BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:16

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 16:16

 

aneka-citta-vibhranta

moha-jala-samavrtah

prasaktah kama-bhogesu

patanti narake 'sucau

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

aneka--numerous; citta--by anxieties; vibhrantah--perplexed; moha--of

illusions; jala--by a network; samavrtah--surrounded;

prasaktah--attached; kama-bhogesu--to sense gratification;

patanti--they glide down; narake--into hell; asucau--unclean.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Thus perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of

illusions, they become too strongly attached to sense enjoyment and

fall down into hell.

 

PURPORT

 

The demoniac man knows no limit to his desire to acquire money. That

is unlimited. He thinks only of how much assessment he has just now

and schemes to engage that stock of wealth further and further. For

that reason, he does not hesitate to act in any sinful way and so

deals in the black market for illegal gratification. He is enamored by

the possessions he has already, such as land, family, house and bank

balance, and he is always planning to improve them. He believes in his

own strength, and he does not know that whatever he is gaining is due

to his past good deeds. He is given an opportunity to accumulate such

things, but he has no conception of past causes. He simply thinks that

all his mass of wealth is due to his own endeavor. A demoniac person

believes in the strength of his personal work, not in the law of

karma. According to the law of karma, a man takes his birth in a high

family, or becomes rich, or very well educated, or very beautiful

because of good work in the past. The demoniac think that all these

things are accidental and due to the strength of one's personal

ability. They do not sense any arrangement behind all the varieties of

people, beauty and education. Anyone who comes into competition with

such a demoniac man is his enemy. There are many demoniac people, and

each is enemy to the others. This enmity becomes more and more

deep--between persons, then between families, then between societies,

and at last between nations. Therefore there is constant strife, war

and enmity all over the world.

 

Each demoniac person thinks that he can live at the sacrifice of all

others. Generally, a demoniac person thinks of himself as the Supreme

God, and a demoniac preacher tells his followers: "Why are you seeking

God elsewhere? You are all yourselves God! Whatever you like, you can

do. Don't believe in God. Throw away God. God is dead." These are the

demoniac's preachings.

 

Although the demoniac person sees others equally rich and influential,

or even more so, he thinks that no one is richer than he and that no

one is more influential than he. As far as promotion to the higher

planetary system is concerned, he does not believe in performing

yajnas, or sacrifices. Demons think that they will manufacture their

own process of yajna and prepare some machine by which they will be

able to reach any higher planet. The best example of such a demoniac

man was Ravana. He offered a program to the people by which he would

prepare a staircase so that anyone could reach the heavenly planets

without performing sacrifices, such as are prescribed in the Vedas.

Similarly, in the present age such demoniac men are striving to reach

the higher planetary systems by mechanical arrangements. These are

examples of bewilderment. The result is that, without their knowledge,

they are gliding toward hell. Here the Sanskrit word moha-jala is very

significant. Jala means "net"; like fish caught in a net, they have no

way to come out.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.