Sanskrit
कर्शयन्तः शरीरस्थं भूतग्राममचेतसः । मां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं तान्विद्ध्यासुरनिश्चयान् ॥
karśayantaḥ śarīrasthaṃ bhūtagrāmam acetasaḥ māṃ caivāntaḥśarīrasthaṃ tān viddhy āsuraniścayān
Translation
Unintelligent, tormenting the aggregated elements forming the body, and Me also, seated in the inner body, know these demoniacal in their resolves.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The verdict on verse 5’s self-glorifying ascetics: their austerity tortures not just their own body’s elements but Krishna himself, present as the antaḥśarīrastha — the one seated within the body — a phrase that echoes the indwelling-Self language of Chapter 15’s puruṣottama teaching. Calling their resolve āsura (demoniac) draws a direct line to Chapter 16’s āsurī-sampad catalogue; the point isn’t that self-discipline is suspect, it’s that discipline weaponised against one’s own body, done from vanity, is indistinguishable in its interior structure from cruelty. “They torture Me, dwelling within the body” — the same charge as BG 16.18. Punishing the body punishes the indwelling Self it houses. This is the Gita’s clearest rejection of mortification as a spiritual method: āsura-niścaya, “demonic in their resolve.””
Study deeper
Word by word
- karśayantaḥ śarīrasthaṃकर्शयन्तः शरीरस्थं
- emaciating [the group of elements] in the body (karśayantaḥ + śarīra-stham)
- bhūtagrāmam acetasaḥभूतग्रामं अचेतसः
- the host of elements, the mindless (bhūta-grāmam + acetasaḥ)
- māṃ caivāntaḥśarīrasthaṃमां चैवान्तःशरीरस्थं
- and Me, dwelling within the body (mām + ca + eva + antaḥ-śarīra-stham)
- tān viddhy āsuraniścayānतान् विद्ध्य् आसुरनिश्चयान्
- know them to be of demonic resolve (tān + viddhi + āsura-niścayān)
Commentary
Site Commentary
The argument’s real force is in where it locates the victim: not somewhere external, not society or reputation, but “Me also, seated in the inner body.” Self-torture is often defended as a private matter — your own body, your own choice — and this verse simply refuses to grant that anything done to the body stays private, because something not fully yours to abuse lives there too.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
Apply this verse
Lessons
Personal
- When you justify pushing yourself past reasonable limits by calling it 'my own business, my own body,' remember that self-harm is never as contained as it feels — it has effects on your capacity, your relationships, and your future self that were never only yours to spend.
Professional
- When someone on your team defends unsustainable overwork as 'my own choice, my own hours,' push back on the private-matter framing — burnout has downstream effects on the team and the work that were never actually contained to one person's private decision.
Family & Social
- If someone close to you frames self-neglect as none of your business because it's 'their own body,' you can gently note that the people who love them are already implicated — the harm was never as private as the framing suggests.
Ask yourself
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