Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 17
आत्मसम्भाविताः स्तब्धा धनमानमदान्विताः।यजन्ते नामयज्ञैस्ते दम्भेनाविधिपूर्वकम्।।
ātma-sambhāvitāḥ stabdhā dhana-māna-madānvitāḥ
yajante nāma-yajñais te dambhenāvidhi-pūrvakam
also searched as "atma-sambhavitah stabdha dhana-mana-madanvitah"
Translation
Self-conceited, self-sufficient, intoxicated by wealth and pride, they perform sacrifices in name only, ostentatiously and not according to the injunctions of the scriptures.
Vāṇi's rendering
Full of themselves, rigid, drunk on money and status, they make offerings in name only — for show, not in spirit.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आत्मसम्भाविताःātma-sambhāvitāḥ | full of themselves; self-glorifying, praising their own worth |
| स्तब्धाstabdhā | stiff, unbending, too rigid to bow (for stabdhāḥ, softened before the next word) |
| धनमानमदान्विताःdhana-māna-madānvitāḥ | filled with the pride and intoxication of wealth and status |
| यजन्तेyajante | they make offerings, they perform sacrifice |
| नामयज्ञैस्nāma-yajñais | with sacrifices that are offerings in name only (for nāma-yajñaiḥ before te) |
| तेte | they, those people |
| दम्भेनdambhena | out of show, by pretence |
| अविधिपूर्वकम्avidhi-pūrvakam | not as the ordinance lays down; without the prescribed manner (a- joins vidhi after dambhena) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 17 mean?
Krishna describes people who perform the outward forms of worship while remaining full of themselves. Wealth and status have made them stiff. The offering is made, but nothing is actually given, because the giver has not stepped back. Such worship is nāma-yajña — sacrifice in name, kept up for the watching eyes.
What does atma-sambhavitah stabdha dhana-mana-madanvitah teach us?
That rigidity is a symptom, not a strength. Stabdha is the person who cannot bend — and one who cannot bend cannot offer, cannot ask, cannot receive. Money and standing harden us quietly. Krishna names the hardening early so you can feel it in yourself before it sets.
Is Krishna condemning all rituals here?
No. He is condemning ritual emptied of the one thing that makes it ritual — the willingness to let something go. Avidhi-pūrvakam means done outside the ordinance, but the deeper lapse is dambha, show. The same offering, made without an audience in mind, becomes real.
How do I know if my own good deeds are only for show?
Ask what happens to the deed when nobody knows. If it would still be done — quietly, unrecorded, with no one to tell — it was given. If it would quietly stop, it was never a gift; it was a performance you were also watching.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice that they do sacrifice. The ritual happens, the money is spent, the guests are fed — and Krishna calls it an offering in name only. What is missing is not correctness but self-forgetting. A man full of himself cannot make an offering, because an offering means something leaves your hands. Stabdha means stiff: unbending, unable to bow. Arjuna is being shown what his own duty would look like if performed for the eyes of others. So examine the good you do. If you would not do it unwitnessed, it was never given away. It was displayed.