Sanskrit
आशापाशशतैर्बद्धाः कामक्रोधपरायणाः । ईहन्ते कामभोगार्थमन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान् ॥
āśāpāśaśatair baddhāḥ kāmakrodhaparāyaṇāḥ īhante kāmabhogārtham anyāyenārthasañcayān
Translation
Held in bondage by a hundred ties of expectation, given over to lust and anger, they strive to obtain by unlawful means hoards of wealth for sensual enjoyments.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Hope itself becomes a trap in this verse — “bound by a hundred cords of expectation” — which inverts the usual association of hope with freedom or forward motion. Bound to desire and anger, they pursue wealth “anyāyena,” by unjust means, explicitly for sensual consumption; the text is naming an economic vice here, not just a private psychological one, tying acquisitiveness to injustice rather than treating wealth itself as the problem. This is a useful corrective to a common misreading of the Gita as simply anti-wealth — the critique is aimed at the means and the motive, not possession as such. Āśā-pāśa-śata — “a hundred nooses of hope” — is the image: not freely choosing but tied, dragged by expectations. And anyāyena, “by unjust means” — the demonic type’s relation to others is instrumental, a source of artha to be extracted.
Study deeper
Word by word
- āśāpāśaśatair baddhāḥआशापाशशतैः बद्धाः
- bound by a hundred cords of hope (āśā-pāśa-śataiḥ + baddhāḥ)
- kāmakrodhaparāyaṇāḥकामक्रोधपरायणाः
- given over to desire and anger (kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ)
- īhante kāmabhogārthamईहन्ते कामभोगार्थं
- they strive, for enjoyment of desires (īhante + kāma-bhoga-artham)
- anyāyenārthasañcayānअन्यायेनार्थसञ्चयान्
- [to amass] wealth by unjust means (anyāyena + artha-sañcayān)
Commentary
Site Commentary
It’s worth pausing on “a hundred cords of expectation” rather than reading past it as a stock metaphor — the number implies quantity is itself part of the problem, not just direction. This isn’t a critique of hope in general (the Gita elsewhere assumes hope for liberation is entirely legitimate); it’s a critique of hope that has multiplied past any single, namable object into an unlimited, compounding set of claims on the future.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice the difference between hoping for one specific thing and having accumulated a sprawling, uncountable list of things you're waiting to acquire — this verse's image of a hundred cords targets the second. A single clear hope can motivate you; a hundred vague ones tend to just bind you.
Professional
- When a team's roadmap has quietly grown into dozens of simultaneous 'must-haves,' recognize the pattern this verse warns about — not ambition itself, but ambition that has multiplied past any single, achievable target into an unlimited set of claims on future capacity.
Family & Social
- If your expectations of someone close to you have multiplied into a long, uncountable list rather than one or two clear hopes, that accumulation itself — not any single expectation — is likely what's straining the relationship. This verse's image of a hundred cords is about quantity, not just content.
Ask yourself
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