Chapter 16, Verse 11
चिन्तामपरिमेयां च प्रलयान्तामुपाश्रिताः | कामोपभोगपरमा एतावदिति निश्चिताः ||१६-११||
cintāmaparimeyāṃ ca pralayāntāmupāśritāḥ . kāmopabhogaparamā etāvaditi niścitāḥ ||16-11||
Meaning
16.11 Giving themselves over to immeasurable cares ending only with death, regarding gratification of lust as their highest aim, and feeling sure that that is all.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna names the hidden price of a life ruled by appetite: chinta aparimeya, boundless anxiety that lifts only at death. When sense-enjoyment, kama-upabhoga, is enshrined as the supreme aim of existence, the mind can never rest, for every pleasure breeds a new fear of losing it and a new hunger for more.
The most telling phrase is etavad iti nishchitah — they are utterly convinced that 'this is all there is.' It is a closed certainty, a door bolted against any larger possibility. This is the quiet despair beneath the pursuit of pleasure: not doubt, but a confident smallness that mistakes the visible for the whole. Krishna's compassion shows in the diagnosis — such a life is not so much wicked as exhausting, a treadmill of craving and care from which no amount of indulgence can offer release.
💡 Key Takeaway
When pleasure is treated as life's whole purpose, the result is not lasting joy but endless, restless anxiety.
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.