📿 Shloka Collection

Chintam Aparimeyam Cha

Gita 16.11 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16 — Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga
चिन्तामपरिमेयां च प्रलयान्तामुपाश्रिताः ।
कामोपभोगपरमा एतावदिति निश्चिताः ॥
Chintam aparimeyam cha pralayantam upashritah
Kamopabhogaparamah etavad iti nishchitah
चिन्ताम्
worry, anxiety
अपरिमेयाम्
immeasurable, boundless
प्रलयान्ताम्
lasting until death
उपाश्रिताः
burdened with, given over to
कामोपभोगपरमाः
those for whom sense-enjoyment is the highest goal
एतावत्
this much and nothing more
इति
thus
निश्चिताः
firmly convinced

Here is the irony at the heart of the demonic life: these people chase pleasure, but what they actually experience is anxiety. Immeasurable, boundless anxiety — aparimeyam — that does not let go until the moment they die. One worry ends and the next takes its place, like waves that never stop reaching shore.

Their supreme goal is kamopabhoga — the enjoyment of desires. Eating, acquiring, indulging — this is all there is, they believe. Etavad iti nishchitah: they have decided, with absolute certainty, that nothing exists beyond material pleasure. No soul, no higher purpose, no liberation.

This certainty is itself the trap. When a person is completely convinced that pleasure is the only point of living, they cannot even begin to look for something deeper. The door to peace is not locked — it is simply invisible to them. And so the anxiety remains, from birth to the final breath.

Pralayantam — 'lasting until death' — Krishna states clearly that a person driven purely by desire never finds peace, not even at the end of life. The one who considers pleasure the highest goal is always dissatisfied.

This shloka holds a mirror to much of modern consumer culture — endless wanting, endless worry, and no lasting peace.

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