Verse 7.26 established that Īśvara is not deluded by māyā, whereas the jīva is. Verse 7.27 now explains how that delusion operates in ordinary human life.

Kṛṣṇa says, icchādveṣasamutthena dvandvamohena — through the delusion of opposites arising from desire and aversion. Icchā is desire, closely related to rāga: “I want this. I need this. This will make me happy.” Dveṣa is aversion: “I do not want this. I must avoid this. This will make me unhappy.”

Together they divide the world into two broad categories: “This is a source of happiness” and “This is a source of sorrow.” That division is dvandva-moha.

Once this conclusion is established, life becomes an endless movement of pravṛtti and nivṛtti. Pravṛtti is movement toward what I believe will give happiness. Nivṛtti is movement away from what I believe will cause sorrow. I acquire what I like, avoid what I dislike, protect what I possess, reject what threatens me, chase one experience, and escape another. The objects keep changing, but the pattern remains.

As a small child, happiness may seem to lie in a toy. Later it may be a game, a bicycle, marks, friendship, recognition, career, marriage, children, money, status, travel, comfort, or security. The objects mature, but the underlying assumption remains the same: “What I fundamentally seek is somewhere outside me.”

Kṛṣṇa says this confusion begins sarge — from birth itself. The jīva begins embodied life with self-ignorance and therefore does not recognize that the peace, security, and fullness fundamentally sought are rooted in one’s own higher nature. Because that fullness is not recognized within, the search begins outside.

This outward search makes the jīva increasingly extroverted. Attention becomes occupied with rearranging the world so that it conforms to rāga and dveṣa: “If this person changes, I will be happy.” “If this problem disappears, I will be happy.” “If I obtain that object, I will be happy.” “If I can avoid that experience, I will be happy.” The world gradually becomes one enormous project of arranging preferred conditions and removing unwanted ones.

Vedānta makes a radical correction: the world is neither the ultimate source of happiness nor the ultimate source of sorrow.

This does not mean that pleasant and painful experiences are unreal. A painful event can certainly hurt, and a pleasant event can certainly produce temporary pleasure. The teaching is about fundamental happiness and freedom from samsāra.

If an object were inherently a source of happiness, it should give happiness to everyone, at all times, under all conditions. But the same object delights one person and irritates another. The same job can be a dream for one person and a burden for another. The same relationship that once seemed indispensable may later become difficult. This shows that the object by itself is not manufacturing permanent happiness or sorrow; rāga and dveṣa strongly shape the mind’s relationship with it.

This is why endless external adjustment never solves the fundamental problem. A changed circumstance can solve a circumstantial problem, and that is useful. But another problem eventually appears because the deeper self-ignorance remains untouched.

The real source of samsāric sorrow is not knowing oneself. The real solution is Self-knowledge.

Thus 7.27 is not asking us to stop acting in the world. We still solve practical problems, pursue dharma, protect ourselves, make choices, and change circumstances where appropriate. The correction is subtler: do not give the world responsibility for producing the permanent fullness that belongs to Self-knowledge.

Rāga and dveṣa become especially binding when preference becomes dependence: “I cannot be okay unless I get this,” or “I cannot be okay if this happens.” Then the mind is no longer simply choosing; it has made inner wellbeing conditional upon the behavior of the world.

This verse also prepares directly for 7.28. Most people remain caught in this rāga-dveṣa-driven outward movement, but some begin to become free from dvandva-moha and turn toward Bhagavān with greater firmness.

7.27 therefore identifies a fundamental mechanism of samsāra: self-ignorance produces an outward search, desire and aversion divide the world into imagined sources of happiness and sorrow, and life becomes an endless cycle of acquiring and avoiding. Spiritual growth begins when we question that division and discover that permanent peace and fullness cannot be imported from the changing world.