BG 7.28 — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 7.28Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

येषां त्वन्तगतं पापं जनानां पुण्यकर्मणाम् ।

ते द्वन्द्वमोहनिर्मुक्ता भजन्ते मां दृढव्रताः ॥

yeṣāṃ tv anta-gataṃ pāpaṃ janānāṃ puṇya-karmaṇām

te dvandva-moha-nirmuktā bhajante māṃ dṛḍha-vratāḥ

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Those whose sins have run their course, purified by lives of good action, are free from the confusion of opposites and worship Me with unshaken resolve.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names the exception. The verse reverses 7.27. Where 7.27 named the universal sammoha, 7.28 names the exception: those whose accumulated sin has run its course. The condition is not abstract; it is concrete and structural. Anta-gatam — reached the end.

Shankara reads the architecture: those whose accumulated papa has reached its end are precisely the ones whose punya-karma has purified the inner instrument. Sattva-shuddhi follows from punya-karma; nirmukti from dvandva-moha follows from sattva-shuddhi; dridha-vrata bhajana follows from that nirmukti. The chain is causal, not coincidental.

Madhusudana resolves the apparent contradiction with 7.27. The general rule is moha; this verse states the exception. Those who through accumulated merit across many births — aneka-janmasu punya-acharana-shila — have exhausted the jnana-pratibandhaka papa are freed from dvandva-moha. The chapter's earlier four-types (7.16-7.18) are now grounded structurally: each type belongs to this exception class because each comes through prior punya.

Ramanuja reads the same exception precisely. Only those whose sin accumulated across many births — the very root of ichchha-dvesha and the primary obstruction to turning toward Krishna — has been exhausted can take shelter. Having done so, they become free from the guna-induced dvandva and worship Krishna with dridha-vrata. The exhaustion of papa is what opens the door; the door does not open by direct effort.

Vallabha reads with characteristic economy: it is not that virtue earns worship; rather, those seen worshipping Krishna are precisely those from whom the single obstruction — papa as pratibandhaka — has been removed. The dridha-vrata is the visible mark of the inner clearing.

Madhva reads the verse as adding the contrary class: there are also viparita — contrary — types not addressed in 7.16; this verse fills out the taxonomy so it is not gatartha.

Shridhara reads the verse as the answer to the question why some are seen worshipping at all when most fall into moha: those habituated to punya-acharana have had every pratibandhaka destroyed.

Context

where

Chapter 7 · Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 7.27

Born into this world, all beings fall into delusion, swept up by desire and aversion into the confusion of opposites.

What's going on

Those whose sins have run their course, purified by lives of good action, are free from the confusion of opposites and worship Me with unshaken resolve.

Sūtras through this verse (64)

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by versebetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Lakṣmī, not matter.───→here7.28───→8.4Adhiyajña is Viṣṇu, not the worshipper.

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

7.1First hexad ends, middle hexad opens.───→here7.28───→13.1Two niṣṭhās, three kāṇḍas — keystone.

RāmānujaclassicalA

World as the Lord's body (antaryāmin)between

7.7Nothing higher than Me; I string it all.───→here7.28───→9.4World in Me, not Me in it.

show all 64

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

7.13Why this declaration? The gloss must answer.───→here7.28───→11.16Aneka- is not just two-or-more.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

7.1First ṣaṭka closed; new pratijñā opens.───→here7.28───→12.1Avyakta follows the manifest rūpa.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsbetween

7.5Higher prakṛti is Śrī, not the eight-fold.───→here7.28───→8.3Akṣara is Viṣṇu, not quality-less.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitbetween

7.23Their fruit is finite; His own is the goal.───→here7.28───→9.7Even pralaya keeps jīva-tāratamya.

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrabetween

7.5Parā-prakṛti backed by Pañcarātra.───→here7.28───→11.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.4.78 settles aneka-.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

7.13Nanu vijñāna-rūpaṁ — canonical shape.───→here7.28───→12.5Avyakta-rival raised, then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

7.5Surrounding clause picks literal Śrī.───→here7.28───→11.16Aneka- means many; no upacāra needed.

VallabhaclassicalB

Grace alone — the technical markbetween

7.18The wise one is Myself, by grace alone.───→here7.28───→9.22Grace alone — never calculation of merit.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

7.1Seven-verse prelude opens the bhakti-ṣaṭka.───→here7.28───→9.1Single-verse prelude names the secret of secrets.

