इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत ।
सर्वभूतानि सम्मोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप ।। ७.२७ ।।
येषां त्वन्तगतं पापं जनानां पुण्यकर्मणाम् ।
ते द्वन्द्वमोहनिर्मुक्ता भजन्ते मां दृढव्रताः ।। ७.२८ ।।

icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata |
sarva-bhūtāni sammohaṁ sarge yānti paran-tapa || 7.27 ||
yeṣāṁ tv-anta-gataṁ pāpaṁ janānāṁ puṇya-karmaṇām |
te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṁ dṛḍha-vratāḥ || 7.28 ||

Audio-BG-7.27

Audio-BG-7.28

Delusion – the common plight

Unfortunately, most people are unable to understand and appreciate such words in the light in which they should be, because every person is under the spell of yoga-maya, the same inscrutable power he described earlier as guna-mayi maya. As a result, people remain deluded till they decide to shirk it themselves. Delusion as well as the will to eschew it is imbued into each person, be it man or woman. But humanity nevertheless prefers to permit the plight and suffer its impacts, as if they are helpless.

Krishna now makes a generalized reference as to how the delusion overpowers every one within the fold of creation, right from the time of birth. This statement, like some other similar verses, epitomizes the Bhagavad Gita teaching:

All beings in the world, O Bharata, are subjected to the delusion of duality arising from likes and dislikes. Those, who by virtuous deeds, get their sins attenuated, become freed from the delusion of duality and take to worshipping the Supreme with resoluteness.

Selective worship, blindly attaching to it specific ends, is not something unusual in the world. The minds of people are, by the very fact of worldliness, suffering from a delusion, which has its roots in the twin urges of likes and dislikes. This delusion works in all, as it is so designed by Nature Herself.

The only way out is to pursue virtuous thoughts and actions. When the pursuit grows strong, the dvandva-delusion will become weak and extinct. That will empower the mind and heart to take to exclusive worship of the Supreme. Such noble people will remain steadfast and wholesome in their new pursuit.

By this Krishna assures that the present nature or tendencies should not unsettle the devotee or the seeker. The spiritual mind must gain the insight into human nature in general and the manner in which it displays its multiple tendencies. The exposition on guna-mayi-maya enfolding and enveloping all, should enable the seeker develop an unbiased, unprejudiced, gentle and wise response to the assorted ways of people around.

So far as the seeker is concerned, Krishna is emphatic that he should get freed from the clutches of the inherited delusion. The potential for this effort rests in the individual and the choice to make it true is equally his. Spiritual sadhana is always individualistic.

The same point was highlighted earlier also. Only the related concepts were in a way different. For instance, the sarga, worldliness (creation), Krishna said, stands overcome if only the mind is established in samya (5.19). The factors to which this samya was related to were sukha-duhkhas, raga-dveshas and allied dvandvas – all of which surely breed instability and disharmony in the mind. This is all that the world can and will bring about to anyone anytime.

The one who can withstand the twin urges of passion and prejudice (kama and krodha) will, he again said, become the most happy and integrated (5.23). The emphasis and the message in both cases are quite obvious, unmistakable. The same instability and disharmony of the mind are what he refers to here as the iccha and dvesha delusion, which overtakes every one since birth (sarge).

The samya of the mind, highlighted earlier, is replaced here with unflinching devotion to the Supreme. Whether the seeker abides in the taintless Brahman or he rests devotionally in the supreme Lord, makes little difference. The attitude and relationship are alone perhaps different, but the effect and content of the outcome is the same.