BG 16.4 — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhagavad Gītā 16.4Chapter 16 · Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · Pārtha · anuṣṭubh

दम्भो दर्पो ऽतिमानश् च क्रोधः पारुष्यमेव च ।

अज्ञानं चाभिजातस्य पार्थ संपदमासुरीम् ॥

dambho darpo 'timānaś ca krodhaḥ pāruṣyam eva ca

ajñānaṃ cābhijātasya pārtha saṃpadam āsurīm

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

meaning

Hypocrisy, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness of speech, and ignorance of what should and should not be done, O Arjuna, are the marks of one born into the demonic endowment.

ekras · bhāṣya

Dambha — religious pretense; darpa — arrogance; atimana — excessive self-aggrandizement; krodha — anger; parushyam — harshness of speech; ajnanam — ignorance. Six asuri qualities marking one abhijatasya — born — into the asuri sampad. Partha.

Krishna names the demonic counterpart precisely. Six instead of twenty-six — the asuri-portrait is shorter because each demonic trait is denser, more saturating in its reach.

Shankara reads dambha as dharma-dhvajitva — the flag of virtue worn as pretense. Darpa as the swelling pride that arises from learning, wealth, kinsmen. Atimana as excessive self-aggrandizement. Krodha as anger. Parushya as harsh speech that cuts — calling a one-eyed man 'blind,' a disfigured man 'ugly,' a low-born man 'base.' Ajnana as mithya-pratyaya — false cognition regarding what is to be done and avoided. Six precise demonic markers; the asuri-abhijata is recognizable by them.

Madhusudana reads the verse as the heyatva — what-is-to-be-abandoned — counterpart to the adeya-tva — what-is-to-be-taken-up — of 16.1-3. Dambha is the project of self-promotion through apparent virtue — dharma wielded as a flag for the ego. Darpa is that species of pride which leads one to disregard the great — mahat-avadhirana-hetu — arising from wealth, kinship, and the rest. The chapter's binary is symmetric in its operational specificity: each daivi virtue has its asuri counter.

Ramanuja reads dambha as the performance of dharma-anushtana for the purpose of publicizing one's own righteousness rather than as kainkarya to Bhagavan. Darpa is the harsha that clouds viveka between what is to be done and avoided, arising from enjoyment of sense-objects. Ajnana here is paravara-tattva-ajnana — ignorance of the hierarchy of realities: jiva, jagat, Ishvara. These svabhavas mark a jiva who has never aligned with Bhagavan as sheshin — the One whom the jiva serves.

Madhva reads on the bheda-frame: dambha — hypocrisy, the show of virtue without its substance; darpa — arrogance born of worldly intoxication; atimana — excessive self-inflation; krodha — wrath; parushya — harshness of speech and act; ajnana — ignorance of the Lord's supremacy. These six constitute the asuri-sampad. In the dvaita siddhanta, the asura-jiva is eternally distinct from the daiva-jiva; the asuri-svabhava is real and structural, not just temporary moral failure.

Vallabha reads the asuri-sampad as the svabhava of those whom Bhagavan has not touched with His prasada. Dambha; darpa — here glossed as kama-rupa, desire-formed pride; abhimana — lobha, greed; krodha; parushya; ajnana. Six dosas that are svabhavatah — by nature — enemies of the daivi gunas. The scriptural taxonomy is tripartite: deva, manushya, asura. Each is Krishna's lila-display but the asuri jiva is one outside the operative reach of pushti-grace.

Shridhara reads each term in parallel to the daivi-sampad of 16.1-3. Where abhayam and sattva-samshuddhi characterized divine birth, here dambha — dharma-dhvajitva, religious pretense; darpa — utseka from dhana-vidya; abhimana; krodha; parushya — nishthura-tva, ruthlessness in speech; ajnana — aviveka — define the asuri birth. The compound asuri-sampad names the architecture of demonic life with the same precision the chapter used for the divine.

