Chapter 18 · Verse 72·Spoken by Krishna
कच्चिदेतच्छ्रुतं पार्थ त्वयैकाग्रेण चेतसा।कच्चिदज्ञानसंमोहः प्रनष्टस्ते धनञ्जय
kachchid etach chhrutaṁ pārtha tvayaikāgreṇa chetasā kachchid ajñāna-sammohaḥ pranaṣhṭas te dhanañjaya
Have you listened to this with a focused mind, Arjuna? Has your delusion, born of ignorance, been dispelled?
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Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
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Convergence
his is Krishna's closing question to Arjuna, and the commentators agree on what is literally happening: the teaching is over, and the teacher turns to the student to check whether it has landed. Krishna asks two things. First, 'Has this been heard by you, Partha, with a one-pointed mind?' The phrase 'one-pointed mind' (ekagrena chetasa) means attending with a single focus, free of other preoccupation and without heedlessness; it is not just hearing the words but taking in their meaning. Second, 'Has the delusion born of ignorance perished, Dhananjaya?' The two questions belong together: the first asks about the listening, the second about its intended result.
Braided from 12 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Lokmanya Tilak · Swami Ramsukhdas · Sant Jñāneśvar · Śrī Puruṣottama · Vallabhācārya
The 'delusion born of ignorance' (ajnana-sammoha) names the very thing the whole Gita set out to cure. Several commentators define it as the absence of discrimination, the want of discernment that is natural to a person and that reverses true knowledge. They tie it directly to the start of the dialogue: this is the same confusion that made Arjuna refuse to fight, the ignorance under whose grip he said 'I will not fight.' So the question is really asking whether the original problem has been resolved. The destruction of this delusion is described as the single aim of the whole effort. All of Arjuna's labor in listening, and all of Krishna's labor in teaching, was undertaken for this one purpose.
Braided from 7 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Puruṣottama
The word 'kachchid' carries a particular tone, and the commentators draw teaching from it. It is a gentle interrogative. It does not demand confirmation or assume the answer; it invites the student to reflect and to speak his own inner state. Krishna, though he is the all-knowing inner controller who already knows what Arjuna has understood, does not presume. He asks. This is read as a model of how a true teacher behaves: he gives the student the chance to confirm for himself whether the words have done their work.
Braided from 6 commentators
Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Swami Ramsukhdas · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Sant Jñāneśvar · Śrī Puruṣottama
Beyond the literal question, the verse is read as a teaching about the duty of a teacher (the teacher's dharma). Krishna asks not because he is unsure but to show, for the instruction of the world, how a compassionate teacher should act: he must keep making effort until knowledge actually arises in the student, instructing in many ways, with similes and fresh explanations, as long as ignorance, doubt or error remain. If the student has not grasped it, a further attempt is fitting, never the teacher's indifference, even toward a dull pupil. Several commentators note Krishna's own stated intent: 'If it should still be there, I shall teach again.'
Braided from 6 commentators
Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Vallabhācārya
Divergence
Viśiṣṭādvaita
Reading the verse against the opening of the Gita, this view ties the 'delusion born of ignorance' specifically to Arjuna's refusal to fight. The delusion is the ignorance, bewildered by which Arjuna said 'I will not fight.' On this reading the test of whether the teaching has worked is concrete and practical: the moha that produced his collapse on the battlefield should now be gone, so that he can do his duty. (Note: Purushottama, here aligned with this practical reading, belongs to the Shuddhadvaita stream.)
Rāmānujācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Śuddhādvaita
This view raises and answers a sharp objection. An outwardly-turned critic might say: this destruction of delusion came to Arjuna by hearing from the Lord's own mouth, and yet he still goes on to fight, so how can the teaching apply to anyone else? Removing this doubt, Krishna asks the question precisely to confirm the result. The delusion here is given a specific content: it is the sammoha born of ignorance of the Lord's true form and signal, taking the form of seeing the killing of demonic beings as a sin. Once that is destroyed, fighting is no contradiction.
Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
This view alone develops the inner drama of the moment. Arjuna had become completely attuned to the Supreme Brahman and was about to dissolve into the bliss of the Self. Krishna's question deliberately calls him back to his sense of separate individuality, restoring his 'I' so that the further purpose, the doing of his duty, can be accomplished. Like the full moon rising over the ocean, seeming distinct yet never truly separated from it, Arjuna comes back to the border of his body, steadies his trembling hands, wipes the sweat, holds back tears of joy, and recovers his voice, now confirming the perfection he has in fact attained. The Lord, being all-knowing, did not need to ask; he asked only to bring Arjuna back.
Sant Jñāneśvar
A Seeker Asks
If Krishna already knows everything, why does he ask Arjuna whether the teaching has worked instead of simply telling him?
The commentators are clear that Krishna is not asking out of his own uncertainty. He is the inner controller and all-knower; he already knows what Arjuna has grasped. The question is for the instruction of the world. It shows how a true teacher behaves: he keeps making effort until knowledge actually arises in the student, and stands ready to teach again if the delusion remains, with Krishna's own stated intent being 'If it should still be there, I shall teach again.'
Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrī Ānandagiri · Śrīdhara Svāmī
The very word 'kachchid' carries this purpose. It is a gentle interrogative that does not demand a fixed answer but invites the student to reflect. By not assuming, Krishna gives Arjuna the dignity of speaking his own inner state, confirming for himself whether the words have done their work.
Vedānta Deśika · Vallabhācārya · Swami Ramsukhdas
In one telling, the asking has a further reason. Arjuna had nearly dissolved into the bliss of Brahman, and the question deliberately calls him back to his sense of individuality so that he can still act and do his duty. The Lord, being all-knowing, did not need to ask; he asked only to bring Arjuna back to himself.
Sant Jñāneśvar
Contemplation
Notice the tenderness of this closing question. The teaching has been fully given, and now the teacher turns and simply looks at the one he has taught. He does not announce that the work is done; he does not assume the delusion is gone. He asks. This is bhagavan's last solicitous look at his bhakta before the dialogue closes, his way of seeing whether the moha that set the whole Gita in motion has truly left. There is a quiet permission in it for you too. You are not told what your inner state must be. You are given the chance to speak it for yourself, to look honestly at whether the confusion you began with has lifted, or whether, like a good student, you might need to hear it again.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
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