VallabhaclassicalE

Three paths, one teaching orderbetween

7.1The bhakti-ṣaṭka opens the third stage.───→here7.28───→13.2The third ṣaṭka is the Lord's own bhāṣya.

VallabhaclassicalF

Soul as part of the highest Personbetween

7.6From these two natures all beings come forth.───→here7.28───→13.2The kṣetra-knower in every field is the Lord himself.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractbetween

7.1The play-Person of every form opens chapter 7.───→here7.28───→9.32The unsheltered run to their cowherd-Lord.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

7.14Surrender is the only way past the Lord's māyā.───→here7.28───→9.22The Bhāgavata block grounds grace-only doctrine.

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentarybetween

7.1The gloss-stage opens with chapter seven.───→here7.28───→13.2The Lord himself writes the third ṣaṭka. .

ĀnandagiriclassicalB

Three hexads = tat tvam asibetween

7.1Middle hexad named: tat-padārtha begins.───→here7.28───→12.20Middle hexad closes; tat-pada sealed.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

7.1Lord answers a question Arjuna did not ask.───→here7.28───→8.1Recap-and-bind: Ch 8 carries Ch 7 forward.

ĀnandagiriclassicalE

Pūrvapakṣa via nanu / āśaṅkyabetween

7.1Doubt about refuge, blocked by mad-āśraya.───→here7.28───→13.1Boundary protected by stylized doubt.

ĀnandagiriclassicalI

Bhakti carries jñāna, never parallelbetween

7.2Bhakti's fruit is jñāna itself.───→here7.28───→12.12Bhakti's gradient ends in jñāna.

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousbetween

7.4Two-fold prakṛti is the Lord's own power.───→here7.28───→13.1Prakṛti's autonomy blocked at boundary. Anchor.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.───→here7.28───→13.1Same discipline at the keystone chapter.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)between

7.1Open the second ṣaṭka: mind clung to Me.───→here7.28───→9.1The royal secret of the second ṣaṭka.

RāmānujaclassicalE

Bhakti as continuous recollectionbetween

7.19After many lives — home.───→here7.28───→8.14Easily reached by unbroken recollection.

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśabetween

7.13Modes hide the higher.───→here7.28───→13.20Both natures beginningless.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerbetween

7.25My power, not your blindness, hides Me.───→here7.28───→13.2Those who posit ajñāna in Brahman fail.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyabetween

7.14Surrender alone crosses the māyā.───→here7.28───→9.32Even the lowest birth reaches Me through this.

RāmānujaclassicalJ

Śeṣa-śeṣī · pati-vrata similebetween

7.18He is My self; I cannot hold without him.───→here7.28───→9.34Set toward Me, the seeker's whole posture.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

7.1First six unfold 'you,' middle six unfold 'that.'───→here7.28───→12.20The middle six are sealed and finished.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

7.16Four kinds of devotee, ranked by ripeness.───→here7.28───→12.1Saguṇa or nirguṇa? Depends on who's asking.

MadhusūdanaclassicalE

Devotion is how knowing actually arrivesbetween

7.16The lover-knower stands at the top of the four.───→here7.28───→9.22Constant thought of Me is self-contemplation itself.

MadhusūdanaclassicalF

Every middle chapter opens with a bow to the teacherbetween

7.1A bow to the bliss-cloud, Nanda's son, opens seven.───→here7.28───→8.1I take refuge in Kāśirāja, the king of Kashi.

MadhusūdanaclassicalH

Krishna with form is the ground beneath formless Brahmanapproach

───→here7.28───→9.22I myself am the Lord, the Self of all.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicapproach

───→here7.28───→9.13Great souls take refuge in divine nature.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalB

Prapatti — bhakti's access for those the long path defeatsbetween

7.14Those who take refuge cross the māyā.───→here7.28───→9.22For the undivided, I carry it Myself.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentbetween

7.21Whatever form is worshipped, I steady it.───→here7.28───→9.24Receiver of every rite is the indweller alone.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalE

Pūrva-pakṣa — name the rival, close the doorbetween

7.18The jñānin is dearest; not interchangeable.───→here7.28───→9.34Refuge is not bondage by another name.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

7.1'Mayy āsakta-manāḥ' resolves the 6.47 hint.───→here7.28───→9.1Chapter 7's residue of wonder forces 9's disclosure.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalI

9.24 — the standing citation for ārādhyabetween

7.22The fruits of those rites are ordained by Me.───→here7.28───→9.20Soma-drinking heaven- seekers worship Me too.