Context

where

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

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna · vocative Pārtha

preceded by — BG 16.3

Boldness, forbearance, steadiness, purity, freedom from malice, and absence of self-conceit, Arjuna: these belong to one born into divine endowment.

What's going on

Hypocrisy, arrogance, excessive pride, anger, harshness of speech, and ignorance of what should and should not be done, O Arjuna, are the marks of one born into the demonic endowment.

Sūtras through this verse (25)

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

16.1The dispositions decide who can even begin.───→here16.4───→18.55Even hearing and reflecting need purity.

JayatīrthaclassicalB

Pañcabheda — the five distinctions enforced verse by verseexit

15.17Three orders, each a distinct relatum.───→here16.4───→

MadhvaclassicalT3

Ranking is real — and it never collapsesexit

15.17Beyond all selves stands the Highest Person alone.───→here16.4───→

show all 25

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

5.26Already-released sage───→here16.4───→16.21Triple gate of hell

Ekrasmodernforgiveness

Forgivenessbetween · other

16.3Tejas, kṣamā, dhṛti───→here16.4───→18.42Brahmaṇa's kṣamā

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsbetween

16.1Divine traits named: fearless, pure, steady.───→here16.4───→16.21Three gates of hell: desire, anger, greed.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here16.4───→

Ekrasmodernend_of_life

End of life — the threshold tourexit · v2

15.8Carrying the perfume───→here16.4───→

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsexit

15.16Uttama-puruṣa is Viṣṇu, beyond both.───→here16.4───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

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

15.16Aṣṭādhyāyī 5.2.127 controls bhūta.───→here16.4───→

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥexit

15.1Tat-prasaṅge alaukikaṁ — iti śeṣaḥ.───→here16.4───→

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursexit

15.7Self drags the senses like wind drags scent.───→here16.4───→

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

6.5'Uddhared atmanatmanam natmanam avasadayet.' Lift yourself by yourself, do not l───→here16.4───→16.21'Tri-vidham narakasyedam dvaram nashanam atmanah, kamah krodhas tatha lobhah.' T

VedāntadeśikaclassicalA

The carama-śloka as retroactive bracketbetween

9.24The receiver of all rites is named one verse.───→here16.4───→16.5Mā śucaḥ already once before — same shape.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalH

Mā śucaḥ — the inclusio of evolving griefbetween

5.16Knowledge-darkness cleared — not yet refuge.───→here16.4───→16.5Daivī-asuric grief closed mid-text.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

16.1The divine wealth becomes stable knowing in life.───→here16.4───→18.55Knowing burns ignorance; body burns its arc.

MadhusūdanaclassicalJ

Two kinds of nature — divine and demonicbetween

16.1Anchor: gather the good, drop the unwholesome.───→here16.4───→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───→here16.4───→

MadhvaclassicalT4

Liberation is bliss in body — not absorptionexit

15.6The supreme abode does not return its dwellers.───→here16.4───→

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordexit

15.4Cut the world-tree by knowing whose play it is.───→here16.4───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereexit

15.16Both the changing and changeless are below the supreme.───→here16.4───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalJ

Prakṛti is never autonomousexit

15.7Aṃśa pinned to the Lord, not free.───→here16.4───→

RāmānujaclassicalF

Two prakṛtis · jīva as eternal aṃśaexit

15.18Named Puruṣottama.───→here16.4───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalH

The grammar of single-pointednessexit

14.26Unswerving devotion crosses the modes.───→here16.4───→

VallabhaclassicalK

Aphorism, gloss, full commentaryexit

15.15The bhāṣya-author is named by the Lord himself.───→here16.4───→

Śabda · lemmas (12 unique · 14 occurrences)

