BG 16.14 — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 16.14Chapter 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

असौ मया हतः शत्रुर् हनिष्ये चापरानपि ।

ईश्वरो ऽहमहं भोगी सिद्धो ऽहं बलवान् सुखी ॥

asau mayā hataḥ śatrur haniṣye cāparān api

īśvaro 'ham ahaṃ bhogī siddho 'haṃ balavān sukhī

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

meaning

He counts his kills and promises more, declaring himself lord, enjoyer, perfected, powerful, and happy, all in the same breath.

ekras · bhāṣya

That enemy was killed by me; I will kill the rest also. I am ishvara — lord; I am bhogi — the enjoyer; I am siddha — the accomplished; I am balavan — the powerful; sukhi — happy. Five self-titles in one breath.

Krishna shows the asura claiming what only Bhagavan rightly bears. Each title is a structural inversion.

Shankara reads the asuric mind, inflated by ahamkara, rehearsing its slaughters: 'that enemy has been killed by me; I shall kill the rest also.' The boasts are the signature of one wholly absorbed in kartritva-bhrama — the illusion of doership. Claiming ishvarata, bhoga, siddhi, bala, sukha as inherently 'mine' is the asura's most concentrated error. Each title is a real characteristic of Krishna's mode that the asura mis-takes as his own.

Madhusudana reads the verse as Krishna expounding the interior logic of asuric krodha and lobha. Having catalogued greed in 16.13, Krishna now shows how that greed generates a fantasy of omnipotence: 'I shall kill all remaining enemies, none will escape me, and their wealth too I shall seize.' The claim to ishvarata then unpacks itself: I am the enjoyer, the perfected, the powerful, the happy. Each title folds onto the next, and together they constitute the asura's inflation in its peak state.

Ramanuja reads the verse as the declaration of one who has collapsed the distinction between Bhagavan's svadhinata — sovereignty — and his own — claiming 'I am the lord, ishvara, self-sufficient, the bhogi by my own nature, balavan by myself.' This is the precise inversion of kainkarya — joyful servitude to Bhagavan. The asura arrogates to itself what belongs only to Bhagavan: the five titles together name Krishna's actual mode, claimed by one who has no relational basis for the claiming.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: the asurika-jiva proclaims itself lord, enjoyer, self-accomplished, powerful, happy. Each boast is a direct inversion of the pancha-bheda — the five-fold real distinction — Lord-jiva, Lord-matter, jiva-jiva, jiva-matter, matter-matter. The jiva arrogates to itself the svatantra status that belongs only to Hari. The bheda is real and structural; the inversion is metaphysically false; the asurika-jiva's confusion is therefore not a mistake to be corrected but a settled orientation requiring grace's intervention.

Vallabha's brief gloss points to abheda — non-difference — missed: the asura grasps at 'I have killed that one' without recognizing that the very power by which he acts is Krishna's own shakti moving through him as lila-prasada. The moha is not in acting or enjoying, but in the appropriation. 'Ishvarah aham...modishye' is a theological speech-act with the right content stolen by the wrong speaker. Pushti-marga: the bhakta who tastes Krishna's lila-rasa speaks the same words but as Krishna's mode operating in him.

Shridhara's gloss is deliberately spare — siddha as krita-krityah — accomplished, one who has done what needed doing. The word siddha is being used in its worldly sense of one who considers himself fulfilled in all respects, a bitter irony since true krita-krityata is bhagavat-priti — God-pleasing — which the asura wholly lacks. The other four titles operate in the same ironic register: each names what the asura is structurally incapable of actually being.

Context

where

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

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 16.13

Today I gained this, tomorrow I will get what I want, this wealth is already mine, and still more will come.

What's going on

He counts his kills and promises more, declaring himself lord, enjoyer, perfected, powerful, and happy, all in the same breath.

Sūtras through this verse (25)

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.───→here16.14───→18.55Even hearing and reflecting need purity.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseexit

15.17Three orders, each a distinct relatum.───→here16.14───→

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesexit

15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.───→here16.14───→

show all 25

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

5.26Already-released sage───→here16.14───→16.21Triple gate of hell

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessbetween · other

16.3Tejas, kṣamā, dhṛti───→here16.14───→18.42Brahmaṇa's kṣamā

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

16.1Divine traits named: fearless, pure, steady.───→here16.14───→16.21Three gates of hell: desire, anger, greed.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here16.14───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here16.14───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsexit

15.16Uttama-puruṣa is Viṣṇu, beyond both.───→here16.14───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.───→here16.14───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here16.14───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here16.14───→

