Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 8
असत्यमप्रतिष्ठं ते जगदाहुरनीश्वरम्।अपरस्परसम्भूतं किमन्यत्कामहैतुकम्।।
asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram
aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ kim anyat kāma-haitukam
also searched as "asatyam apratishtham te jagad ahur anishvaram"
Translation
They maintain: 'The universe is without truth, with no foundation, and without a Lord (Isvara). What else could exist without mutual causation? It has lust as its cause.'
Vāṇi's rendering
The world, some say, has no truth, no ground, no lord — nothing but chance and appetite behind it.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| असत्यम्asatyam | without truth; unreal |
| अप्रतिष्ठम्apratiṣṭham | without foundation, resting on nothing (sandhi: apratiṣṭhaṁ te) |
| तेte | they (those of demonic temper) |
| जगत्jagat | the world, the moving universe (sandhi: jagad āhuḥ) |
| आहुःāhuḥ | they say, they declare (sandhi: āhur anīśvaram) |
| अनीश्वरम्anīśvaram | without a lord, ungoverned |
| अपरस्पर-सम्भूतम्aparaspara-sambhūtam | come about with no cause but things blindly meeting — chance coupling |
| किम्kim | what |
| अन्यत्anyat | else, other than this |
| काम-हैतुकम्kāma-haitukam | having appetite as its only cause |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 8 mean?
Krishna reports the creed of the āsurī temper: the world is untrue, unfounded, unruled, thrown together by chance, driven by appetite. He is not debating it. He is showing what a person comes to hold once cruelty and self-will have settled in — and how neatly such a view excuses everything they intend to do next.
What is the meaning of asatyam apratishtham te jagad ahur anishvaram?
Three denials in one breath — no truth, no ground, no lord. Then the account of how things arose: nothing but blind meeting and kāma. The verse is a portrait of a mind that has argued itself out of accountability. Notice it is spoken as confident knowledge, not as doubt.
Is the Gita condemning atheism in this verse?
The target is not honest doubt but the use of doubt as a licence. Krishna places this creed among the marks of cruelty, arrogance and greed, not among philosophical errors. A seeker who cannot yet say īśvara but who still handles others with care stands nowhere near the person described here.
How does this verse apply to my own thinking?
Watch for the moment a belief about reality arrives exactly when you need permission. Nothing matters, no one is watching, everyone is only appetite anyway — that thought rarely comes from enquiry. It comes from wanting. Test your convictions by what they release you from.
Themes in this verse
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Krishna is quoting. This is not his account of the world but theirs: no truth in it, no ground under it, no lord over it — only things colliding, and appetite. Notice that it is a complete philosophy. It answers everything, and it asks nothing of you. That is its appeal and its cost, because a world with no ground beneath it needs no one to stand well on it. Arjuna is being shown where such a view leads, not argued out of it. You already live by one account of the world or the other. Watch which one your next choice assumes.