इच्छाद्वेषसमुत्थेन द्वन्द्वमोहेन भारत | सर्वभूतानि संमोहं सर्गे यान्ति परन्तप ||२७||
icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena bhārata | sarva-bhūtāni saṃmohaṃ sarge yānti parantapa || 27 ||
All beings fall into complete delusion at birth — through the dvandva-moha arising from desire and aversion.
Word by word (3)
- icchā-dveṣa-samutthena dvandva-mohena
- — by the delusion of pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion · icchā = desire, wish (the impulse toward what is attractive). dveṣa = aversion, hatred (the impulse away from what is repellent). samutthena = arising from (sam = together; uttha = arising — samuttha = arising together from both desire and aversion). dvandva = pairs of opposites (dvandva = 'two-two' — the pairs: pleasure-pain, hot-cold, honor-dishonor, success-failure, birth-death). mohena = by delusion (instrumental — by the moha/confusion). The compound: icchā-dveṣa-samuttha-dvandva-moha = the delusion of the pairs of opposites that arises from desire and aversion. The mechanism: desire and aversion generate the experience of the dvandvas (pairs); the dvandvas produce moha (delusion); the moha prevents recognition of the Divine (V26's 'none knows Me'). This is the specific mechanism behind yoga-māyā's veiling effect: not some external mystical force but the very ordinary cognitive-emotional structure of attraction and repulsion that organizes ordinary experience.
- sarva-bhūtāni saṃmoham sarge yānti parantapa
- — all beings go to complete delusion at birth, O scorcher of foes · sarva-bhūtāni = all beings (the universal scope — no being born into embodied existence is exempt). saṃmoham = into complete delusion (sam = completely; moha = delusion — saṃmoha = total delusion, confusion from which ordinary consciousness is extracted only by the practices Ch.7 describes). sarge = at birth (sarga = creation, birth — 'at the moment of creation/birth'). yānti = go to, fall into (the beings fall into complete delusion at the moment of birth). parantapa = O scorcher of foes (parantapa = one who burns enemies — an epithet of Arjuna, the great warrior). The sweep: ALL beings (sarva-bhūtāni) at birth (sarge) fall into complete delusion (saṃmohaṃ yānti). This is the universal condition of embodied existence: birth itself carries the delusion of dvandvas, because the embodied form IS the structure of dvandvas — a form that is attracted to some things and repelled by others, that experiences pleasure and pain, cold and heat, success and failure. The delusion is structural, not accidental.
- icchā-dveṣa as the root of dvandva-moha
- — desire and aversion generate the pairs of opposites that produce the delusion veiling the Divine · V27's mechanism is precise: desire (icchā) and aversion (dveṣa) are the twin roots of dvandva-experience. When consciousness is organized around 'I want this / I don't want that,' it immediately generates the experience of the dvandvas — the pairs of opposing experiences that define ordinary life (pleasure-pain, success-failure, love-hate). This dvandva-structure produces moha (delusion): the practitioner caught in the dvandva drama cannot see the ground (the avyakta, the 'vāsudevaḥ sarvam') because their attention is completely absorbed in the drama of attraction and repulsion. V27 gives the specific mechanism behind V26's 'none knows Me' — the reason is the icchā-dveṣa structure of embodied consciousness.
V27 gives the specific mechanism behind V26's 'none knows Me': all beings (sarva-bhūtāni) at birth (sarge) fall into complete delusion (saṃmoham yānti) through the dvandva-moha (delusion of pairs of opposites) that arises from desire (icchā) and aversion (dveṣa). The structure of embodied existence — attraction and repulsion, pleasure and pain — produces a cognitive delusion that veils the Divine ground.
A modern analogy
The moment you wear red-tinted glasses (representing desire-aversion structure), the entire world appears red-tinted. You don't see the world as it is; you see the world as filtered through the tint. V27's dvandva-moha is the red tint: it doesn't add something false — it filters what IS. The path is not destroying the eyes but removing the filter (V28: freed from dvandva-delusion).
What it does NOT mean
V27 does NOT say that desire and aversion are moral failures. They are structural features of embodied existence — the cognitive-emotional polarity that makes experience possible. The teaching is not 'don't have desires' but 'understand that the dvandva-structure produced by desire and aversion is what veils the Divine.' The path is through the recognition and transcendence of this structure (V28-30).
Take with you
- V27's mechanism (icchā-dveṣa → dvandva → moha → none knows Me) is the Gita's psychological explanation of spiritual ignorance. It is not stupidity or sin that prevents recognition of the Divine — it is the ordinary cognitive structure of attraction-repulsion that organizes experience. This is both humbling (it's structural, not individual failure) and empowering (it can be worked with directly).
- V27 identifies the specific work of spiritual practice: not the acquisition of new information but the recognition and loosening of the icchā-dveṣa structure. When the practitioner notices desire (icchā) arising — 'I want this to go one way' — and aversion (dveṣa) arising — 'I don't want this' — they are watching V27's mechanism in real time. The noticing itself is the beginning of its transcendence.
