Chapter 18, Verse 74
सञ्जय उवाच | इत्यहं वासुदेवस्य पार्थस्य च महात्मनः | संवादमिममश्रौषमद्भुतं रोमहर्षणम् ||१८-७४||
sañjaya uvāca . ityahaṃ vāsudevasya pārthasya ca mahātmanaḥ . saṃvādamimamaśrauṣamadbhutaṃ romaharṣaṇam ||18-74||
Meaning
18.74 Sanjaya said Thus I have heard this wonderful dialogue between Krishna and the high-souled Arjuna, which causes the hair to stand on end.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
The narration now returns to Sanjaya, who has been relaying the entire dialogue to the blind king Dhritarashtra. He marvels that he has heard this conversation between Krishna and the great-souled Arjuna — a dialogue he calls adbhutam and romaharshanam, wonderful and thrilling enough to make the hair stand on end.
Sanjaya's awe frames the Gita for us. Having witnessed the deepest teaching ever spoken on a battlefield, he is moved to wonder. His reaction models the proper response to such sacred wisdom: not cool detachment but thrilled reverence. The teaching is not merely informative but transformative and stirring, and Sanjaya's overflowing amazement invites every reader to approach the Gita's closing with the same sense of wonder.
💡 Key Takeaway
Sacred wisdom rightly received stirs not cool detachment but thrilled, reverent wonder.
Related Verses
तच्च संस्मृत्य संस्मृत्य रूपमत्यद्भुतं हरेः | विस्मयो मे महान् राजन्हृष्यामि च पुनः पुनः ||१८-७७||
tacca saṃsmṛtya saṃsmṛtya rūpamatyadbhutaṃ hareḥ . vismayo me mahān rājanhṛṣyāmi ca punaḥ punaḥ ||18-77||
18.77 And, remembering again and again, also that most wonderful form of Hari, great is my wonder, O King; and I rejoice again and again.