.
Approach the teacher with prostration, inquiry, and service. The knowers of truth will instruct you in jñāna.
Verse 71 of 78 · back to Chapter 18