Sanskrit
आढ्योऽभिजनवानस्मि कोऽन्योऽस्ति सदृशो मया । यक्ष्ये दास्यामि मोदिष्य इत्यज्ञानविमोहिताः ॥
āḍhyo 'bhijanavān asmi ko 'nyo 'sti sadṛśo mayā yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣya ity ajñānavimohitāḥ
Translation
"I am wealthy, well-born; what other is there that is like unto me? I will sacrifice, I will give alms, I will rejoice." Thus deluded by unwisdom,
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The monologue concludes with status-counting — wealth, high birth, “who else is there like me” — before pivoting to a trio of ritual verbs: I will sacrifice, I will give, I will rejoice. The irony is that these are genuinely religious and ethical acts (yajña, dāna) being recruited into a purely self-congratulatory register; the text isn’t objecting to sacrifice or charity here, only to performing them as trophies. “Thus deluded by ajñāna” closes the interior monologue and hands it back to third-person narration for the consequence that follows. Even the demonic type’s sacrifice and giving are folded into the monologue — yakṣye, dāsyāmi, “I shall sacrifice, I shall give” — as further proofs of superiority. BG 16.17 calls these nāma-yajña, sacrifice in name only, “by display.””
Study deeper
Word by word
- āḍhyo 'bhijanavān asmiआढ्यो ऽभिजनवान् अस्मि
- 'I am rich and high-born (āḍhyaḥ + abhijanavān + asmi)
- ko 'nyo 'sti sadṛśo mayāको ऽन्यो ऽस्ति सदृशो मया
- who else is there like me? (kaḥ + anyaḥ + asti + sadṛśaḥ + mayā)
- yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣyaयक्ष्ये दास्यामि मोदिष्य
- I shall sacrifice, I shall give, I shall rejoice' (yakṣye + dāsyāmi + modiṣye)
- ity ajñānavimohitāḥइत्य् अज्ञानविमोहिताः
- thus deluded by ignorance (iti + ajñāna-vimohitāḥ)
Commentary
Site Commentary
“Who else is there like me” is grammatically a question but functions as a door closing, not opening — unlike Arjuna’s genuine questions to Krishna elsewhere in the text, this one isn’t actually seeking an answer; it’s structured so that no name could possibly be supplied. The whole chapter’s demonic monologue turns out to contain exactly one piece of interrogative grammar, and it’s the least genuinely open moment in it.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- Notice when a question you ask yourself or others is actually a closed door dressed as an inquiry — 'who else could do this as well as I can' rarely wants an answer. A genuine question stays open to being answered differently than you expect; this verse shows what it looks like when one doesn't.
Professional
- When a colleague poses a rhetorical question in a meeting that isn't actually inviting disagreement — 'who else has the track record I do' — recognize it for what it is: closed, not open. Contrast it deliberately with a real question, one where a different answer would actually be welcome.
Family & Social
- If you catch yourself asking a loved one a question that isn't really open to their answer — 'who understands you better than I do' — notice that you've made a rhetorical move, not started a conversation. This verse shows exactly that pattern, worth catching before it becomes a habit.
Ask yourself
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