Bhagavad Gita · 16.17 · Yoga through Discerning the Divine and Demoniac Natures·17 of 24
आत्मसम्भाविताः स्तब्धा धनमानमदान्विताः।यजन्ते नामयज्ञैस्ते दम्भेनाविधिपूर्वकम् ॥
ātma-sambhāvitāḥ stabdhā dhana-māna-madānvitāḥ
yajante nāma-yajñais te dambhenāvidhi-pūrvakam
Sanskrit recitation
Choose a guide wiser than impulse · 16.17–16.24 · Teaching
Translation
Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform sacrifices in name only for ostentation, contrary to scriptural ordinances.
Meaning
They are puffed up with unbounded pride. They esteem themselves very highly. They are not esteemed or honoured as such by the righteous or pious persons. They have a very high opinion of their own greatness. They esteem themselves as possessed of all the virtuous attributes. They are not humble. They have no humility or meekness. Their minds are entirely filled with a sense of their own importance. They treat others with contempt. They think that others are inferior to them. They never bend their heads and make prostrations to elders or superiors or spiritual teachers and monks. They stand erect like a pillar or iron post, intoxicated as they are with the wine of wealth. They pretend to perform Yajnas.They do not care for an altar, a sacrifical bower or a receptacle for the fire, or any of the proper materials to be used in the sacrifices. They do not pay any attention to the prescribed rules. They do sacrifices in order to increase their own fame. They will not hear even the mentioning of the name of God or Brahmana. How can God or a Brahmana attend their sacrifices They perform sacrifices without paying attention to the several parts of them and the obligations enjoined in the scriptural ordinances such as the recitation of the Mantras, worship of the gods, giving of the fees, etc. They will not do the sacrifices with reverence and faith
After Swami Sivananda
Choose a guide wiser than impulse· 16.17–16.24→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
16.17Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform sacrifices in name only for ostentation, contrary to scriptural ordinances.
- 16.18Given over to egoism, power, haughtiness, lust, and anger, these malicious people hate Me in their own bodies and in the bodies of others.
- 16.19Those cruel haters, the worst among men in the world, I hurl those evil-doers into the wombs of demons only.
- 16.20Entering into demoniacal wombs and deluded, birth after birth, they do not attain Me, thus falling, O Arjuna, into a condition still lower than that.
- 16.21There are three gates to this hell, destructive of the self: lust, anger, and greed; therefore, one should abandon these three.
- 16.22A person who is liberated from these three gates of darkness, O Arjuna, practices what is beneficial for them and thus goes to the Supreme Goal.
- 16.23He who, having cast aside the ordinances of the scriptures, acts under the impulse of desire, does not attain perfection, nor happiness, nor the Supreme Goal.
- 16.24Therefore, let the scripture be thy authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, thou shouldst act in this world.
Word-by-word→
- te
- they
- mada
- arrogance
- dhana
- wealth
- māna
- pride
- nāma
- in name only
- yajante
- perform sacrifice
- dambhena
- ostentatiously
- anvitāḥ
- full of
- yajñaiḥ
- sacrifices
- stabdhāḥ
- stubborn
- avidhi-pūrvakam
- with no regards to the rules of the scriptures
- ātma-sambhāvitāḥ
- self-conceited
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