Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 16, Verse 9
एतां दृष्टिमवष्टभ्य नष्टात्मानोऽल्पबुद्धयः।प्रभवन्त्युग्रकर्माणः क्षयाय जगतोऽहिताः।।
etāṁ dṛṣṭim avaṣṭabhya naṣṭātmāno ’lpa-buddhayaḥ
prabhavanty ugra-karmāṇaḥ kṣayāya jagato ’hitāḥ
also searched as "etam drishtim avashtabhya nashtatmano alpa-buddhayah"
Translation
Holding this view, these men of lost souls and feeble understanding do cruel deeds, leading to the destruction of the world.
Vāṇi's rendering
Gripping that view, lost to themselves, small of mind, they rise as cruel doers — enemies bent on the world's ruin.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| एताम्etāṁ | this |
| दृष्टिम्dṛṣṭim | view, way of seeing |
| अवष्टभ्यavaṣṭabhya | having taken firm hold of, leaning on |
| नष्टात्मानःnaṣṭa-ātmānaḥ | those who have lost themselves; ruined in their own being (sandhi: naṣṭa + ātmānaḥ) |
| अल्पबुद्धयःalpa-buddhayaḥ | small of mind, of meagre understanding (the following vowel elided after naṣṭātmāno) |
| प्रभवन्तिprabhavanti | they rise up, come forth, grow powerful |
| उग्रकर्माणःugra-karmāṇaḥ | doers of fierce, cruel deeds |
| क्षयायkṣayāya | for the destruction, for the wasting away |
| जगतःjagataḥ | of the world |
| अहिताःahitāḥ | enemies, those who wish no good (sandhi: jagato + ahitāḥ) |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 16 Verse 9 mean?
It traces a line from belief to behaviour. Holding fast to the creed of the previous verse — that the world has no truth and no ground — a person loses any inner footing, thinks small, and becomes capable of fierce deeds. Krishna is not naming a tribe. He is naming a sequence that begins in the mind.
What does etam drishtim avashtabhya mean in the Gita?
Avaṣṭabhya is not gentle holding. It is bracing yourself against something, leaning your whole weight on it. Krishna says such people prop themselves on a view of the world as meaningless. Take away the prop and they would fall. So the view is defended fiercely, and the fierceness spills into their acts.
Why does the Gita call them nashtatmanah, lost to themselves?
Because something in them has gone missing, not something outside. When nothing within stands apart from appetite, there is no one left to refuse an appetite. Cruelty then needs no motive; it only needs an absence. Krishna is describing an emptiness at the centre, and the deeds that rush in to fill it.
Is this verse condemning certain people forever?
No. Krishna is describing a condition, not sealing a fate. The whole chapter divides tendencies, not persons — and every person carries both. The verse is a mirror held up to what you lean on. Chapter sixteen ends by handing back scripture and discipline precisely because the condition can be left behind.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice the order. First the view, then the deed. Krishna has just quoted their creed — no truth, no ground, nothing but appetite — and now he shows what that creed does with a pair of hands. Gripping is the word: they do not hold the view, the view holds them. Lost to themselves is precise. Nothing in them stands apart from the wanting, so nothing can say no. Cruelty is not their nature; it is what remains when the one who watches goes quiet. Arjuna is shown a road, not a race of villains. Check what you are gripping, and what it is making of you.