क्रोधः krodha — anger, wrath · nominative masculine singular noun
संपदम् sampad — prosperity (sam- + √pad 'fall/come together') · accusative feminine singular noun
पार्थ pārtha — son of Pṛthā (Kuntī); epithet of Arjuna · vocative masculine singular noun · also at 1.25, 1.26, 1.28, 1.29, 1.30, 2.3 +40
आसुरीम् āsura — demonic, of the asuras · accusative feminine singular noun

show all 12

च ca ×3 — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
दम्भः dambha — hypocrisy, pride, ostentation · nominative masculine singular noun
दर्पः darpa — pride, arrogance (from √dṛp) · nominative masculine singular noun
अतिमानः atimāna — (ati- + māna: honor) · nominative masculine singular noun
पारुष्यम् pāruṣya — harshness, cruelty (from paruṣa) · nominative neuter singular noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
अज्ञानम् ajñāna — ignorance, lack of knowledge (a- + jñāna) · nominative neuter singular noun
अभिजातस्य abhi-√jan — to be born to, lineage (abhi- + √jan 'be born') · genitive masculine singular participle noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Why does the verse list dambha (pretense) first rather than krodha (anger) — what does the ordering imply about which vice is most dangerous or most foundational to the asuri orientation?
02Dambha is the performance of dharma for self-display: how does the tradition distinguish a person who genuinely practices dharma but receives public recognition from one who practices it for recognition — is the distinction interior or behavioral?

show all 7

03Ajnana is positioned last in the list — is it the root cause from which the preceding five flow, or the culminating consequence of living in dambha, darpa, and krodha for long enough?
04Ramanuja defines asuras as those who transgress Bhagavad-ajna by svabhava — does this make the asuri-sampad a fixed ontological type (as Madhva and Vallabha argue) or a correctible orientation (as Sankara and Madhusudana imply)?
05Parusya (harsh speech) appears alongside metaphysical ajnana — what does it mean that a failure of speech-ethics sits in the same catalogue as a failure of ultimate knowledge?
06If dambha is dharma-dhvajitva (virtue-as-flag), can institutional religion itself become a vehicle for asuri-sampad — and what markers would signal that transition?
07The daivi-sampad required 26 qualities across three verses; the asuri-sampad is dispatched in six terms in one verse — what does this compression say about the structure of vice versus the structure of virtue?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

Audit your most visible virtuous behaviors — charitable giving announced on social media, conspicuous meditation practice, publicly displayed ethics — and ask whether they arise from viveka or from dharma-dhvajitva. The Advaita test: does the behavior persist when no one is watching, or does it dissolve? What you find when no witness is present is closer to your actual svabhava.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Notice the moments when success (promotion, recognition, a well-received talk) generates a harsha that makes you slightly dismissive of colleagues — Ramanuja calls this darpa as visayanubhava-nimitta. The Vaishnava antidote is not suppression of joy but reattribution: treat every achievement as prasada flowing through you for Bhagavan's kainkarya, not as evidence of personal superiority.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's tripartite jiva-doctrine asks a sober question: some people in your organization are constitutively destructive — not because they had a bad day or a bad childhood, but because their svabhava is to undermine collective good. The dvaita application is discernment: distinguish correctible conduct from constitutive orientation, and govern your trust allocation accordingly rather than expecting universal rehabilitation.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's framing: the asuri-sampad is not merely bad habit but the state of a soul not yet touched by Krsna's undeserved grace. The practical implication is humility about one's own moral progress — your improvement is not your achievement. When you notice a reduction in dambha or darpa in yourself, treat it as a sign of pusthi (divine nourishment), not personal virtue, lest the self-congratulation on reduced pride generate a finer pride.

Bhakti

Sridhara's upalaksana reading: the six named defects are markers pointing to a broader field of asuri-svabhava. In workplace terms, ask which of your habitual responses to friction — defensiveness, sarcasm, credit-claiming, contempt for less-skilled colleagues — belong to this field even if they do not bear the exact labels dambha or parusya. The upalaksana invites an honest audit beyond the named items.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusudana's 'Partha' address is a tool: he reminds Arjuna of his mother's purity to signal that the asuri-sampad is alien to him. In practice — when you are sliding toward harsh speech (parusya) or self-inflation (atimana) — recall your own lineage of teachers, parents, and exemplars who did not live this way. Memory of a pure line of transmission is itself a corrective to the asuri drift.

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