BG 16.12 — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 16.12Chapter 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

आशापाशशतैर् बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः ।

ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसंचयान् ॥

āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ

īhante kāma-bhogārtham anyāyenārtha-saṃcayān

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

Bound by hundreds of hope-snares, ruled by desire and anger, they strive to pile up wealth by unjust means, all for the pleasure of their appetites.

ekras · bhāṣya

The verse names the binding-mechanism. Kama-krodha-parayanah — taking refuge in desire and anger as supreme. They strive — ihante — for kama-bhoga-artham — for the sake of pleasure-enjoyment — anyayena artha-sanchayan — accumulating wealth by unjust means.

Krishna names the asura's life-mechanism. Hope-snares — hundreds. Two refuges — kama and krodha. One operational goal — pleasure. Many means — all unjust.

Shankara reads bound by hundreds of snares that are nothing but hope itself, these beings are dragged in every direction, wholly given over to kama and krodha as their sole refuge. They strive purely to amass artha for the enjoyment of desired objects, and they do so through anyaya — seizure of others' property by deceit and force. The asha is named as the binding-element: hope itself is the snare. Each hope is a separate cord; together they hold the asura immobile in his own striving.

Madhusudana reads asha as hope directed at objects whose means are either impossible or unknown. These hopes function as snares because they drag the aspirant away from shreyas — the highest good — in every direction. Fixed on kama — the longing for sensory conjunction, stri-vyatikara-abhilasha — and krodha, the bhakta watches the asura's hundred-cord net and recognizes the trap. Each cord looks like opportunity; together they are bondage.

Ramanuja reads fettered by hundreds of snares named hope, wholly fixed on kama and krodha as their single resort — kama-krodha-eka-nishtha. They exert themselves toward artha-sanchaya by unjust means, all for kama-bhoga. The verse diagnoses the inversion of kainkarya — selfless service to Bhagavan: where the bhakta accumulates only what serves Bhagavan and shares it freely, the asura accumulates by force for his own pleasure-machinery.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: bound by asha-pasha-shataih, the asurika-jivas are wholly given over to kama-krodha as their supreme refuge. Their iha — striving — is directed solely toward kama-bhoga, and they accumulate by anyaya. Each act is the asurika-jiva's mode of disconnection from Hari operating through the field. The bheda is preserved; the asurika's bondage is real, the snares are real, the unjust accumulation is real.

Vallabha's gloss is minimal: 'atah eva asha-pasha-shataih iti' — precisely because of the prior verse's described delusion, they are bound by hundreds of hope-snares. In pushti-marga the asura trait is the antithesis of pushti: where the bhakta receives every action as Krishna's lila-prasada, the asura treats the world as a resource to be seized. The hundred snares are the absence of the one prasada-flow.

Shridhara reads asha as the snare itself — asha eva pashah — and hundreds of such snares bind, pulling them itastatas — here and there. Kama and krodha are their parama-yana — supreme refuge. For the sake of kama-bhoga they desire artha-sanchaya by unjust means — theft and similar acts. The diagnostic precision: the asura's life is recognizable by these specific operations.

Context

where

Chapter 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 16.11

Bound to anxious scheming that lasts until death, they are settled in their conviction that sensory pleasure is the only aim worth having.

What's going on

Bound by hundreds of hope-snares, ruled by desire and anger, they strive to pile up wealth by unjust means, all for the pleasure of their appetites.

Sūtras through this verse (25)

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.───→here16.12───→18.55Even hearing and reflecting need purity.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseexit

15.17Three orders, each a distinct relatum.───→here16.12───→

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesexit

15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.───→here16.12───→

show all 25

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

5.26Already-released sage───→here16.12───→16.21Triple gate of hell

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessbetween · other

16.3Tejas, kṣamā, dhṛti───→here16.12───→18.42Brahmaṇa's kṣamā

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

16.1Divine traits named: fearless, pure, steady.───→here16.12───→16.21Three gates of hell: desire, anger, greed.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here16.12───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here16.12───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsexit

15.16Uttama-puruṣa is Viṣṇu, beyond both.───→here16.12───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātraexit

15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.───→here16.12───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here16.12───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here16.12───→

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here16.12───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

16.5Mā śucaḥ already once before — same shape.───→here16.12───→18.46Worship-by-own-action fixes the ārādhya.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

16.5Daivī-asuric grief closed mid-text.───→here16.12───→18.66Final mā-śucaḥ closes the long-path grief.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

16.1The divine wealth becomes stable knowing in life.───→here16.12───→18.55Knowing burns ignorance; body burns its arc.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

16.1Anchor: gather the good, drop the unwholesome.───→here16.12───→17.1A third class: faith outside the texts.

