Gita Satsangh Chapter 16 Verses 5 through 7

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Dandavat pranams to all!

 

 

Tasmaat shaastram pramaanam te kaaryaakaaryavyavasthitau; Jnaatwaa shaastravidhaanoktam karma kartumihaarhasi. Therefore, let the scripture be the authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, thou shouldst act here in this world. (BG 16.24)

Gita Satsangh Chapter 16 Verses 5 through 7To listen to Swami Brahmanananda of the Chinmaya Mission chanting this Chapter...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B50lu0Oilak & feature=related

Daivee sampadvimokshaaya nibandhaayaasuree mataa; Maa shuchah sampadam daiveem abhijaato’si paandava.

5. The divine nature is deemed for liberation and the demoniacal for bondage. Grieve not, O Arjuna, for thou art born with divine properties!

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

The consequences of these natures are being stated: 5. The divine nature is the Liberation, the demoniacal is considered to be for inevitable bondage. Do not grieve, O son of Pandu! You are destined to have the divine nature. That which is daivi, divine; sampad, nature; is vimoksaya, for Liberation from the bondage of the world. The asuri, demoniacal nature; mata, is considered to be; nibandhaya, for inevitable bondage. So also is the fiendish nature. Now, when such a statement was made, the Lord, noticing Arjuna having this kind of inner cogitation-'Am I endowed with the demoniacal nature, or am I endowed with the divine nature?'-, says: ma, do not; sacah, grieve, O son of Pandu! Asi, you are; abhijatah, destined to have, born with the good fortune of having; daivim, the divine; sampadam, nature; i.e., you are destined for an illustrious future. Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

5. The divine nature is deemed for liberation, the demoniacal for bondage; grieve not, O Pandava, you are born with divine qualities. On hearing such an exhaustive enumeration of the qualities in the good and the bad hearts, it will be natural for every sincere student of the Geeta to feel a despair not knowing whether he himself belongs to the latter or the former category. Generally, one would find it easier to consider oneself bad rather than feel the confidence that one belongs to the good. Arjuna must have felt the same despair and, perhaps, reading this in his face, Krishna consoled him: "GRIEVE NOT, O PANDAVA! YOU ARE BORN OF THE DIVINE ESTATE." That a seeker has the necessary interest and perseverance to read the Geeta up to this chapter, itself shows that he belongs to the 'DIVINELY-GOOD' category! Both the ethical beauties and the non-ethical ugliness are painted here not for the purpose of sending the good to an eternal heaven and of damning the vicious to a perpetual hell! Here, the theme is taken up on a more scientific basis. Ethical virtues are the intelligent ways of reviving man's exhausted energies and fatigued spirit to live. By living these healthy values of a righteous life, the individual unshackles his psychological personality from its self-made entanglements: "THE DIVINE ESTATE LEADS TO RELEASE." As a contrast to this, the negative tendencies cultivated by the 'Diabolically Fallen' are self-made shackles that chain a man to a realm of confusions and sorrows, forbidding him to grow into the ampler fields of his own inner possibility: "THE DEVILISH TO BONDAGE." GRIEVE NOT (Maa shuchah) --- To become sentimental and desperate or to exhaust oneself in self-pity, or self-condemnation, is a psychological malady, and one suffering from it can never discover in oneself, the energising cheer, the sustaining confidence, and the steady will that are required for an intelligent self-diagnosis and an effective self-cure. To a seeker, living the ethical values is, in itself, a kind of treatment to cure him of some of his personality-diseases. To the Hindus, a sinner is not a dangerous mental leper, or a failure of the Omnipotent Lord. To a Vedantin, Satan is not a perpetual challenge to God. The good, contaminated by weakness and 'ignorance,' is the evil. And the evil, when cured of 'ignorance,' itself becomes the good. A looking glass covered with dust, cannot reflect light, and mirror properly the objects in front of it. This is not because the glass has lost its capacity to reflect, but because its effectiveness has got veiled at present by the accumulated dust, which is essentially something other than the glass. To wipe it clean is to bring forth from it more clarity and light for the reflection. A 'Diabolically Fallen' one has also the same Infinite Light of Pure Wisdom --- but alas, extremely dimmed by false values and wrong concepts in his bosom. TAKING UP THE 'DIABOLICALLY FALLEN,' KRISHNA SCIENTIFICALLY ANALYSES THEIR MENTAL CONTENTS, AND THEY ARE SEPARATELY OBSERVED AND STUDIED IN THE FOLLOWING STANZAS: Dwau bhootasargau loke’smin daiva aasura eva cha; Daivo vistarashah proktah aasuram paartha me shrinu. 6. There are two types of beings in this world—the divine and the demoniacal; the divine has been described at length; hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the demoniacal! Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

