Chapter 16, Verse 12
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः | ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान् ||१६-१२||
āśāpāśaśatairbaddhāḥ kāmakrodhaparāyaṇāḥ . īhante kāmabhogārthamanyāyenārthasañcayān ||16-12||
Meaning
16.12 Bound by a hundred ties of hope, given over to lust and anger, they strive to obtain by unlawful means hoards to wealth for sensual enjoyments.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna paints the bondage of the desire-driven life with a vivid image: asha-pasha-shatair baddhah — bound by a hundred nooses of hope. Each unfulfilled expectation is a cord, and the more one craves, the more tightly the net of hope and dread draws in. What feels like freedom to chase whatever one wants is in fact a subtle slavery.
Governed by kama and krodha — desire and the anger that erupts when desire is thwarted — such people endeavour to amass wealth anyayena, by unjust means. The end (sense-enjoyment) is treated as justifying any method, and so ethics quietly collapses into appetite. This is how a corrupt inner state becomes corrupt outer action: when the heart is enslaved to hope and rage, the hands soon reach for what is not theirs. Krishna shows that injustice in the world begins as bondage within.
💡 Key Takeaway
Unchecked craving binds us with a hundred invisible cords and quietly persuades us that any means is justified.
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).
दैवी सम्पद्विमोक्षाय निबन्धायासुरी मता | मा शुचः सम्पदं दैवीमभिजातोऽसि पाण्डव ||१६-५||
daivī sampadvimokṣāya nibandhāyāsurī matā . mā śucaḥ sampadaṃ daivīmabhijāto.asi pāṇḍava ||16-5||
16.5 The divine nature is deemed conducive to liberation, and the demoniacal to bondage. Grieve not, O Arjuna, thou art born with divine endowments.
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.