This is the last stop on Arjuna's journey. It is the seventh hub on the path Arjuna's Journey, and the one before it is Merely an Instrument. It covers the last seven verses of the Gita, where the teaching is complete and Arjuna stands up.
The answer in one line
The Lord asks whether the teaching was heard with the whole mind and whether the delusion is gone. Arjuna says that the delusion is destroyed, memory is back, doubt is gone, and now he will act.
What question this answers
Many people listen and understand a great deal, and still cannot begin the work. The question is what a clear mind feels like and what to do next. The last scene of the Gita answers it.
The verses in order
The Lord's question
The Lord asks Arjuna two things: have you heard this with a one-pointed mind, and has your delusion been destroyed (Gita 18.72)? He knows the answer and still asks, because a teaching is complete when the student says it in his own words.
Arjuna's four statements
Arjuna says that delusion is destroyed, memory is regained, he stands without doubt, and he will act on the Lord's word (Gita 18.73). Memory here means the sense of one's own nature and duty. In the first chapter Arjuna had said he could not even stand (Gita 1.30) and that he would not fight (Gita 2.9). Now he says he stands and will act.
A resolve, not an order
Just before, the Lord had said to reflect fully and then do as one wishes (Gita 18.63). Arjuna's "I will act" comes after that, so it is a considered resolve.
Sanjaya's joy
Sanjaya says the dialogue is wonderful and that he heard it directly from the Lord, by the grace of Vyasa (Gita 18.74, Gita 18.75). Remembering it again and again, he rejoices again and again, and remembering the Lord's wondrous form fills him with amazement and gladness (Gita 18.76, Gita 18.77).
The closing verdict
Sanjaya's view is that wherever the Lord of yoga and the archer Arjuna are, there are fortune, victory, prosperity and firm policy (Gita 18.78). That is knowledge and action together, which the Lord had asked of Arjuna in the fourth chapter: cut the doubt, be established in yoga, and rise (Gita 4.42).
When doubt comes back
Even after knowledge the mind is restless. The Gita says it is held again and again by practice and detachment (Gita 6.35). It also promises that with this knowledge one will not fall into such delusion again (Gita 4.35).
Common misunderstandings
The first is that Arjuna stopped thinking and simply obeyed. That is not so, because the choice was given to him first.
The second is that once the teaching is heard, doubt never returns. That is not so, which is why the Gita makes room for practice.
The third is that the last verse promises victory to devotees or makes war holy. That is not so. It is the narrator's own conclusion, and the Gita warns against making the fruit the aim (Gita 2.47).
Questions people ask
How do I know my mind is clear? The inner tug of war stops, the matter feels like your own, and a wish to act rises by itself.
Do leftover doubts mean I did not understand? No. Asking is how doubt is cleared, and Arjuna asked again and again through the whole Gita.
Why does the Gita end with Sanjaya? Because he is the link through whom it reached the king and then us, and his joy shows that the fruit of this teaching is gladness within.
Is the last verse a promise of victory in the war? No. It is Sanjaya's view that where knowledge and action are together, all holds.
If you have to explain it in thirty seconds
At the end of the Gita the Lord asks Arjuna whether he heard with his whole mind and whether the delusion is gone. Arjuna says it is gone, memory is back, doubt is gone and he will act. This is not blind obedience, because the Lord had just said to reflect fully and then do as he wished. A clear mind shows as steadiness and readiness to act. If doubt returns, practice holds the mind again. Sanjaya closes by saying that where knowledge and action are together, all holds.
Related hubs: Arjuna's Journey (path) · Merely an Instrument (previous) · The Final Counsel · Arjuna's Despondency