BG 16.23 — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 16.23Chapter 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

यः शास्त्रविधिमुत्सृज्य वर्तते कामकारतः ।

न स सिद्धिमवाप्नोति न सुखं न परां गतिम् ॥

yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ

na sa siddhim avāpnoti na sukhaṃ na parāṃ gatim

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

meaning

Whoever discards the rule of scripture and lives by desire alone gains no fulfillment, no happiness, and no highest destination.

ekras · bhāṣya

Whoever — yah — utsrijya — having discarded — shastra-vidhi, and lives kama-karatah — by desire-will — does not avapnoti — attain — siddhi; nor sukham; nor param gatim.

Krishna names the triple privation. Discarding shastra leaves the person with desire alone, and desire alone produces neither this-world fitness nor this-world happiness nor the next-world destination.

Shankara reads abandoning the shastra-vidhi — the Veda's vidhi-nishedha, the prescriptive-prohibitive apparatus that produces knowledge of what is to be done and not done — and acting from kama-karata forfeits siddhi — purushartha-yogyata, the inner qualification for the highest purushartha. Three privations follow: no siddhi, no sukha, no param gati. Each is named with operational precision: the kama-driven person fails at every register because all three depend on the abandoned shastra-grounding.

Madhusudana opens with an epistemological claim: shubha-acharana and ashubha-acharana are both shastra-eka-gamya — knowable only through shastra, since the apurva-artha — the result that exceeds present perception — is precisely what shastra alone reveals. One who abandons shastra-vidhi — which Madhusudana expands to include not only Vedic vidhi-nishedha but also the smriti-puranic exposition of Bhagavan-tattva — is left with no operational knowledge of either consequence. The triple privation follows by sheer epistemological necessity.

Ramanuja reads shastra here as Veda — explicitly glossed as 'mat-anushasanam' — the Lord's own disciplinary command. One who abandons it and follows svacchanda-anugama-marga — the path of self-chosen inclination — receives no amushmika siddhi, no aihika sukha, no para gati. The shastra is not external rules but Bhagavan's own command made textually accessible; abandoning it is theological refusal.

Madhva reads shastra-vidhi as Hari's own will made accessible to the paratantra-jiva. The one who, driven by kama-karatah — self-willed desire, acting from one's own impulse alone — abandons that ordinance has severed the very conduit through which svatantra Hari's directing will reaches the jiva. The bheda is preserved: the jiva remains paratantra in fact, but its operational connection to the directing will has been severed by its own abandonment of shastra.

Vallabha frames the verse as a prerequisite argument: renunciation of kama and other daivi qualities is impossible without adhering to shastra-uktam sva-dharma-acharanam. His gloss carries an unusual theological anchor: 'sarve brahma-adayah tu avayavah Purushottamasya' — all beings from Brahma downward are limbs of the Purushottama. The shastra is Krishna's voice instructing each limb in its function; abandoning it is the limb refusing the body's coordination.

Shridhara gives the tightest mapping: shastra-vidhi equals veda-vihitam dharma. The one who abandons it and acts yatheccham — as he pleases — fails to obtain siddhi glossed as tattva-jnanam, sukha glossed as upashama — inner quiet — and param gati as mukti. The triple privation is mapped onto three distinct registers of the spiritual economy — knowledge, affective peace, and final attainment.

Context

where

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

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 16.22

Free from these three gates of darkness, desire, anger, and greed, you can pursue what is truly good for yourself and so reach the highest destination.

What's going on

Whoever discards the rule of scripture and lives by desire alone gains no fulfillment, no happiness, and no highest destination.

Sūtras through this verse (25)

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.───→here16.23───→18.55Even hearing and reflecting need purity.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseexit

15.17Three orders, each a distinct relatum.───→here16.23───→

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesexit

15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.───→here16.23───→

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Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessbetween · other

16.3Tejas, kṣamā, dhṛti───→here16.23───→18.42Brahmaṇa's kṣamā

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

16.21Three gates of hell: desire, anger, greed.───→here16.23───→17.5Hard penance off-script is still demonic.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here16.23───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here16.23───→

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementexit · other

16.22Released from the three gates───→here16.23───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsexit

15.16Uttama-puruṣa is Viṣṇu, beyond both.───→here16.23───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.───→here16.23───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here16.23───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here16.23───→

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

16.5Mā śucaḥ already once before — same shape.───→here16.23───→18.46Worship-by-own-action fixes the ārādhya.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

16.5Daivī-asuric grief closed mid-text.───→here16.23───→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.───→here16.23───→18.55Knowing burns ignorance; body burns its arc.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

16.1Anchor: gather the good, drop the unwholesome.───→here16.23───→17.1A third class: faith outside the texts.

