Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 13
इदमद्य मया लब्धमिमं प्राप्स्ये मनोरथम्।इदमस्तीदमपि मे भविष्यति पुनर्धनम्।।
idam adya mayā labdham imaṁ prāpsye manoratham
idam astīdam api me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam
also searched as "idam adya maya labdham imam prapsye manoratham"
Translation
'This I have gained today, and this desire I shall attain. This wealth is mine, and this will also be mine hereafter.
Vāṇi's rendering
Today I won this; tomorrow I will take that. This is mine — and that will be mine soon enough.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| इदम्idam | this |
| अद्यadya | today |
| मयाmayā | by me |
| लब्धम्labdham | has been gained, won |
| इमम्imaṁ | this (one) |
| प्राप्स्येprāpsye | I shall obtain |
| मनोरथम्manoratham | wish, craving — literally the mind's chariot, running ahead |
| इदम्idam | this |
| अस्तिasti | is, is already here (joined with the next word by sandhi) |
| इदम्idam | this |
| अपिapi | also |
| मेme | mine, of me |
| भविष्यतिbhaviṣyati | will become, will be |
| पुनर्punar | again, further, more |
| धनम्dhanam | wealth |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 13 mean?
It is a man's inner speech, quoted back to him. He counts today's gain, names tomorrow's, and calls both his. Krishna lets the boasting run so its shape becomes visible: nothing is ever finished. The verse does not condemn wealth. It shows a mind that has made acquiring endless, and therefore joyless.
What is the meaning of idam adya maya labdham imam prapsye manoratham?
"This I have won today; that wish I shall reach next." Manoratha is the mind's chariot — desire already rolling toward the thing it has not got. The line catches the exact moment when a gain, instead of satisfying, becomes fuel for the following want.
Is the Gita saying it is wrong to want wealth?
No. Krishna is describing the āsurī temperament, where getting has replaced living. Wealth held lightly, earned by dharma, spent on others, troubles no one. What is diagnosed here is the ceaseless inner accounting — the voice that cannot say enough, and so is poor in the middle of plenty.
How does fear connect to this verse about wealth?
Read the boast again and hear what is underneath it. A man who must keep proving future ownership is a man who does not trust the present to hold him. The counting is armour. Krishna places these lines among the fearful ones because grasping and dread are the same gesture, turned two ways.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Listen to the tense of it. Won, will take, is, will be — the sentence runs from yesterday into a future it has already spent. Krishna is not describing a rich man; he is describing a mind that cannot stop counting. Each gain is immediately a down payment on the next. There is no moment in this speech where the man simply holds what he has, because holding was never the point — the ledger is. And a ledger can never close. Notice, when you next tally what is yours and what is nearly yours, how little of it you are actually enjoying.