Chapter 16, Verse 10
काममाश्रित्य दुष्पूरं दम्भमानमदान्विताः | मोहाद्गृहीत्वासद्ग्राहान्प्रवर्तन्तेऽशुचिव्रताः ||१६-१०||
kāmamāśritya duṣpūraṃ dambhamānamadānvitāḥ . mohādgṛhītvāsadgrāhānpravartante.aśucivratāḥ ||16-10||
Meaning
16.10 Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they work with impure resolves.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna now peers into the inner machinery of the demoniac life. At its centre sits kama dushpuram — a desire that can never be filled, a thirst that drinking only deepens. Taking refuge in this bottomless craving, the person becomes possessed by dambha, mana, and mada: hypocrisy, conceit, and intoxicating pride.
The phrase asad-grahan, grasping false notions through moha (delusion), reveals the engine driving it all. These are not merely bad people but bewildered people, mistaking the unreal for the real and then committing to it with ashuchi-vrata, impure resolves. The tragedy is that they are earnest in their error, pursuing emptiness with full conviction. The verse warns that unexamined desire does not stay quiet; it recruits the whole personality into its service, dressing delusion up as purpose.
💡 Key Takeaway
Desire that is never questioned becomes insatiable, and an insatiable mind will mistake its delusions for ideals.
Related Verses
दम्भो दर्पोऽभिमानश्च क्रोधः पारुष्यमेव च | अज्ञानं चाभिजातस्य पार्थ सम्पदमासुरीम् ||१६-४||
dambho darpo.abhimānaśca krodhaḥ pāruṣyameva ca . ajñānaṃ cābhijātasya pārtha sampadamāsurīm ||16-4||
16.4 Hypocrisy, arrogance and self-conceit, anger and also harshness and ignorance, belong to one who is born for a demoniacal state, O Partha (Arjuna).
द्वौ भूतसर्गौ लोकेऽस्मिन्दैव आसुर एव च | दैवो विस्तरशः प्रोक्त आसुरं पार्थ मे शृणु ||१६-६||
dvau bhūtasargau loke.asmindaiva āsura eva ca . daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṃ pārtha me śṛṇu ||16-6||
16.6 There are two types of beings in this world, the divine and the demoniacal; the divine has been described at length; hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the demoniacal.
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुरासुराः | न शौचं नापि चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु विद्यते ||१६-७||
pravṛttiṃ ca nivṛttiṃ ca janā na vidurāsurāḥ . na śaucaṃ nāpi cācāro na satyaṃ teṣu vidyate ||16-7||
16.7 The demoniacal know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity, nor right conduct nor truth is found in them.