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here16.14───→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.───→here16.14───→18.46Worship-by-own-action fixes the ārādhya.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

16.5Daivī-asuric grief closed mid-text.───→here16.14───→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.───→here16.14───→18.55Knowing burns ignorance; body burns its arc.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

16.1Anchor: gather the good, drop the unwholesome.───→here16.14───→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───→here16.14───→

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here16.14───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here16.14───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereexit

15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.───→here16.14───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here16.14───→

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaexit

15.18Named Puruṣottama.───→here16.14───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here16.14───→

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryexit

15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.───→here16.14───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 16 occurrences)

हतः·हनिष्ये √han ×2 — to slay, kill, strike (verbal root) · nominative masculine singular participle noun / future indicative 1st person singular verb
भोगी bhogin — enjoyer; serpent (from bhoga + -in) · nominative masculine singular noun
बलवान् balavat — (bala + -vat: strength) · nominative masculine singular noun
सुखी sukhin — happy one; possessor of sukha · nominative masculine singular noun

show all 12

मया·अहम् mad ×4 — I, me (1st person pronoun stem); also: to rejoice (verbal root) · instrumental singular noun / nominative singular noun
असौ adas — that (distal demonstrative) · nominative masculine singular noun
शत्रुः śatru — enemy · nominative masculine singular noun
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
अपरान् apara — other, later; lower, secondary · accusative masculine plural noun
अपि api — also, even, although
ईश्वरः īśvara — the Lord, controller, God · nominative masculine singular noun
सिद्धः siddha — perfected, accomplished; a class of celestial beings · nominative masculine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01When I recite my accomplishments to myself — promotions won, adversaries outmaneuvered, goals achieved — am I describing reality or building the asuric interior monologue this verse catalogs?
02The verse strings together five self-attributions: lord, enjoyer, accomplished, powerful, happy. Which of these do I most habitually claim as self-originating rather than received?

show all 7

03Ramanuja's gloss turns on 'svatas' (by myself) repeated three times. Where in my life do I most insist that my competence, pleasure, or well-being originates in me rather than through conditions and grace?
04Shankara sees the boast of incomparability ('none equals me') as the diagnostic marker of asuric ahamkara. What triggers that particular boast in me, and what does it protect?
05Madhusudan traces the sequence: greed generates a fantasy of godhood, which demands the elimination of rivals. Can I trace a moment when financial or competitive anxiety escalated into a felt need to 'destroy' a competitor rather than simply outperform them?
06Sridhara calls the verse 'spashta' (self-evident) — implying the asuric voice condemns itself without commentary. Are there places where I speak in ways that, heard back on recording, would be equally self-condemning?
07Vallabha's correction is not 'stop enjoying' but 'stop severing the enjoyment from its source.' What would it change practically if every act of strength or success were felt as participation in something larger rather than personal trophy?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When a difficult project succeeds, pause before the performance review and ask: 'Who actually did this?' Not as false modesty, but as genuine inquiry into kartrtva (doership). If the honest answer is 'a combination of prior causes, team, circumstance, and an awareness that witnessed it all,' let that recognition replace the asuric monologue this verse describes. The Advaitin practice is not self-erasure but kartrtva-viveka — discernment about the agent.

Dvaita

Notice the specific moment when competitive drive tips into the felt need to 'destroy' rather than simply excel. Dvaita names this as the signature of Hari-dvesha (turning away from Hari's order) — not merely ego but an active alignment against the grain of divine will. The corrective is japa (repetition of Hari's name) precisely at that tipping point: the name reinstates the hierarchy that the asuric impulse collapses.

show all 4

Bhakti

Sridhara's key gloss is 'siddha = kritakrtyah' — 'accomplished' in the worldly sense. The bhakti corrective is to ask daily: by whose standard am I siddha? If the answer is purely social — income, status, reputation — the asuric frame has been accepted. Kritakrtyata (true fulfillment) in bhakti means only one thing: has today's living deepened bhagavat-priti (love of Bhagavan)? Make this the only success metric that closes the day.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudan's psychological cascade — greed feeds godhood-fantasy feeds violence — suggests a specific intervention point: intercept at the lobha (greed) stage before it escalates to the ishvarata (lord) claim. The Advaita-bhakti practitioner uses Krishna-smarana (remembrance of Krishna) the moment acquisitive desire arises, not after it has generated the full asuric monologue. The bhakti element is the name; the Advaita element is the recognition that the grasping self who wants more is itself a construct on the awareness that needs nothing.

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 14: Krishna to Arjuna — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga