Sanskrit
आत्मसंभाविताः स्तब्धा धनमानमदान्विताः । यजन्ते नामयज्ञैस्ते दम्भेनाविधिपूर्वकम् ॥
ātmasaṃbhāvitāḥ stabdhā dhanamānamadānvitāḥ yajante nāmayajñais te dambhenāvidhipūrvakam
Translation
Self-glorifying, stubborn, filled with the pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform lip-sacrifices for ostentation, contrary to scriptural ordinance.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Ritual reappears here, but hollowed out: “nāma-yajñaiḥ” — sacrifices in name only — performed “dambhena,” for ostentation, and “avidhipūrvakam,” contrary to scriptural procedure. The target isn’t sacrifice itself but its capture by vanity — people stubborn and intoxicated with wealth using a genuinely religious form to display status rather than to mean anything by it. This anticipates the concern that opens Chapter 17 directly: if the problem here is ritual performed for the wrong reasons, what about ritual abandoned but performed with real faith — is that better or worse than what’s described in this verse? Nāma-yajña — “sacrifice that is only a name” — done dambhena, for show, and avidhi-pūrvakam, without the proper form. The demonic type performs the outward act with none of the inner offering; chapter 17 will grade this as tāmasa or rājasa sacrifice.
Study deeper
Word by word
- ātmasaṃbhāvitāḥ stabdhāआत्मसंभाविताः स्तब्धा
- self-important, unbending (ātma-saṃbhāvitāḥ + stabdhāḥ)
- dhanamānamadānvitāḥधनमानमदान्विताः
- full of the pride and intoxication of wealth (dhana-māna-mada-anvitāḥ)
- yajante nāmayajñais teयजन्ते नामयज्ञैस् ते
- they sacrifice in name only (yajante + nāma-yajñaiḥ + te)
- dambhenāvidhipūrvakamदंभेनाविधिपूर्वकं
- by display, against the rule (dambhena + avidhi-pūrvakam)
Commentary
Site Commentary
Stabdha — stiff, rigid, immovable — sits right next to the wealth-intoxication in this verse, and it’s arguably the more important word: a ritual can only transform someone willing to be moved by it, and this describes people who have already decided nothing can touch them. The ostentation is a symptom; the deeper problem is a closed, fixed disposition that would make even a technically correct ritual inert.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- If a practice you've kept up — meditation, journaling, review — has stopped changing anything in you, check whether you've become too rigid and self-assured to actually be moved by it. This verse suggests the failure often traces back to a closed disposition, not just wrong motive or bad form.
Professional
- If a team keeps going through the motions of retros or check-ins without anything actually changing afterward, look for a rigid, defensive posture underneath the process rather than blaming the process itself — this verse locates the real problem in an unmovable disposition, not a broken ritual.
Family & Social
- If a family tradition or regular check-in with someone close to you has stopped meaning anything, consider whether one of you has become too fixed and defensive to actually be affected by it — the form can be perfectly intact while the openness required to be moved by it has quietly gone missing.
Ask yourself
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