Chapter 16Verse 18 of 24

Bhagavad Gita 16.18

अहङ्कारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं च संश्रिताः । मामात्मपरदेहेषु प्रद्विषन्तोऽभ्यसूयकाः ॥

ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ ca saṁśritāḥ mām ātma-para-deheṣu pradviṣanto 'bhyasūyakāḥ

Translation

Given over to egoism, force, arrogance, lust, and anger, these malignant ones hate Me in their own and others' bodies.

Five drivers named in series. Ahankara: the manufactured I. Bala: force in service of self. Darpa: swollen pride. Kama: hungering wanting. Krodha: fire when wanting is blocked. Now the strike. Mam atma-para-deheshu pradvishanto abhyasuyakah: hating me in their own bodies and in the bodies of others. The hatred lands on the indweller, the antaryami, who is the same in self and in other. To strike at another body is to strike at the same presence one rejects in self. Krishna says this plainly. The asuri turn is at root self-rejection projected outward. Recognize this and the diagnosis of the asuri other softens, because the asuri other is the same condition seen from outside.

Reflection

Toward whom does aversion run strongest, and what rejected piece of yourself might that aversion mirror?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Sixteen

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