Main Points of the Discourse:
- The qualities of Divine nature. (1-3)
- The qualities of Demonical nature. (4)
- The fruit of two opposed natures. (5)
- The qualities of man of demonical nature and the destruction that comes to them. (6-29)
- The gateways to Hell. (21)
- The laws of the Sastras, the violation of the Sastric laws and the Lords’s instruction to accept the Sastras. (22-24)
Verses 1 to 24
- The Lord said: Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in knowledge and yoga, alms-giving, control of the senses, sacrifice, study of the Sastras, austerity, and straightforwardness. Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to beings, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, and absence of fickleness. Energy, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, and absence of over-pride, (these qualities) belong to one born of a divine state. (16.1-16.3)
- O Arjuna! Pretension, pride, self-conceit, anger, harshness, and ignorance belong to those who are born with demonical nature. (16.4)
- The divine treasures are said to be for the purpose of liberation, and the heritage of the demons, for bondage. Grieve not, Ο Pāndava; you are born with divine treasures. (16.5)
- There are two types of beings created in this world: the divine and the demoniac. The divine have been described at length. Hear now from Me, Ο Pārtha, concerning the demoniac. (16.6)
- Men of demoniac nature know not what to do and what to refrain from doing. Purity is not in them, nor good conduct, nor truth. (16.7)
- They say: “The world is devoid of truth, without a moral basis, and without a God. It is brought about by the union of male and female, and lust alone is its cause: what else?” (16.8)
- Holding such a view, these lost souls of little understanding and fierce deeds rise as the enemies of the world for its destruction. (16.9)
- Giving themselves up to insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride, and arrogance, they hold false views through delusion and act with impure resolve. (16.10)
- And they- (men of demonical nature) held by boundless desires unending till death (or dissolution of the world), thinking of sensual enjoyments as the goal of life, decided that there is nothing more to realise, bound by the cords of innumerable desires, prompted by passion and anger, – seek for wealth by unrighteous means to satisfy their thirst for enjoyment. (16.11-16.12)
- “This I have gained today, and that longing I will fulfil. This wealth is mine, and that also shall be mine in future; “That enemy I have slain, and others, too, I will slay. I am the lord of all; I enjoy; I am prosperous, mighty, and happy; “I am rich; I am of high birth. Who else is equal to me? I will offer sacrifice, I will give, I will rejoice.” Thus, deluded by ignorance, Bewildered by many fancies, entangled in the meshes of delusion, addicted to the gratification of lust, they fall into a loathsome hell. (16.13-16.16)
- Self-honoured, haughty, filled with the pride and the intoxication of wealth, they ostentatiously perform sacrifices, which are so only in name, in utter disregard of precepts. Possessed of egotism, power, and pride, and also of lust and wrath, these people, envious by nature, hate Me in the bodies of others and in their own. (16.17-16.18))
- These cruel haters, these evil-doers, these vilest of men, I hurl always into the wombs of the demons in the cycle of births and deaths. (16.19)
- Having fallen into the wombs of the demons and being deluded from birth to birth, they never attain Me, Ο son of Kunti, but go farther down to the lowest state. (16.20)
- Three are the gateways of this hell leading to the ruin of the self— lust, wrath, and greed. Therefore let man renounce these three. (16.21)
- The man who has escaped these three gates of darkness, Ο son of Kunti, practises what is good for himself and thus attains the Supreme Goal. (16.22)
- He who discards the injunctions of the scriptures and acts upon the impulse of desire attains neither perfection nor happiness nor the Supreme Goal. (16.23)
- Therefore let the scriptures be your authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having learnt the injunctions of the scriptures, you should do your work in the world. (16.24)