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiexit

15.7'Mamaivamsho jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah.' A part of me, eternal, has become───→here16.12───→

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here16.12───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here16.12───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereexit

15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.───→here16.12───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here16.12───→

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaexit

15.18Named Puruṣottama.───→here16.12───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here16.12───→

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryexit

15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.───→here16.12───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

बद्धाः √bandh — to bind (verbal root) · nominative masculine plural participle noun
ईहन्ते √īh — to strive, endeavor (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person plural verb
अन्यायेन anyāya — injustice, impropriety (an- + nyāya) · instrumental masculine singular noun

show all 12

काम kāma ×2 — desire, lust, sensual pleasure · compound
अर्थम्·अर्थ artha ×2 — meaning, purpose, wealth, goal · accusative masculine singular noun / compound
आशा āśā — hope, expectation; direction (from √āś 'wish') · compound
पाश pāśa — noose, snare, fetter · compound
शतैः śata — hundred · instrumental neuter plural noun
क्रोध krodha — anger, wrath · compound · also at 1.34, 1.35, 2.56, 2.62, 2.63, 3.37 +10
परायणाः parāyaṇa — supreme refuge, ultimate goal (para 'highest' + ayana 'going') · nominative masculine plural noun
भोग bhoga — enjoyment, experience (sensual) · compound
संचयान् saṃcaya — accumulation, heap (sam- + √ci) · accusative masculine plural noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01What is the difference between aspiration (which drives growth) and asha (hope-as-snare) as Shankara describes it — and how would one recognize which is operating in a given drive?
02Madhusudana observes that the plural 'sancayan' encodes the structure of loba: obtaining does not satisfy, it intensifies desire. Where in your professional or personal life does acquisition reliably produce more hunger rather than sufficiency?

show all 7

03All six schools note that kama and krodha are not occasional failings but the 'primary resort' (paramayanamashraya) of the asura type. What replaces Bhagavan / jnana / Hari at the center when desire and anger become structurally organizing?
04The verse specifies 'anyayana' — unjust means including theft. How does a system, institution, or individual gradually normalize anyayana when kama-bhoga is the fixed goal and dharma is instrumentalized or abandoned?
05Sridhara flags 'cauryadi' (theft and the like) as the mode of accumulation. In contemporary life, what are the socially sanctioned forms of anyayana that remain invisible as injustice because they are legal or customary?
06The Dvaita and Shuddhadvaita readings both emphasize structural incapacity — the asura type cannot access the source of genuine saturation. Is transformation possible for such a person, or is this a description of a fixed svabhava? How do the schools differ on this?
07Madhusudana's asha definition — 'prayer toward objects whose means are impossible or unknown' — implies that asha is not about the object but about the mismatch between longing and capacity. How does this reframe the common distinction between realistic and unrealistic goals?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Before initiating any sustained professional effort, apply the Shankara test: is this activity aimed at dharma-artha (ordered toward liberation or righteous sustenance) or kama-bhoga-artha (ordered toward accumulation for enjoyment)? If the latter, note that Shankara's gloss treats this not as a moral failing but as a cognitive category error — treating means as ends. The practice is not renunciation of action but clarification of telos before the action begins.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Ramanuja's frame makes kainkarya the counter-measure: re-dedicate each accumulative action (earning, building, organizing) as service to Bhagavan before undertaking it. The Vishishtadvaita everyday practice is not to eliminate artha-gathering but to shift its organizing principle from kama-krodha-eka-nishtha to Bhagavan-eka-nishtha. Concretely: begin each work session with a brief offering of the work's fruit before starting, rather than at end.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's Dvaita theology treats all wealth as Hari's property held in trust by the jiva. The practical consequence: audit periodically whether the means of your livelihood would pass the anyayana test — does it involve seizure or diminishment of what belongs to others? Madhva's insistence on jiva-Brahman distinction means the jiva cannot claim ownership; claiming full ownership of accumulated wealth is itself the asura mistake.

Śuddhādvaita

In Pushti-marga, the antidote to asha-pasha is not discipline but prasada — receiving Krishna's grace as the only genuine nourishment. The practical form: when noticing the hunger that accumulation produces (Madhusudana's 'vardhamana-trishna'), the Pushti-marga response is not self-restraint but turning toward seva and prasada as the interruption. Feed the hunger with Krishna's lila rather than more acquisition.

Bhakti

Sridhara's observation that kama and krodha are the 'supreme shelter' for the asura mind points to a diagnostic practice: check what you instinctively turn to when threatened or unfulfilled. If the reflexive move is toward accumulation or retaliation (cauryadi in its modern forms), that is the indicator that kama-krodha have become paramayanamashraya. The bhakti counter-move is to practice deliberately turning to smarana (remembrance of Bhagavan) in the precise moment of that reflex.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudana's grammatical insight — that the plural 'sancayan' encodes loba's self-amplifying structure — is a precise practical tool. When pursuing any goal, track whether attainment reduces or increases the desire for more. If each acquisition produces a new hunger rather than sufficiency, Madhusudana's analysis names this as loba operating structurally, not as normal ambition. The Advaita-bhakti response is recognition (viveka) first, then Krsna-bhakti as the only appetite that satisfies by its own nature rather than by its object.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 16, Verse 12: Krishna to Arjuna — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga