📿 Shloka Collection

Ashapashashatair Baddhah

Gita 16.12 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16 — Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga Yoga
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः ।
ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान् ॥
Ashapashashatair baddhah kamakrodhaparayanah
Ihante kamabhogartham anyayena arthasanchayan
आशापाशशतैः
by hundreds of nooses of hope
बद्धाः
bound, tied
कामक्रोधपरायणाः
devoted to desire and anger
ईहन्ते
they strive
कामभोगार्थम्
for the sake of sensory enjoyment
अन्यायेन
through unjust means
अर्थसञ्चयान्
hoarding of wealth

Krishna uses a vivid image here: ashapashashatair baddhah — bound by hundreds of nooses of hope. Each unfulfilled hope is a rope around the neck. One expectation is tied before the last one is cut. The person walks through life weighed down, tangled, barely able to move freely, yet keeps reaching for more rope.

These people are devoted to two masters: desire and anger. Desire drives them forward; anger erupts when desire is blocked. One feeds the other. When you want something desperately and cannot get it, frustration boils into rage. When rage subsides, desire returns even stronger. It is a cycle that tightens with every turn.

To fund their pleasures, they hoard wealth through unjust means — anyayena. Cheating, exploiting, taking what does not belong to them. For them, the end always justifies the means. The goal is enjoyment; how the money arrives does not concern them.

Ashapashashatair is one of the most powerful metaphors in this chapter. Hope as a noose — and not just one, but hundreds. The image forces a moment of reflection: which of my own hopes have become ropes rather than wings?

Chapter 16 · 12 / 24
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