ŚrīdharaclassicalC

Devotion is both the way and the homebetween

7.17The wise lover is my own dearest one.───→here7.28───→9.22I carry getting and keeping for them.

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awaybetween

7.21Whichever form I steady that faith.───→here7.28───→9.30Even fallen conduct, love makes pure.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerbetween

7.21I am the one who steadies your chosen faith.───→here7.28───→8.5Remember Me as the inner-ruler form.

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessbetween

7.17Always-yoked, fixed on the One alone.───→here7.28───→8.14Mind on no other, constantly remembers Me.

RamsukhdasclassicalA

What binds you (and how to let go)between

6.1True renouncing acts; drops the inner hook.───→here7.28───→7.30Hold the Lord through every layer of life.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

7.12The modes come from the Lord, not in Him.───→here7.28───→13.21Clinging to modes causes any new birth.

RamsukhdasclassicalF

Surrender — the single shelterbetween

7.1Mind on Me, refuge wholly in Me.───→here7.28───→9.22For the undivided I personally provide.

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

7.15The demonic never come near to Me.───→here7.28───→9.12Vain hopes, vain acts, their own punishment.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here7.28───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalK

Death-memory as the test of daily habitapproach

───→here7.28───→8.5Whoever remembers Me at the last reaches Me.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it werebetween

7.25The magician sees through his own illusion.───→here7.28───→15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingbetween

5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.───→here7.28───→7.30The cosmic and the rite-Lord are one Lord, known together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalI

The lover and the knower are one personbetween

7.16Of the four devotees, the knower is dearest.───→here7.28───→9.22For those who see only Me I myself bear all need.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

7.1Together they cover everything to be known.───→here7.28───→11.18Sat names the union of the two powers.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionbetween

7.24Failure of seeing, not absence of presence.───→here7.28───→11.1Now: experience what was taught.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalF

Three guṇas: contractions of one consciousnessbetween

7.12Modes from the Lord — the Lord not in them.───→here7.28───→14.5Three primary contractions of cit.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalH

Bhakti as non-dual recognitionapproach

───→here7.28───→9.22Consciousness tending its own self-knowing modes.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldexit

5.8I do nothing at all, says the knower.───→here7.28───→

MadhvaclassicalT6

Citation is the spine — texts carry the loadbetween

7.5Doubled prakṛti named from a single śruti.───→here7.28───→12.6Saukarāyaṇa-śruti ranks the personal route.

MadhvaclassicalT9

Devotion and grace — what knowledge cannot do alonebetween

7.16Four kinds approach; the devoted is best.───→here7.28───→9.22For the undivided, I personally provide.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordbetween

7.14Only by surrender does the māyā lift.───→here7.28───→14.3Three goddesses named in a single śruti.

Ekrasmodernstress

Stress — panic to shelterbetween · v2

7.14Cross the maya───→here7.28───→9.22Yogakshema

Ekrasmodernbhakti

Bhakti — devotion pathbetween · v2

7.19After many births───→here7.28───→9.13Mahātmas of divine nature

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologybetween

7.21'Yo yo yam yam tanum bhaktah shraddhayarchitum ichchhati.' Whatever form the dev───→here7.28───→9.4'Maya tatam idam sarvam jagad avyakta-murtina.' All this universe is pervaded by

Śabda · lemmas (16 unique · 16 occurrences)

भजन्ते √bhaj — to share, partake of, worship, love (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb

