Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 71
श्रद्धावाननसूयश्च श्रृणुयादपि यो नरः।सोऽपि मुक्तः शुभाँल्लोकान्प्राप्नुयात्पुण्यकर्मणाम्।।
śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ
so ‘pi muktaḥ śubhāl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām
also searched as "shraddhavan anasuyashcha shrinuyadapi yo narah"
Translation
And the man who listens to it with faith and without cavil, he too shall be released and shall reach the auspicious realms of those who have performed virtuous deeds.
Vāṇi's rendering
Even one who only listens, trusting and unsneering, is freed — and rises to the bright worlds of the good.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| श्रद्धावान्śraddhāvān | one who has trust, who listens with an open heart |
| अनसूयःanasūyaḥ | without sneering, free of fault-finding malice (appears as anasūyaś before ca) |
| चca | and |
| शृणुयात्śṛṇuyāt | may hear, merely listens |
| अपिapi | even, only so much as |
| यःyaḥ | whoever (appears as yo before naraḥ) |
| नरःnaraḥ | a person, any human being |
| सःsaḥ | he, that one (appears as so before api) |
| अपिapi | too, he as well |
| मुक्तःmuktaḥ | freed, released |
| शुभान्śubhān | bright, auspicious (appears as śubhāl before lokān) |
| लोकान्lokān | worlds, realms |
| प्राप्नुयात्prāpnuyāt | shall reach, shall arrive at |
| पुण्यकर्मणाम्puṇya-karmaṇām | of those whose deeds were good |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 71 mean?
It means the teaching reaches even the one who does no more than listen — provided he listens with trust and without the itch to find fault. Such a person is freed, and rises to the bright worlds earned by good deeds. Hearing, done rightly, is already participation.
What does shraddhavan anasuyashcha shrinuyadapi yo narah mean?
It names two qualities in the listener: śraddhā, an open trust, and anasūyā, the absence of sneering. Krishna asks for nothing else here — no discipline, no renunciation, no mastery. Just come without your arms crossed. The verse then promises that even this much carries a person through.
Why does Krishna promise liberation for merely hearing the Gita?
Because hearing without malice is not passive. To let a teaching in unguarded is itself a surrender, and surrender is the whole instruction of this chapter. Krishna is not rewarding a small act cheaply. He is pointing out that the small act already contains the large one.
What is anasuya and why does it matter so much here?
Anasūyā is freedom from the fault-finding reflex — the quiet contempt that listens in order to refute. It matters because it decides whether anything lands. You can memorise seven hundred verses in that posture and stay untouched. Set the contempt down, and the very first line reaches you.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna has just said that studying this dialogue is itself a sacrifice of wisdom. Now he lowers the bar, and lowers it as far as it goes. Not the scholar, not the yogin — the one who merely listens. Two conditions only, and neither is an achievement: trust, and the absence of the sneer. The sneer is the real barrier. You can sit through the whole Gītā with your arms crossed, marking errors, and nothing enters. Drop that, listen with an open face, and the teaching does its own work. Arjuna had to be argued into it. You only have to stop resisting.