श्रद्धावान् अनसूयश् च शृणुयाद् अपि यो नरः । सोऽपि मुक्तः शुभाल् लोकान् प्राप्नुयात् पुण्यकर्मणाम् ॥
śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca śṛṇuyād api yo naraḥ | so'pi muktaḥ śubhāl lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām ||
Even one who only hears this with śraddhā and without malice is liberated and reaches the pure worlds of the righteous.
Word by word (3)
- śraddhāvān anasūyaś ca
- — śraddhāvān = possessing śraddhā (full of faith/trust in the teaching; śraddhā is not mere belief but the total alignment of heart, mind, and will with the truth); anasūyaḥ = free from malice/envy/fault-finding (a-asūyā = without the carping, competitive, resentful attitude that blocks reception); ca = and — two qualities of the ideal hearer: open-hearted faith + absence of malice
- śṛṇuyāt api yo naraḥ
- — yo naraḥ = whatever person; śṛṇuyāt = hears/listens (śru = to hear; optative — whoever may hear); api = even — the 'even' is significant: even one who ONLY hears (not one who studies, practises, teaches, or fully understands), if they hear with śraddhā and without malice, receives the full promise
- so'pi muktaḥ śubhān lokān prāpnuyāt puṇya-karmaṇām
- — saḥ api = that one too (even they); muktaḥ = liberated (released from pāpa/sin-bondage); śubhān lokān = auspicious/happy worlds (śubha = pure, auspicious, beautiful); prāpnuyāt = shall attain/reach (optative of prāp = to attain); puṇya-karmaṇām = of those whose karmas are meritorious/virtuous — the listener without practice attains the worlds of the virtuous practitioner; hearing with śraddhā IS itself puṇya-karma
And even that person who simply hears this teaching with śraddhā (faith, open-heartedness) and free from malice — that one too, liberated, attains the auspicious worlds of the virtuous.
A modern analogy
V71 is the Gita's gift to the ordinary person. You do not have to be a yogi, a philosopher, a renunciant, or a warrior. You do not even have to understand every teaching. If you hear it with an open heart (śraddhā) and without the closed-fist of malice or cynicism (anasūyaḥ), you receive the full merit of those who lived it. Like attending a concert: you need not be a musician to receive the music's gift — but you must attend with an open heart, not arms-crossed and looking for flaws.
V71 follows the four-fold teaching protocol of V67-V70 (who may not receive it, who may receive it, the gift of teaching it, and the jñāna-yajna of this dialogue). V71 now extends the circle even further: even the passive hearer — not the teacher, not the deep student, simply the śraddhāvān listener — receives liberation. This is the Gita's democratic promise: the teaching is accessible not just to the philosophically equipped but to anyone who hears with śraddhā and anasūyā.
The two conditions — śraddhā and anasūyā — are the minimum conditions for receiving any teaching's benefit, but also the sufficient conditions. Śraddhā opens the inner channel; anasūyā keeps it free from the blockage of ego-resistance. The Ch.4 V39 śraddhāvān labhate jñānam (the śraddhāvān obtains jñāna) is fulfilled here: even the listener obtains the fruit of jñāna through śraddhā. Note: anasūyāḥ appeared in Ch.1 V1 as the quality of Arjuna before whom Krishna first spoke — his being anasūyu (without malice) was the initial prerequisite. V71 closes that loop.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
And the man also who hears, full of faith and free from malice, even he, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of the righteous. [1]
And even that man who hears this, full of Shraddha and free from malice, he too, liberated, shall attain to the happy worlds of the righteous. [4]
And he too who will hear this merely with faith and without carping, he, liberated from sin, will attain the holy worlds of those whose actions are meritorious. [9]
He also who will hear this with devotion and without malice will, being liberated, attain to the happy regions of those whose actions are meritorious. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Daivī wealth begins: abhaya, sattva-śuddhi, jñāna-yoga, dāna, dama, yajña, svādhyāya, tapa, ārjava.
Tāmasic yajña: against ordinance, no food-sharing, no mantras, no dakṣiṇā, no śraddhā — declared tāmasic.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
This knowledge, more secret than all secrets, has been declared to you — reflect on it fully and act as you wish.