BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:17

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:17

 

atma-sambhavitah stabdha

dhana-mana-madanvitah

yajante nama-yajnais te

dambhenavidhi-purvakam

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

atma-sambhavitah--self-complacent; stabdhah--impudent; dhana-mana--of

wealth and false prestige; mada--in the delusion; anvitah--absorbed;

yajante--they perform sacrifice; nama--in name only; yajnaih--with

sacrifices; te--they; dambhena--out of pride; avidhi-purvakam--without

following any rules and regulations.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Self-complacent and always impudent, deluded by wealth and false

prestige, they sometimes proudly perform sacrifices in name only,

without following any rules or regulations.

 

PURPORT

 

Thinking themselves all in all, not caring for any authority or

scripture, the demoniac sometimes perform so-called religious or

sacrificial rites. And since they do not believe in authority, they

are very impudent. This is due to illusion caused by accumulating some

wealth and false prestige. Sometimes such demons take up the role of

preacher, mislead the people, and become known as religious reformers

or as incarnations of God. They make a show of performing sacrifices,

or they worship the demigods, or manufacture their own God. Common men

advertise them as God and worship them, and by the foolish they are

considered advanced in the principles of religion, or in the

principles of spiritual knowledge. They take the dress of the

renounced order of life and engage in all nonsense in that dress.

Actually there are so many restrictions for one who has renounced this

world. The demons, however, do not care for such restrictions. They

think that whatever path one can create is one's own path; there is no

such thing as a standard path one has to follow. The word

avidhi-purvakam, meaning a disregard for the rules and regulations, is

especially stressed here. These things are always due to ignorance and

illusion.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.