Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 18, Verse 72: Krishna to Arjuna — Mokṣa-Sannyāsa-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Krsna asks Arjuna whether he has heard this teaching with ekagra-cetasa (one-pointed mind) — not merely with ears but with the discrimination (viveka) that distinguishes the real from the unreal. The central question is whether ajna-sammohah (the delusion born of ignorance), which is the root cause of samsara and which first drove Arjuna to declare ‘na yotsyami,’ has been decisively destroyed — not suppressed but uprooted. Sankara reads ‘pranastah' as complete annihilation, since moksa requires not the mitigation but the cessation of avidya-krita-viksepa itself.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Ramanuja anchors Krsna's question in the specific delusion that made Arjuna say ‘na yotsyami' — a delusion rooted in confusion about the nature of jivas and their relationship to Bhagavan. Listening with avahita-cetasa (attentive mind) is itself an act of bhakti-yoga preparation; hearing the Lord's word with full surrender is already the beginning of liberation. The destruction of ajnana-sammohah here means the dawning of the knowledge that jivas are Bhagavan's sarira (body) and that all action is kainkarya (loving service), so fear and grief have no real ground.

• Madhvadvaita

  Reconstructed from the dvaita school's doctrine, not translated from Madhva's commentary at this verse.

  Kaccidetacchrutaṃ pārtha tvayaikāgreṇa cetasā | kaccidajñānasammohaḥ pranaṣṭaste dhanañjaya — the svatantra (the independently real, self-sufficient) Hari turns to question the paratantra (eternally dependent) jīva: has the teaching been received with ekāgra (one-pointed) cetas (mind)? The two kaccit interrogatives press on two distinct matters — reception and liberation from ajñāna-sammohaḥ (the bewilderment born of ignorance). In dvaita, bheda (real distinction) between Lord and jīva persists even after the sammohā is destroyed; what perishes is the jīva‘s false claim to svatantratā, not the jīva itself. The pañca-bheda (the five-fold real distinction: Lord–jīva, Lord–matter, jīva–jīva, jīva–matter, matter–matter) remain intact after right knowledge dawns. Arjuna addressed as Dhanañjaya — the conqueror of wealth — is reminded that even his heroic capacity is paratantra, wholly supported by Hari's will. The destruction of ignorance is the jīva‘s correct recognition of its eternal dāsatva (servanthood) to Hari, not any dissolution into Brahman. Taratamya (graded ontological hierarchy) stands: liberated, Arjuna ascends through the hierarchy yet remains eternally distinct, eternally subordinate, eternally real.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha's terse comment notes that Krsna's question itself is a savadhana-karana — an act of making the disciple careful and alert — reflecting the Lord's lila-prasada in drawing the devotee's whole being into wakefulness. The ajnana-sammohah that is destroyed is the forgetting of one's identity as Krsna's own; its destruction is not an intellectual event but a direct experience of being held within Krsna's grace-filled attention. The question is itself the blessing: being asked by Bhagavan whether one has understood is already the gift of understanding.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Sridhara reads Krsna's question as motivated by the possibility of a further upadesa if samyag-bodha (complete understanding) has not yet arisen. The ajnana-sammohah is explicitly glossed as tattvajanakrto viparyayah — the inversion of reality caused by ignorance of the true nature of the self. Ekagra-cetasa hearing is the precondition; only when the mind is fully collected can the teaching penetrate and dispel the viparya (error) rather than merely overlaying it with new concepts.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusudana Sarasvati frames Krsna's question as a teaching about the guru's dharma: the compassionate teacher (karunika guru) must labor until jnanautpatti is confirmed in the student, and this question tests whether that threshold has been crossed. Ekagra (undivided) hearing is distinguished from mere sravana — it means artha-avadhrana, comprehension of meaning, not phonetic reception. If the ajnana-sammohah has been truly destroyed ‘prakarsena' (thoroughly, so that re-arising is blocked), no further upadesa is needed; the question itself reveals both Krsna's care for the disciple and the completeness of the Gita's work.