इदम् अद्य मया लब्धम् इमं प्राप्स्ये मनोरथम् । इदम् अस्तीदम् अपि मे भविष्यति पुनर् धनम् ॥
idam adya mayā labdham imaṃ prāpsye manoratham | idam astīdam api me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam ||
The ego-monologue: 'I gained this today. I'll get that next. This is mine — and more wealth will be mine too.'
Word by word (3)
- idam adya mayā labdham
- — this (idam) has been obtained (labdham) by me (mayā) today (adya) — the present-moment claim of the ego-monologue
- imaṃ prāpsye manoratham
- — this desire/wish (manoratham = mind's chariot/wish) I shall attain (prāpsye) — the future fantasy rolling forward
- idam astīdam api me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam
- — this is mine (idam asti) — and this wealth (dhanam) shall also be mine (me bhaviṣyati) again/additionally (punar) — the possessive expansion: what I have + what I'll gain
'This I have gained today; this desire I shall fulfill; this is mine, and this wealth also shall be mine additionally in the future.'
A modern analogy
V13-15 are the inner monologue of an ego at its most naked. Like a child's claim 'mine, mine, mine!' — except in an adult with power, this becomes the worldview of a tyrant. Each 'I gained, I'll get, mine, more' is a chain-link forging the āśā-pāśa (hope-noose) of V12.
V13-15 form a sustained inner soliloquy — the Gita's most vivid interior monologue, allowing the reader to hear the āsurī ego speak in first person. V13 is the acquisition phase (past + future); V14 is the power phase (enemies, lordship); V15 is the status phase (wealth, birth, sacrifice). Together they reveal the complete ego-structure: having → taking → being. This is the inside view of the āsurī sarga.
The repeated 'mama' (mine) and 'mayā' (by me) in V13-15 is the Gita's portrait of ahaṃkāra in its most extreme form. What Sāṃkhya calls ahaṃkāra (I-maker) is here shown in its fully possessive mode: the entire universe is re-mapped around the 'I' as subject and 'mine' as predicate. This is the philosophical opposite of the karma-yogin's 'not mine' (nir-mama) orientation.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
This today has been gained by me; this desire I shall attain; this is mine, and this wealth also shall be mine in future. [1]
This today has been gained by me; this desire I shall obtain; this is mine, and this wealth also shall be mine in future. [4]
This has been obtained by me today; that desire I shall gain; this is mine, and this wealth shall also be mine in the future. [9]
This today has been acquired by me; this desire I shall fulfil; this is mine, and this wealth also shall be mine. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
The ego-apex: 'I am rich, well-born — who equals me? I'll sacrifice, give, rejoice.' — all deluded by ajñāna.
Self-complacent, stubborn, wealth-proud — they perform name-only sacrifices, ostentatiously ignoring śāstric ordinance.
Approach the teacher with prostration, inquiry, and service. The knowers of truth will instruct you in jñāna.
Driven by insatiable kāma, hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, gripping false notions through moha — impure resolves.
They torture their body's elements AND Me who dwell within — know these fools to be of āsurī resolve.
Sat means: being/reality, goodness/virtue, and praiseworthy action — three registers of the one word.