Sanskrit
श्रद्धावाननसूयश्च शृणुयादपि यो नरः । सोऽपि मुक्तः शुभांल्लोकान्प्राप्नुयात्पुण्यकर्मणाम् ॥ ७१ ॥
śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ so'pi muktaḥ śubhāl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām
Translation
The man also who, full of faith, merely heareth it unreviling, even he, freed from evil, obtaineth the radiant worlds of the righteous.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The ladder’s lowest rung: even someone who merely hears this teaching, full of faith and without cavil, is freed from evil and reaches “the radiant worlds of the righteous.” Total surrender at verse 66 remains the highest attainment, but the text is explicit that faithful listening alone still yields something real — a deliberately inclusive close to a teaching that opened, forty chapters back, by sorting people sharply along guna and varna lines. Even one who only hears it — with śraddhā and without asūyā — is mukta and reaches “the bright worlds of the meritorious.” The accommodation for the least-equipped, one last time (BG 12.5, BG 13.26).
Study deeper
Word by word
- śraddhāvān anasūyaś caश्रद्धावान् अनसूयश् च
- the faithful and uncarping (śraddhāvān + anasūyaḥ + ca)
- śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥशृणुयाद् अपि यो नरः
- the person who merely hears it (śṛṇuyāt + api + yaḥ + naraḥ)
- so'pi muktaḥसोऽपि मुक्तः
- he too, liberated (saḥ + api + muktaḥ)
- śubhāl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇāmशुभाल् लोकान् प्राप्नुयात् पुण्य-कर्मणां
- attains the blessed worlds of the righteous (śubhān + lokān + prāpnuyāt + puṇya-karmaṇām)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The bar for this lowest rung is stated negatively — anasūyaḥ, without envy or cavil — not as some minimal devotion to muster, but simply as a reaction to withhold. The easiest entry point the whole teaching offers isn’t “do this small positive thing,” it’s “don’t resent what you’re hearing” — an even lower threshold than it first appears.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- You don't need to muster enthusiasm or devotion to benefit from good advice — sometimes the only bar to clear is not resenting it while you listen, and that alone is already worth something real.
Professional
- When rolling out a new practice to a skeptical team, don't require immediate buy-in as the entry bar — simply not actively undermining it while giving it a fair hearing is already a legitimate, valuable starting point.
Family & Social
- When someone in your family offers advice you don't want, you don't have to embrace it to get something from it — simply hearing it out without resentment is already enough of a bar cleared to count for something.
Ask yourself
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