Chapter 16 · Verse 11

Yoga through Discerning the Divine and Demoniac Natures

चिन्तामपरिमेयां च प्रलयान्तामुपाश्रिताः।कामोपभोगपरमा एतावदिति निश्िचताः

chintām aparimeyāṁ cha pralayāntām upāśhritāḥ kāmopabhoga-paramā etāvad iti niśhchitāḥ

Word Meanings

chintām aparimeyām cha pralaya-antām upāśhritāḥ kāma-upabhoga paramāḥ etāvat iti niśhchitāḥ

Translation

Burdened with countless anxieties that end only with death, regarding the gratification of desires as life's highest aim, and convinced that this is all there is.

Commentary

चिन्ताम् cares? अपरिमेयाम् immeasurable? च and? प्रलयान्तम् ending only with death? उपाश्रिताः refuged in? कामोपभोगपरमाः regarding gratification of lust as their highest aim? एतावत् that is all? इति thus? निश्चिताः feeling sure.Commentary They are beset with immense cares? worries and anxieties and their minds are engrossed in aciring and preserving the countless sensual objects. They have got the strong conviction that the sensual enjoyment is the highest end of a man. They are steeped in enjoying the objects of the senses. They firmly believe that that is everything. They believe that sensual enjoyment is the supreme source of happiness and there is no such thing as eternal bliss of the soul or transcendental bliss of the Self. They have no belief in the happiness in another world (or plane) or in the perennial bliss which is independent of sensual objects? which is beyond the reach of the senses. They have a dull and gross intellect? and so they cannot grasp the subtle higher truth. Sensual enjoyment is the greatest object of attainment for them.