Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 9, Verse 12
मोघाशा मोघकर्माणो मोघज्ञाना विचेतसः।
राक्षसीमासुरीं चैव प्रकृतिं मोहिनीं श्रिताः।।
राक्षसीमासुरीं चैव प्रकृतिं मोहिनीं श्रिताः।।
moghāśā mogha-karmāṇo mogha-jñānā vicetasaḥ
rākṣasīm āsurīṁ caiva prakṛtiṁ mohinīṁ śritāḥ
also searched as "moghasha mogha-karmano mogha-jnana vichetasah"
Translation
Senseless people have a nature that is deluding and similar to that of rakshasas and asuras. Their hopes are futile, their actions are futile, and their knowledge is futile.
Vāṇi's rendering
Their hopes empty, their work empty, their knowledge empty — they drift into a dark, deluding nature.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| मोघाशाmoghāśā | their hopes come to nothing (mogha, empty + āśā, hope; sandhi of mogha-āśāḥ) |
| मोघकर्माणःmogha-karmāṇo | their actions come to nothing |
| मोघज्ञानाःmogha-jñānā | their knowledge comes to nothing |
| विचेतसःvicetasaḥ | unthinking, out of their senses |
| राक्षसीम्rākṣasīm | brutal, of the rākṣasa kind |
| आसुरीम्āsurīṁ | grasping, of the asura kind |
| चca | and (from caiva) |
| एवeva | indeed (from caiva) |
| प्रकृतिम्prakṛtiṁ | nature, the disposition one lives from |
| मोहिनीम्mohinīṁ | deluding, bewildering |
| श्रिताःśritāḥ | having taken shelter in, leaning on |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 12 mean?
Krishna describes those who scorn him in human form. Their hoping, their doing, their knowing all come out empty — not because they were lazy, but because everything was built on a mistake about what they are. Leaning on a deluding nature, they drift. The verse names a cost, not a punishment.
What does moghasha mogha-karmano mean in the Gita?
Mogha means futile, fruitless, come to nothing. Krishna repeats it: moghāśā, empty hope; mogha-karmāṇaḥ, empty action; mogha-jñānā, empty knowledge. The repetition is the point. When the ground is wrong, effort does not correct it — effort multiplies on a false footing and still arrives nowhere.
Is Krishna condemning people in this verse?
He is diagnosing, not sentencing. Rākṣasī and āsurī name dispositions — brutal and grasping — that anyone can shelter in, and mohinī says why they persist: they bewilder. The very next verses turn to the mahātmās who know him. The door in this chapter never closes; only the drifting continues until you stop.
How do I know if my own work is becoming empty?
Ask what the work is leaning on. If your hope depends entirely on outcomes arranging themselves, and your knowledge has never been tested against what you actually are, the effort may be real while the ground is not. Vicetasaḥ means unthinking. The remedy begins where you start looking at the footing.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
Empty is a harsh word, and Krishna uses it three times. Not wrong hopes — empty ones. Not evil work — work that yields nothing, however hard it was done. Not ignorance — knowledge that turns out to be hollow when you lean on it. What makes them empty is what they rest on: a self mistaken for a body, a life mistaken for its surface. Arjuna is being shown what the alternative to knowing Krishna actually costs. Nothing dramatic happens. You simply drift, and the drift feels like effort. Check what your hoping rests on, before it hollows out from under you.