Repeated cruelty deepens bondage.
Krishna speaks to Arjuna
तानहं द्विषतः क्रुरान्संसारेषु नराधमान् |क्षिपाम्यजस्रमशुभानासुरीष्वेव योनिषु ||१६-१९||
tānahaṃ dviṣataḥ krurānsaṃsāreṣu narādhamān . kṣipāmyajasramaśubhānāsurīṣveva yoniṣu ||16-19||
Use this verse as a serious pattern-interruption warning.
Meaning
Those hateful, cruel, and evil-doing people, the lowest among humans, I repeatedly cast into asuric wombs in the cycle of worldly existence.
Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).
In plain words
Cruel hatred creates repeated descent into asuric conditions.
Word-by-word meaning
Tap a word to see its meaning.
Explanation
This verse is a severe warning about the momentum of hatred and cruelty. For self-reflection, it means that repeated cruel patterns deepen identity and make recovery harder.
Read the traditional commentary
This is among the Gita's sternest verses, and it asks to be read with care. Krishna says that the cruel and hateful, the naradhama (lowest of men), are cast repeatedly into asuric births. We must understand this not as the wrath of a vengeful deity but as the impersonal working of law — the way a person's settled nature draws them, life after life, toward conditions that mirror it.
Like water finding its level, the consciousness one cultivates determines the circumstances one is born into. A heart hardened by hatred gravitates toward harsh births where that pattern continues, for samsara is exquisitely just. The 'I hurl' is the voice of cosmic order, not personal spite.
Far from contradicting the earlier teaching of grace, this verse underscores its urgency: character is destiny across lifetimes, and the choice of which nature to feed is never trivial.
In daily life
Break harmful patterns early before they harden.
A person who repeatedly uses anger to control others may gradually normalize cruelty.
Try this today
Interrupt one repeated cruel or harsh pattern today.
I stop cruelty before it becomes my nature.Reflect
What harmful pattern is becoming normal for me?
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Quick check
What does ‘अशुभान्’ mean in this verse?
Krishna on consequences, in other chapters
- Verse 14.16The inner quality behind your actions, not just their outcome, decides whether you harvest peace, pain, or confusion.
- Verse 8.19Driven by past karma, beings are swept helplessly through endless cycles; true freedom means stepping beyond the wheel entirely.
- Verse 13.22What you cling to shapes where you go — attachment to nature's qualities keeps the wheel of rebirth turning.
- Verse 15.8At death the soul carries its mental impressions to a new life, as a breeze carries fragrance from flowers.
Swipe left for 16.20 · Repeated delusion moves consciousness downward.
Questions about Bhagavad Gita 16.19
Who says Bhagavad Gita 16.19, and to whom?
Krishna speaks to Arjuna in verse 16.19, in Chapter 16, Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga (Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga).
What does Bhagavad Gita 16.19 mean?
Those hateful, cruel, and evil-doing people, the lowest among humans, I repeatedly cast into asuric wombs in the cycle of worldly existence. (Translation: Gita Guidance (original English rendering).)
What is the lesson of Bhagavad Gita 16.19 for daily life?
Break harmful patterns early before they harden. A person who repeatedly uses anger to control others may gradually normalize cruelty.
What do the Sanskrit words in Bhagavad Gita 16.19 mean?
तान् — those (people); अहम् — I; द्विषतः — the hateful, the haters; क्रुरान् — the cruel; संसारेषु — in the cycles of birth and death.
Where does verse 16.19 come in the Bhagavad Gita?
It is verse 19 of 24 in Chapter 16, Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga. The next verse is 16.20.