Chapter 16, Verse 9
एतां दृष्टिमवष्टभ्य नष्टात्मानोऽल्पबुद्धयः | प्रभवन्त्युग्रकर्माणः क्षयाय जगतोऽहिताः ||१६-९||
etāṃ dṛṣṭimavaṣṭabhya naṣṭātmāno.alpabuddhayaḥ . prabhavantyugrakarmāṇaḥ kṣayāya jagato.ahitāḥ ||16-9||
Meaning
16.9 Holding this view, these ruined souls of small intellect and fierce deeds, come forth as the enemies of the world for its destruction.
Word-by-Word Meaning
Explanation & Commentary
Krishna traces the consequence of the godless vision laid out in the previous verse. Clinging to that outlook (etam drishtim avashtabhya), such people become nashtatmanah — souls that have lost themselves — and alpa-buddhayah, narrowed in intelligence. The denial of higher meaning shrinks the very faculty that could perceive it.
The outcome is ugra-karma, fierce and violent deeds, and these individuals arise as ahitah, enemies of the world's welfare, working toward its kshaya, its ruin. There is a tragic logic here: a person who believes life is only lust and chance will, with sincere conviction, act to plunder and destroy. Krishna is mapping how a corrupt philosophy becomes corrupt power. The lesson reaches beyond ancient battlefields — wherever meaning is denied and intellect shrinks, destructive force is never far behind.
💡 Key Takeaway
A mind that loses its higher vision shrinks into cruelty, and its small thinking ripples outward as harm to the whole world.
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.