show all 16

येषाम् yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · genitive masculine plural noun
तु tu — but, on the other hand (particle)
अन्त anta — end, conclusion, limit, death · compound
गतम् √gam — to go (verbal root) · nominative neuter singular participle noun
पापम् pāpa — sin, evil, demerit · nominative neuter singular noun
जनानाम् jana — person, people, folk · genitive masculine plural noun
पुण्य puṇya — merit, virtue, the auspicious · compound
कर्मणाम् karman — action, deed, the law of action · genitive masculine plural noun
ते tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine plural noun
द्वन्द्व dvaṃdva — pair of opposites (heat/cold, joy/sorrow); duality · compound
मोह moha — delusion, infatuation, bewilderment · compound
निर्मुक्ताः nir-√muc — to be released, set free (nis- + √muc) · nominative masculine plural participle noun
माम् mad — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · accusative singular noun
दृढ dṛḍha — firm, fixed (past participle of √dṛṃh) · compound
व्रताः vrata — vow, observance · nominative masculine plural noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If meritorious action across many births is the precondition for freedom from dvandva-moha, what does this say about the role of incremental virtue — does it accumulate like capital, or does some threshold-crossing moment exhaust the obstruction?
02Śaṅkara says dṛḍha-vrata means 'certainty from complete renunciation'; Śrīdhara says it means ekāntin (single-pointed devotion) — are these compatible, or do they point toward irreducibly different liberation-structures?

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03Rāmānuja lists four distinct aims — liberation from death, self-vision, sovereignty, union with God — as all legitimate motivations for this worship. What does it mean for a path to be simultaneously plural in aims and singular in method?
04Vallabha's reversal — Kṛṣṇa perceives the worshippers, not the worshippers earning worship — challenges all karma-causation readings. If bhajana is already Kṛṣṇa's gift, what is the function of puṇya-karma?
05Madhusūdana frames pāpa as blocking jñāna (knowledge) specifically, not just devotion. What kind of wrong action produces cognitive distortion rather than mere moral taint — and is this distinction recoverable in contemporary ethics?
06The verse is silent on time: how many births, how much merit? Schools disagree on whether this implies effort (Viśiṣṭādvaita: aneka-janma) or grace (Puṣṭi-mārga: Kṛṣṇa's initiative). What are the practical consequences of each view for a sincere practitioner today?
07Dvandva-moha is described as the root obstruction. The pairs listed elsewhere — pleasure-pain, gain-loss, honour-dishonour — are precisely the categories that govern market behaviour, political loyalty, and social identity. Is the verse diagnosing a civilizational condition, not just an individual one?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Treat every act of ethical discipline — paying taxes honestly, keeping one's word under pressure, sitting with discomfort rather than reacting — not as virtue-accumulation for reward but as sattva-śuddhi (purification of the cognitive instrument). The goal is not to be good; it is to remove the static that prevents seeing clearly. When a decision is made without craving or aversion driving it, that is the taste of dvandva-mukti in daily life.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's four aims — freedom from age and death, self-knowledge, mastery, union with the Lord — map onto real life goals: health, psychological insight, capability, and relationship with the sacred. The application is to examine your current aim honestly and then pursue it without shame, trusting that sincere taking-of-shelter (śaraṇam) is the common thread. Merit earned across many lives is already at work; your task is turning toward, not manufacturing worthiness.

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Dvaita

Dvaita's insistence on eternal difference between jīva and Brahman means every moment of honest worship — acknowledging dependence, not claiming self-sufficiency — is already the correct posture. In practice: do not conflate your clarity or competence with the source of grace. When work goes well, the reflex 'I did this' is precisely the moha this verse addresses. The application is to maintain the acknowledgement of difference even in success.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's teaching removes the burden of self-construction from the spiritual life. The everyday application is not 'I must accumulate merit' but 'What is obstructing the grace that is already flowing?' When you notice the absence of delight, spontaneity, or openness in your practice or work, the question is: what pratibandhaka (blocker) is present? Name it specifically — resentment, comparison, exhaustion — and remove it. The worship then resumes on its own.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's ekāntin points at the quality of undivided attention. In daily practice this means choosing one thread of engagement — a relationship, a craft, a form of service — and following it without hedging. The habitual splitting of attention between competing loyalties is itself a form of dvandva. Becoming an ekāntin in any domain — fully present without one eye on alternatives — is the embodied form of dṛḍha-vrata.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's framing — pāpa as blocking knowledge, not merely conduct — makes the everyday application epistemic: notice where your reasoning is structurally biased by desire or fear. A business decision made under pressure of loss, a relationship assessment distorted by hope for approval — these are jñāna-pratibandhaka pāpa in action. The practice is to pause before conclusions arrived at in agitated states, wait for the instrument to clear, and then assess. Pramāṇa-janitā vijñānā (certainty born of valid means of knowledge) is available, but only after the distortion is removed.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 7, Verse 28: Krishna to Arjuna — Jñāna-Vijñāna-Yoga