Bhagavad-gītā 16.13-15
Blended reading (Sanskrit + English inline)
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labdham
—
gained
Past passive participle — 'has been gained.' The demoniac speak in the past tense of ownership: this is already mine. The Gītā elsewhere insists that nothing is acquired in this absolute sense; possession is provisional.
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manaḥ - ratham
—
according to my desires
Literally 'mind-chariot' — what the mind rides toward. Manoratha is the daydream, the plan in the head. The demoniac confuse manoratha with reality.
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īśvaraḥ
—
the lord
The decisive theft. The demoniac claims for himself the very title that 16.8 denied to the cosmos. Anīśvaram — they say there is no Lord — and then aham īśvaraḥ — I am the Lord. The atheism was always a cover for self-deification.
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bhogī
—
the enjoyer
From bhuj — to eat, to enjoy. The Vedānta reserves bhoktṛtva (enjoyership) for the Lord; the soul is bhogya — that which is offered. The demoniac inverts the relationship and consumes what was meant to be offered.
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siddhaḥ
—
perfect
The demoniac claim of being already perfected — no further growth needed, no teacher required. This is the most spiritually fatal of the claims; it shuts the door against improvement.
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ajñāna
—
by ignorance
The Gītā closes the long monologue with this single word as diagnosis. The whole confident speech, viewed from above, is just vimohitāḥ — deluded — by ajñāna. The volume of the boast measures the depth of the ignorance.
Demoniac mentality is further described
16.13 इदम् this? अद्य today? मया by me? लब्धम् has been gained? इमम् this? प्राप्स्ये (I) shall obtain? मनोरथम् desire? इदम् this? अस्ति is? इदम् this? अपि also? मे to me? भविष्यति shall be? पुनः again? धनम् wealth.Commentary I will be able to acire all that the world possesses. Then I will be the lord of all wealth. No one will be eal to me on the surface of this earth.In future Next year this wealth also shall be mine. I will be known to the world as a man of immense wealth. People will address me as my lord.These demons (who think like this) become selfconceited on account of their wealth. Their heads are swollen with pride. They regard everyone else as worthless as straw. Pride of wealth destroyes their power of discrimination. They strive for happiness but they never obtain it. They are entangled in the meshes of Maya. They are wedded to sin and misry here and hereafter.
- BG 16 13-14 - Gopinath Chandra Prabhu - ISKCON Chowpatty 2010-01-23
- BG 16 13-15 - A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada - Hawaii 1975-02-08
- BG 16 13-16 - Jitamrita Prabhu - Hindi
- BG 16 13-16 - Vedavyasa Priya Swami - Vrindavan 2013-08-05
- BG 16 13-20 - Chaitanya Charan Prabhu.MP3
- BG 16 13 17 06 - Chaitanya Charan Prabhu - Hindi
- Priya Valabha Mataji BG 16-13-15 Hindi
- Chaitanya Charan Pr Hindi BG 16-13 17-06 - Demoniac mentality in today%27s soceity
- Jitamitra Pr Hindi BG 16-13-15
- Jitamitra Pr Hindi Comments - BG 16-13-16 - 2015-12-26 EOK
- Rasika Govinda Pr BG 16-13-15 Tamil - 2018-04-03
- Shubha Krishna Pr BG 16-13-15 Hindi
- VRP Bhakti Shastri - BG 16-13-18 - Ahmedabad
- BRasamritaSw BG 16-13-15 - 2020-05-09
- JAS BG 16-13 - 2006-12-09
- PrahladAnS BG 16-13-16 Slovenian Translation - Demonska narava - 2023-05-03 ISKCON Slovenia
- PrahladAnS BG 16-13-16 - Demons Nature - 2023-05-03 ISKCON Slovenia
- PrahladAnS BG 16-13-14 - 2016-08-15 ISKCON Slovenia
- Sukadeva Sw Telugu BG 16-13-16
- VedavyasaPSW BG 16-13-16 - 2013-08-05 Vrindavan
- SP BG 16-13-15 Hawaii 1975-02-08 Devotional and Demonic Desires
- SP BG 16-13-17 New Vrindavan 1976-06-28 Dishonesty Starts from Government
- SP BG 16-13 Hawaii 1975-02-08 Devotional and Demonic Desires
- SP Tamil Translation - BG 16-13 - Devotional and Demonic Desires - 1975-02-08 HAW
- MG BG 16-15 - 2003-06-01 Sydney
- Hear the demoniac inner monologue and recognize it.
- Don't pretend you've never heard it in yourself.
- Replace it with offering, sufficiency, humility.
- When did I last hear this monologue in me?
- What replacement script am I cultivating?
A man hoarding river water in clay pots, certain each pot makes him richer, certain the river itself was his idea. The pots crack, the water seeps back to the river, and still he counts the pots. The demoniac inner monologue is exactly this kind of bookkeeping.
After receiving Brahmā's boon making him almost unkillable, Hiraṇyakaśipu's speeches in the Bhāgavatam read almost like a paraphrase of this passage. He had subjugated the planets. He had taken the wealth of the demigods. He was the lord, the enjoyer, the one without rival. Sacrifices were now to be offered to him.
The seventh canto's narrative of his fall — torn open by Nṛsiṁha on the threshold of his own palace, neither inside nor outside, neither day nor night — is the most precise illustration of how this inner monologue ends.
When the Pāṇḍavas were in forest exile, Duryodhana arranged a grand procession to display his royal wealth before them — soldiers, elephants, gold — designed to wound. 'See what I have, see what you have lost.' Idam adya mayā labdham — 'this I have today.' Aham īśvaraḥ — 'I am the lord.'
The procession was attacked by Gandharvas; Duryodhana himself was captured and humiliated, and had to be rescued by the very Pāṇḍavas he meant to humiliate. The verse describes the script; the Mahābhārata supplies the staging.
My note
Source: vedabase.io