Verse 7.27

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration, Word-for-word and English translation of verse 7.27:

इच्छा-द्वेष-समुत्थेन द्वन्द्व-मोहेन भारत ।
सर्व-भूतानि सम्मोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप ॥ २७ ॥

icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata |
sarva-bhūtāni sammohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa || 27 ||

icchā-dveṣa-samutthena–born of desire and hate; dvandva-mohena–bewildered by duality in the form of happiness and distress; bhārata–O scion of Bharata; sarva-bhūtāni–all living beings; sammoham–into complete illusion; sarge–at the time of creation; yānti–enter; parantapa–O Arjuna, conqueror of the foe.

O scion of Bharata, O Parantapa, at the time of creation, all living entities enter into complete illusion, bewildered by the dualities of happiness and distress, which are born of desire and hate.

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Ṭīkā

(By Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura; the innermost intention of the commentary named ‘the shower of essential meanings’)

“For how long have the living entities been bewildered by Your māyā?” Śrī Bhagavān anticipates this question by speaking this verse beginning with icchā. “Sarga means ‘creation’. All jīvas have been bewildered since the beginning of creation. Bewildered by what? By desire and hate, which are born from their previous actions, or karma. They are deluded by the dualities that arise from the desire for sense objects that are to their liking and from aversion to those that are not. Examples of this are honour and dishonour, cold and heat, happiness and distress, male and female. The living entities are bewildered by the designations that are delusions born of ignorance, such as ‘I am honoured and therefore I am happy’; ‘I am disrespected and therefore I am miserable’; ‘this beautiful woman is my wife’;or ‘this man is my husband’. In other words, they become deeply attached to wife, children and so on. Those with such deep worldly attachment do not have the qualification to engage in bhakti to Me. As I said to Uddhava (Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 11.20.8), ‘By good fortune, a person who has developed faith in hearing topics of Me and who feels neither repulsion nor excessive attachment to sense objects attains perfection in bhakti-yoga.’”

Commentary: Sārārtha-Varṣiṇī Prakāśikā-vṛtti

(By Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja; the explanation that illuminates the commentary named Sārārtha-varṣiṇī)

The jīvas remain bereft of knowledge of the Supreme because they are deluded by illusion, or māyā. At that time, being further bewildered by the delusion of duality arising from desire and hate, their aversion to Kṛṣṇa becomes deeper. The reason for this is that the living entity in his pure state sees, with his transcendental senses, the eternal form of Bhagavān. However, the conditioned soul within the material world is overpowered by ignorance (avidyā) and remains bewildered by duality, which arises from desire and hate. He is then rendered bereft of the proper perception of transcendence. Bhagavān manifests His eternal form and becomes visible to the material eyes of the living entities on the strength of His spiritual potency, the cit-śakti. Even then, such persons think that the svarūpa of Bhagavān is temporary. They do not have the proper means or knowledge to perceive Him, because they are covered by māyā. This is their great misfortune.