Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding evil ideas through delusion, they work with impure resolves.
In simple words
Krishna continues: "Filled with desires that can never be satisfied, full of pretense, pride, and arrogance, holding onto poisonous ideas, they pursue their goals with impure intentions."
Word-by-word meanings
कामम्desireआश्रित्यabiding inदुष्पूरम्insatiableदम्भमानमदान्विताःfull of hypocrisy pride and,arroganceमोहात्through delusionगृहीत्वाhaving heldअसद्ग्राहान्evil ideasप्रवर्तन्तेthey workअशुचिव्रताःwith impure resolves
16.10 कामम् desire? आश्रित्य abiding in? दुष्पूरम् insatiable? दम्भमानमदान्विताः full of hypocrisy? pride and,arrogance? मोहात् through delusion? गृहीत्वा having held? असद्ग्राहान् evil ideas? प्रवर्तन्ते they work? अशुचिव्रताः with impure resolves.Commentary These soulless malevolent persons perform cruel and sinful actions. Their minds are saturated with vanity? conceit and arrogance. They entertain in their minds unholy resolves and unreasonable ideas. They harbour insatiable desires in their hearts. Just as a monkey becomes more and more intoxicated if wine if given to it? so also the older they grow the more and more arrogant and lustful do they become. They cause the ruin and death of those around them. They boast of their own actions and treat others with great contempt. They are very much attached to their bodies. They worship their bodies. Their passion is boundless. They are stupid and obstinate and so they have no firm determination.Desire is insatiable like fire. Enjoyment cannot bring about satisfaction of the desires. The more you enjoy? the stronger does the desire become. After an object is enjoyed? there springs up a desire to continue the enjoyment for ever. You take recourse to all sorts of devices to preserve the objects.Although a man is not righteous he pretends to be a man of righteousness. This is hypocrisy. Although a man is not worthy of being honoured? he claims to be so. This is Mana (pride). There is false dignity. Although a man does not possess great things he superimposes them on himself. This is Mada.These Asuras make impure resolves. I will worship such and such a deity by repeating such and such a Mantra and get hold of such and such a woman. I will repeat such and such a Mantra and kill such and such a man.
Contemporary scholarly and practical interpretations for modern seekers.
This interpretation draws on a specific tradition and may not represent the view of any single school. For authoritative guidance within a specific tradition, seek a qualified teacher.
Modern
With what pride does a purely materialistic person move about in the sphere of his accomplishments? The terrible distortion of his inner nature cannot be expressed more aptly than through this description given by Vyasa. To obtain a clearer and more complete portrayal of the mental state of the demonic person and the level of his actions in society, we would need to search through all existing literature in every language of the world. Yet even then, we would fail to find a depiction equal to this pregnant verse.
Desire-driven actions cannot occur without the impulse of desires. Without desires, life's achievements are impossible. Yet to remain prey to cravings means to become a terrible instrument of action that continuously vomits the poison of ego and ego-centered emotional turmoil into the world. To sustain life merely for the satisfaction of desires is a mark of lack of discernment, for desire possesses this peculiar quality: as we satisfy it, it doubles. They are difficult to fulfill; they are insatiable. When a person possessed of such desires employs his discernment and capability, it is natural that he creates disorder and mismanagement both within his mind and in the external world.
What is desire? The living being's effort to attain eternal happiness and contentment through the enjoyment of objects is desire itself. When he becomes deluded in this way, he also becomes prey to arrogance, intoxication, and pride. Tormented by these, he remains in constant struggle and toil to satisfy his unbridled desires.
From delusion: In the mind of a person who is complete and satisfied, desire cannot exist. Only he who does not know his infinite nature and regards himself merely as a limited being can have desire for objects. This is what is called delusion.
The character of the minds of demonic people is completed in the second line of this verse. They are called here as impure in conduct. This means that people of such demonic nature do not regard other people as having any importance whatsoever in their effort to secure their own happiness and peace by any means. Casting aside all life's ideal values, they remain shameless, intolerant, and even cruel in their field of action. That person, maddened by lust and devoid of feeling through selfishness, acts like a madman in the world, spreading blood and acid all around, bringing only calamity and destruction.
From the individual perspective, this picture shows us a hedonistic person who builds his life upon the restless waves of a mind disturbed by desire. From the collective perspective, this same word-picture reveals to us the condition of materialistic masses and nations. The beauty of life depends upon the beauty of that knowledge of truth upon which life is built. If the foundation itself is unreal, the house of cards built upon it cannot be very sturdy. If we could view this verse with subtle perception, we would understand that it contains a complete analysis of the economic disintegration, social defects, political upheaval, and unrest being experienced everywhere in today's world.
Through the above description, Lord Sri Krishna is indirectly portraying a materialistic person who is atheistic in nature and performs actions only for enjoyment. Are we not proving ourselves in this very age of materialism to be in accordance with the description given? The Lord continues to speak.