In this chapter Lord Krishna describes the divine, the good and the virtuous attributes, and the demonic, the malevolent and the evil attributes; and the result of those attributes; He goes on to describe the demonic attributes in detail. He speaks of the three gates to hell : desire, anger and greed and that we must avoid them at all costs. He further says that to determine our duty, to determine what we must do, and what we must not do, we must always rely on the authority of the scriptures.
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Lord Krishna says : Listen Partha, in this world two kinds of beings are born; those with good and virtuous qualities, the divine natured, and those with malevolent, evil qualities, the demon natured.
The qualities of the divine natured ones are : fearlessness, purity of mind, balanced application of the yoga of action and of knowledge, charity, self control, performing sacrifices, study of the scriptures, austerity and honesty, non violence, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, peace, not finding fault in others, compassion, absence of greed, sweetness of disposition, tenderness, honour, steadfastness, forgiveness, vigour, patience and fortitude, purity and absence of hatred, envy and arrogance.
In the demon natured people, the attributes of conceit, showing off, pride, excessive arrogance, harshness, cruelty, and hypocrisy are specially seen, and they dominate.
The divine qualities lead to salvation, while the demonic qualities lead to bondage. You need not worry or fear, Partha, because you are born with divine qualities.
The divine qualities have been told in detail, now hear about the people with demonic traits.
People with demonic qualities neither know the path of action nor that of renunciation. There is no purity in them, no good conduct, nor is truth found in them.
They believe that the world is false, that it has no basis, and it has no God. They say the world has not originated from God, but is only the result of lust and desire.
Firmly adopting this point of view, these people of low intelligence and little understanding, are always ready to commit violence to bring about the destruction of the world.
In the grip of unquenchable lust and desire, and full of conceit, hypocrisy, pride and excessive arrogance, on account of foolishness, and adopting a false point of view, they do work with impure resolves and with evil intentions.
They remain burdened with countless worries, which worries would end only with their death. They consider the fulfillment of their desires as the highest goal, considering this as everything, and hold that there is nothing beyond this.
Entangled in the web of hundreds of desires, in the grip of anger and lust, for the fulfillment of their desires, and to amass wealth and property, they adopt wrong and unlawful means.
The person of demonic nature thinks : " I have acquired this today, this desire too, I will fulfill today itself . This is mine today, and in future, more wealth and property will also be mine. This enemy has been slain by me today, and other enemies will also be slain by me as well. I am wealthy and I am high born. Who is there to equal me? I will sacrifice, I will give charity, I will enjoy bliss, " because of ignorance and delusion, they speak such words.
Because of their thoughts, stuck in the web of ignorance and foolishness, and focused only on fulfilling their desires, they fall into foul, impure hell.
In the grip of arrogance, might, pride, lust and anger, these hateful people despise Me dwelling in them as well as in others.
These irreligious, harsh, cruel, and hateful doers of evil deeds, I consign to births in the lower levels of existence and keep them in this cycle of birth and death.
Stuck in the evil, demonic births, these foolish people, even after endless births and deaths, do not reach Me, but fall deeper still into the lower regions of hell.
There are three gates which take the soul towards the destruction of hell : desire, anger and greed. One should avoid them at all costs.
Whosoever is able to avoid these three gateways, who is able to steer clear of them, he becomes free from desire, anger and greed, and then he does only those actions which are good and beneficial for the soul, and because of these, he attains salvation.
But he who rejects the teachings, the tenets, the and rules of the Scriptures and acts only according to his desires, he neither gets realization, nor does he get happiness, nor does he get salvation.
Therefore, Partha, to determine what is to be done and what is not to be done, always rely on and accept, the authority of the Scriptures, and do all your actions, do all your works, and do all your duties according to the rules prescribed in the Scriptures.
End of Chapter Sixteen
OM SHANTI SHANTI SHANTI OM
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