असत्यम् अप्रतिष्ठं ते जगद् आहुर् अनीश्वरम् । अपरस्परसम्भूतं किम् अन्यत् कामहैतुकम् ॥
asatyam apratiṣṭhaṃ te jagad āhur anīśvaram | aparaspara-sambhūtaṃ kim anyat kāma-haitukam ||
The āsurī worldview: the world is unreal, groundless, Godless — produced only by matter-union and desire.
Word by word (3)
- asatyam apratiṣṭhaṃ te jagad āhur anīśvaram
- — they (te — the āsurī people) declare (āhuḥ) the world (jagat) to be without truth (asatyam), without foundation/support (apratiṣṭham), without a Lord/God (anīśvaram) — the nihilistic cosmological view
- aparaspara-sambhūtam
- — arisen from mutual union (aparaspara = of each other, paraspara = mutual; sambhūta = arisen) — the purely materialist account: world is only matter + matter
- kim anyat kāma-haitukam
- — what else (kim anyat) could it be except desire/lust as its cause (kāma-haitukam) — the reductionist conclusion: existence = material collision + sexual desire, nothing more
They declare: 'The universe is without truth, without any moral foundation, without God — produced merely by the union of male and female out of desire. What other cause could there be?'
A modern analogy
A navigator who says 'there are no stars, no north, no map' — only winds — will drift. The āsurī's worldview is this navigator: no transcendent reality, no dharma, no Īśvara. The result is that all actions are guided only by immediate desire. Without any north star, even capable people become dangerous.
V8 reveals the deep structure of the āsurī character: it is a cosmological position, not just bad behavior. The āsurī person holds a specific view of reality (asatyam, apratiṣṭham, anīśvaram) from which their behavior naturally follows. This is why V9 says they are 'ruined' — their actions flow from a flawed map of reality. The Gita treats the āsurī problem as primarily epistemological: wrong view → wrong action.
The three negations (asatya, apratiṣṭha, anīśvara) are a precise philosophical position: (1) no dharma or satya as ultimate reality, (2) no cosmic foundation/support (pratiṣṭhā — this word was used in Ch.14 V27 for Brahman as the foundation of all), (3) no Īśvara. This is the Cārvāka/Lokāyata materialist position of ancient India — pleasure-seeking is rational if existence has no transcendent ground.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
MISSING — SH Ch.16 V8 not indexed; Ganguli and Telang used as primary. [1]
They say, 'The universe is without truth, without a moral basis, without a God, brought about by mutual union, with lust for its cause; what else?' [4]
They say the universe is void of truth, without any support, without any God, brought about by mutual union, motivated by desire — what other cause is there? [9]
They say that the universe is void of truth, of guiding principle, produced by the union of one another from lust, and nothing else. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
One who abandons śāstra-vidhi to act from desire's impulse attains neither siddhi, nor sukha, nor the Supreme Goal.
Abandon all desires born of mental planning — without remainder — and restrain the senses completely, by the mind alone.
Three gates to hell, destructive of the self: kāma, krodha, lobha. Therefore abandon this triad.
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
Elaborate rituals for pleasure and power lead to rebirth — not liberation. The cycle continues.
Acting for reward is the lowest form of action. Seek the wisdom that transcends reward-seeking.