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningexit

16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T───→here16.23───→

Gauravmodernwitness_self_neti_neti

Witness Self Neti Netiexit

15.7'Mamaivamsho jiva-loke jiva-bhutah sanatanah.' A part of me, eternal, has become───→here16.23───→

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here16.23───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here16.23───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereexit

15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.───→here16.23───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here16.23───→

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaexit

15.18Named Puruṣottama.───→here16.23───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here16.23───→

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryexit

15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.───→here16.23───→

Śabda · lemmas (14 unique · 16 occurrences)

वर्तते √vṛt — to be, exist, occur, turn (verbal root) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
उत्सृज्य utsṛj — to cast off, release (ud- + √sṛj) · conv
अवाप्नोति √avāp — to obtain (ava- + √āp 'reach') · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
सिद्धिम् siddhi — perfection, attainment, success; supernatural power (yogic) · accusative feminine singular noun
गतिम् gati — going, motion, path, destination · accusative feminine singular noun

show all 14

न na ×3 — not (negation particle)
यः yad — which, who (relative pronoun) · nominative masculine singular noun
शास्त्र śāstra — scripture, treatise, authoritative teaching · compound
विधिम् vidhi — rule, injunction, prescribed procedure · accusative masculine singular noun
काम kāma — desire, lust, sensual pleasure · compound
कारतः kāra — doer, maker (from √kṛ); '-maker' · ablative masculine singular noun
स tad — that (distal demonstrative); also 3rd-person pronoun · nominative masculine singular noun
सुखम् sukha — happiness, pleasure, ease · accusative neuter singular noun
पराम् para — highest, supreme, beyond, other · accusative feminine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01If shastra-vidhi is the sole means of obtaining tattva-jnana, what happens to the sincere seeker who inherits no living shastra tradition — does the verse diagnose a structural deprivation or only a volitional transgression?
02Shankara and Madhusudana both read 'para gati' as including moksha; does this mean that jnana itself is foreclosed by shastra-abandonment, or only its preparatory conditions?

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03Ramanuja identifies shastra with 'mad-anushasanam' — the Lord's personal command. What is the theological difference between transgressing an abstract law and refusing a person's address?
04Sridhara maps sukha to upashama (inner quiet) rather than to pleasure. Does the verse then say that kama-driven action is structurally incompatible with peace, even before any question of liberation arises?
05Vallabha's anchor — that all beings are avayava of Purushottama — implies that shastra-transgression is not merely imprudent but ontologically self-mutilating. How does this change the phenomenology of the triple privation?
06The verse is placed in the asuri-sampat chapter (16). Is shastra-abandonment being described as a cause of asuric disposition, or as its symptom — and do the schools agree on the causal direction?
07If the verse forecloses siddhi, sukha, and para gati simultaneously, can partial compliance with shastra yield partial access to any of the three, or is the logic all-or-nothing?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When you override a discipline (a committed practice, a teacher's instruction, an established schedule) because you 'feel like it today,' you are not exercising freedom — you are blocking the antahkarana-shuddhi that makes any insight possible. The cost is not punishment; it is the foreclosure of the very instrument through which clarity arises.

Dvaita

Every legitimate craft, profession, or care-work has a received discipline — a shastric structure built by those who came before. Acting from self-will rather than from that inherited discipline does not liberate you; it cuts you off from the accumulated grace that makes mastery possible.

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Bhakti

The triple loss Sridhara identifies — knowledge, inner quiet, liberation — maps onto three registers you can observe in daily life: a person who consistently acts from impulse rather than reflective discipline tends to understand less over time, feels more agitated not less, and drifts further from what they most deeply want. The verse is a phenomenological description, not only a prescription.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudana's double scope of shastra — both the injunction-track and the Brahman-revelation-track — suggests that abandoning rigorous study (the Upanishadic shastra) and abandoning ethical discipline (the vidhi-nishedha shastra) are the same failure at different registers. The person who says 'I am spiritual but not religious' may be abandoning both simultaneously: the purifying discipline and the cognitive access to what is real.

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