16.12
Chapter 16, Verse 12
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः। ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान्৷৷
āśāpāśaśatairbaddhāḥ kāmakrōdhaparāyaṇāḥ. īhantē kāmabhōgārthamanyāyēnārthasañcayān৷৷
Translation
Caught in the toils of a hundred vain hopes, the slaves of passion and wrath, they accumulate hoards of unjust wealth, only to pander to their sensual desire.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
आशापाशशतैः by a hundred ties of hope, बद्धाः bound, कामक्रोधपरायणाः given over to lust and anger, ईहन्ते (they) strive (to attain), कामभोगार्थम् for sensual enjoyment, अन्यायेन by unlawful means, अर्थसञ्चयान् hoards of wealth. Commentary: They murder people and rob them of their wealth in order to have sensual enjoyments. They amass wealth for sensepleasure only, but not for doing righteous actions. They have no mercy. They are very cruel. They are held in bondage by a hundred ties of expectation. They harbour in their hearts a craving for all kinds of sensual objects. Various sorts of desires crop up in their mind. When their desires are not gratified they become furious. They acire wealth by unjust means. Hope or expectation binds a man to the wheel of Samsara.,Therefore hope is likened to a cord or a rope. There is no end to their cravings. Though they possess enormous wealth their cravings are not appeased. They multiply daily. These people become hopeless victims of greed.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.