- V27's 'at birth' (sarge) means the delusion is not a mistake or a failure — it is the structure of embodied existence. Every human being born into a body with sensations of pleasure and pain, attraction and repulsion, is in V27's condition. Spiritual practice is the specific work of loosening this structural delusion to make recognition of the ground possible.
V27 provides the psychological-structural mechanism behind the cosmic condition described in V26 (none knows Me) and V25 (veiled by yoga-māyā). The three verses form a sequence: V25 (yoga-māyā produces the veil) → V26 (result: none knows Me / I know all) → V27 (mechanism: icchā-dveṣa produces dvandva-moha at birth). V27 is the phenomenological detail of V25's yoga-māyā: the Supreme's self-concealing power works through the ordinary cognitive-emotional structure of desire and aversion that every embodied being inherits at birth. The phrase 'sarge yānti' (at birth, they go into delusion) is precise: the delusion is not something that develops gradually through sinful choices — it is the condition of birth itself. Every being born into a body with pleasure-pain sensations immediately enters the dvandva-structure. This makes the delusion universal (V27's sarva-bhūtāni — all beings) and structural (not chosen but inherited through embodiment). V27 connects to Ch.7's earlier teachings: the guṇas of V12-13 are the cosmic level of the dvandva structure; icchā-dveṣa of V27 is the psychological level; māyā of V14 is the experiential level. All three are the same phenomenon seen from different angles: the guṇa-field that constitutes the world, the desire-aversion that organizes individual psychology, the māyā that veils the ground — these are one system described at different levels.
Advaita lens
Shankaracharya: icchā-dveṣa are the fundamental forms of avidyā (ignorance) — the misidentification of the ātman with the body-mind creates the illusion of being a separate entity that desires and averts. The dvandva-structure is the consequence of this primary misidentification. Liberation (V28) is the dissolution of this misidentification, which dissolves the dvandva-structure simultaneously.
Bhakti lens
For bhakti traditions, V27's dvandva-moha explains why the unreformed heart cannot sustain devotion: the heart caught in the loop of desire (for the Beloved's presence) and aversion (to the Beloved's absence) is still in dvandva-consciousness. Mature bhakti is the recognition that the Beloved's presence IS in both the desired presence and the avoided absence — which dissolves the dvandva through love's expansion.
Karma-Yoga lens
V27's icchā-dveṣa is the precise target of karma yoga's practice: action free from desire for results (icchā) and aversion to unwanted outcomes (dveṣa) is action that does not feed the dvandva structure. Over time, karma yoga dissolves V27's mechanism from the inside — not by suppressing icchā and dveṣa but by refusing to act from them.
Modern parallels
V27's dvandva-moha parallels the psychological concept of 'approach-avoidance conflict' — the cognitive-emotional state in which attraction and repulsion operate simultaneously, producing confusion and oscillation. Extended to the entire cognitive architecture, approach-avoidance (icchā-dveṣa) is the basic organizing principle of ordinary experience. V27 identifies this as the root of spiritual blindness.
Practice
V27 dvandva-observation: before meditation, acknowledge: 'I enter with icchā (preferences for how this will go) and dveṣa (avoidances of how this might go). These are V27's mechanism.' Then explicitly set the intention: 'I offer both the preferences and the avoidances to the Divine. Whatever arises is the ground's expression.' Sit in this non-preferential orientation. When preferences or avoidances arise during the session, name them and return to non-preference. This is V27's antidote practiced directly.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
All beings go into delusion at birth, through the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, O Bharata. [1]
By the delusion of the pairs of opposites, arising from desire and aversion, O descendant of Bharata, all beings fall into delusion at birth, O scorcher of foes. [4]
Through the delusion of the Pairs of Opposites arising from desire and aversion, O Bharata, all beings walk this universe wholly deluded, O Parantapa. [5]
All creatures are led astray as soon as they are born, by the delusion arising from the influence of the pairs of contraries — desire and aversion, O Bharata. [6]
O Prince of India! all living souls are led astray and dwell in the darkness of illusion, through the play of the pairs of opposites born of desire and hate. [7]
All beings, O descendant of Bharata, are subject to delusion at birth, through the delusion of the pairs of opposites arising from desire and aversion, O slayer of foes. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
I know all beings — past, present, and future, O Arjuna — but Me, none knows.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
The self-conquered yogi finds the Supreme Self equally present through cold, heat, joy, pain, honour and dishonour.
Darkness, inertness, heedlessness, and delusion arise — know that tamas is predominant.
Sattva begets wisdom; rajas begets greed; tamas begets heedlessness, delusion, and ignorance.
Many thoughts, moha-net covering them, addicted to kāma-enjoyments — they fall into impure naraka.