Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 20
असुरीं योनिमापन्ना मूढा जन्मनि जन्मनि।मामप्राप्यैव कौन्तेय ततो यान्त्यधमां गतिम्।।
āsurīṁ yonim āpannā mūḍhā janmani janmani
mām aprāpyaiva kaunteya tato yānty adhamāṁ gatim
also searched as "asurim yonim apanna mudha janmani janmani"
Translation
Fallen into demoniac wombs in birth after birth, these deluded men, not attaining Me, further sink down to the lowest level, O Arjuna.
Vāṇi's rendering
Landing in dark wombs, deluded life after life, never finding me — they sink lower still.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| आसुरीम्āsurīṁ | dark, demonic |
| योनिम्yonim | womb, birth-place |
| आपन्नाःāpannā | having fallen into, landed in |
| मूढाःmūḍhā | deluded, dulled ones |
| जन्मनिjanmani | in birth |
| जन्मनिjanmani | after birth |
| माम्mām | me (Krishna) |
| अप्राप्यaprāpya | not reaching, never arriving at |
| एवeva | at all, never even — joined to the previous word as aprāpyaiva |
| कौन्तेयkaunteya | Arjuna, son of Kunti |
| ततःtato | from there, and so |
| यान्तिyānty | they go — shortened before the next word |
| अधमाम्adhamāṁ | lowest |
| गतिम्gatim | course, destination |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 20 mean?
It describes a hardening. The one who lives by cruelty and self-worship is born again into the same disposition, and the delusion thickens with each turn. Krishna is not condemning; he is naming a momentum. Because such a one never turns toward him, nothing interrupts the fall, and it goes deeper.
What does asurim yonim apanna mudha janmani janmani mean?
Landing in a dark womb, deluded life after life. Yoni is not only a body but a temperament one is born into — the mūḍha, the dulled one, wakes each time into the same fog. Janmani janmani, repeated, carries the weight: not once, but over and over.
Is this verse saying some people can never be saved?
It says the slope runs downward while the pattern holds. Nothing in the Gītā closes the door permanently — Krishna will say in the eighteenth chapter that even the worst may come to him. What this verse names is that the fall is real and continues until something breaks it.
How do I know if I am on this slope?
Ask whether the same fault returns wearing a new face, and whether you have stopped noticing it. The mark of the mūḍha is not wickedness but unawareness — the pattern feels like personality. If you can still see the habit, you are not inside it yet. That seeing is the opening.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is describing a slope, not passing a sentence. Nothing here is a judge's verdict; it is what cruelty does to itself over time. Each life the delusion hardens, each birth the door narrows, and the one thing that could break the pattern — turning toward Krishna — is exactly what the pattern prevents. That is the whole horror of it. Arjuna hears this and understands why the earlier list of qualities mattered so much. You are not being warned about hell. You are being shown that habits choose your next choice, and the time to interrupt one is while you can still see it.