Bhagavad Gita 16.12
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः । ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान् ॥
āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ īhante kāma-bhogārtham anyāyenārtha-sañcayān
Translation
Bound by a hundred cords of hope, given over to lust and anger, they seek to amass wealth by unjust means for the enjoyment of desires.
Reflection
Name one goal you can hold loosely enough this week that your means stay clean.
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Sixteen
Hope, the asuri kind, ties not frees. Shata-asha-pasha: a hundred cords of expectation strung through the future. Each cord pulls the present toward a wanted outcome and away from what is. Kama-krodha-parayanah: lust and anger as twin engines, the second always behind the first when the first is blocked. Anyayena artha-sanchayan: wealth gathered by unjust means for the sake of desire-enjoyment. Notice the order. Hope-cords pull. Lust and anger drive. Means drop out of consideration. The end justifies because the end is felt as inevitable. The corrective is not abandoning desire but loosening the cords. Hold a goal lightly enough that the means can stay clean. Tighten the grip and the means corrupt.