Chapter XVI · Śloka 14
असौ मया हतः शत्रुर्हनिष्ये चापरानपि ।
ईश्वरोऽहमहं भोगी सिद्धोऽहं बलवान्सुखी ॥
ईश्वरोऽहमहं भोगी सिद्धोऽहं बलवान्सुखी ॥
asau mayā hataḥ śatrur haniṣye cāparān api |
īśvaro 'ham ahaṃ bhogī siddho 'ham balavān sukhī ||
īśvaro 'ham ahaṃ bhogī siddho 'ham balavān sukhī ||
'That enemy has been slain by me, and I shall slay others too. I am the lord, I am the enjoyer, I am successful, I am powerful, I am happy' —
The monologue shifts from possession to power: the demoniac imagines himself lord (Īśvara), a title that belongs to the divine alone. The staccato self-declarations — seven aham-compounds — dramatise the ego's inflation to cosmic proportions.