Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 10
काममाश्रित्य दुष्पूरं दम्भमानमदान्विताः।मोहाद्गृहीत्वासद्ग्राहान्प्रवर्तन्तेऽशुचिव्रताः।।
kāmam āśritya duṣpūraṁ dambha-māna-madānvitāḥ
mohād gṛhītvāsad-grāhān pravartante ’śuci-vratāḥ
also searched as "kaamam aashritya dushpooram dambhamaanamadaanvitaah"
Translation
Turning to insatiable desires, seizing through delusion unjustly acquired wealth, and following impious vows, they act, full of ostentation, pride, and arrogance.
Vāṇi's rendering
Leaning on cravings that cannot be filled, drunk on pretence and pride, some chase false notions with unclean vows.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| कामम्kāmam | craving, desire |
| आश्रित्यāśritya | having taken refuge in, leaning one's weight on |
| दुष्पूरम्duṣpūram | impossible to fill, never satisfied |
| दम्भमानमदान्विताःdambha-māna-mada-anvitāḥ | accompanied by pretence, pride and intoxicated arrogance (mada + anvitāḥ joined by sandhi as madānvitāḥ) |
| मोहात्mohāt | out of delusion |
| गृहीत्वाgṛhītvā | having grasped, having seized |
| असद्ग्राहान्asad-grāhān | false notions, unreal things clung to (gṛhītvā + asad joined by sandhi as gṛhītvāsad) |
| प्रवर्तन्तेpravartante | they set out, they go about their work |
| अशुचिव्रताःaśuci-vratāḥ | holding unclean vows (initial a elided after pravartante, written 'śuci-vratāḥ) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 10 mean?
It describes a way of living propped up on desires that can never be satisfied. Krishna names the whole chain: the endless wanting, the pretence and pride that dress it up, the delusion that makes false things look solid, and finally vows undertaken with an impure resolve. Not a curse — a description of how a life comes apart from the inside.
What does kaamam aashritya dushpooram mean in the Gita?
Āśritya means to take shelter, to lean your weight somewhere. Duṣpūram means what cannot be filled. Together: making your support out of a hunger with no bottom. Krishna is precise. The trouble is not that desire exists, but that a person has made it the floor they stand on, and floors like that give way.
Why does Krishna call their vows unclean?
Aśuci-vratāḥ does not mean the ritual was performed badly. It means the intention beneath it was already bent — the vow taken for display, for advantage, for the pride of having taken it. Krishna keeps returning to motive rather than form. The same act, done from two different places inside you, is not the same act.
Is this verse judging other people?
Arjuna is hearing it, and Arjuna is not being condemned — he is being given a mirror. Krishna spends this chapter naming a pattern so that it can be recognised, and the only place you can recognise it usefully is in yourself. Read it as a description of a mood you have known, not a list of people you have met.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Craving is not the problem here; leaning on it is. Krishna's word is āśritya — to take refuge, to rest your whole weight on something that cannot hold it. A desire that could be filled would end. These cannot, so the leaning never stops, and pretence grows to cover the exhaustion underneath. Then come the vows, unclean not because the ritual is wrong but because the resolve beneath it is borrowed. Arjuna is being shown what he is not, so he can recognise it when it surfaces in him. Notice what you leaned on this week that gave nothing back. Notice that you leaned again.