6. In this world there are are two (kinds of) creation of beings: the divine and the demoniacal. The divine has been spoken of elaborately. Hear about the demoniacal from Me, O son of Prtha. Dvau, two, in number; are the (kinds of) bhuta-sargau, creation of beings, of men. Sarga is derived from srj in the sense of that which is created. The persons themselves, who are created with the natures of gods and demons, are being spoken of as 'two creations of beings', which accords with the Upanisadic text, 'There were two classes of Prajapati's sons, the gods and the demons' (Br. 1.3.1). For, asmin, in this; loke, world, all (persons) can rationally be divided into two classes. Which are those two creations of beings? The answer is, the two are the daiva, divine; eva ca, and; the asura, the demoniacal which are being discussed. The Lord speaks of the need of restating the two that have been already referred to: Daivah, the divine creation of beings; proktah, has been spoken of; vistarasah, elaborately-in, 'Fearlessness, purity of mind,' etc. (1-3). But the demoniacal has not been spoken of in extenso. Hence, O son of Prtha, srnu, hear of, understand; the asuram, demoniacal; me, from Me, from My speech which is being uttered in detail, so that this may be avoided. Up to the end of the chapter the demoniacal nature is being presented as the qualities of creatures; for, when this is directly perceived, it becomes possible to eschew it:Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

 

6. There are two types of beings, in this world, the 'divine' and the 'demoniacal; ' the divine have been described at length; hear from Me, O Partha, of the demoniacal. According to Krishna the entire creation falls under two categories: the 'Divinely Good' (Daivic) and the 'Diabolically Fallen' (Asuric). But in fact, there is yet another group, the 'Incorrigibly Indifferent' (Rakshasic) about whom the Lord is serenely silent. This silence regarding them is perhaps more eloquent than all his eloquence regarding the other two groups! Religions and the techniques of self-development are addressed only to the former two groups and not to the Rakshasic type of men. They have not yet sufficiently grown in their evolution; they are still in the hands of the moulding Nature and they have yet to be properly baked in the furnace-of-life and its scorching experiences. As they grow up sufficiently, they come under the category of the "Diabolically Fallen," and religion can come forward to lift them to the status of the "Divinely Good." From then onwards it can show them the way to experience and realise the Absolute Goodness which is the Eternal Reality. If all about the Asura type was given in a broad sketch earlier, (XVI-4) the details are being filled in elaborately in the following stanzas. In almost all religious text-books of the world, the positive qualities of goodness and righteousness are glorified. But they rarely paint, exhaustively, the negative tendencies in a devilish personality. Some critics of Hinduism are jubilant in discovering this tendency in our scriptural texts as a great weakness in our prophets and seers. This criticism against Hinduism was levelled mainly by the critics of the nineteenth century. They are very silent nowadays because of the results of the twentieth century psychological researches and the success of some of the psychiatric methods. To become poignantly aware of the negative tendencies in one's own personality-structure, and to become consciously disgusted with those vulgar urges, are the ways of easily eradicating such wrong tendencies from one's inner nature. Be aware of a weakness; it readily disappears from our character --- says the modern psychiatrist. The bad is not merely an opposite of the good. It can never be that the good has certain urges and the bad has another type of urges. Human urges are always typical, and both the good and the bad are expressions of man's heart. Bad is only "GOOD MISCONSTRUED." Therefore, in the enumeration of the qualities of the bad, we do not have to meet with a sapless list of the opposites of the previous enumeration which pointed the good. As we discover the contents of the bad mind, we shall discover that they are all the very same as those of the good, but mis-applied under a wrong enthusiasm created as a result of some false evaluations. Virtue, poisoned with ignorance is evil; evil, treated and cured of its poison, when it regains its health, becomes virtue. THUS THE VERY FIRST STANZA WHICH PAINTS THE ASURIC TYPE OPENS, AS IT WERE, WITH AN APOLOGY FOR THE 'DIABOLICALLY FALLEN,' ALONG WITH A POWERFUL SUGGESTION ELICITING OUR MOST TENDER KINDNESS TOWARDS THEM:

 

Pravrittim cha nivrittim cha janaa na viduraasuraah; Na shaucham naapi chaachaaro na satyam teshu vidyate. 7. The demoniacal know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity nor right conduct nor truth is found in them.

Sankara Bhashya (Swami Gambiranda's Translation and Commentary)

 

 

7. Neither do the demoniacal persons under-stand what is to be done and what is not to be done; nor does purity, or even good conduct or truthfulness exist in them. Na, niether; do the asurah, demoniacal; janah, persons; viduh, understand; pravritim, what is to be done with regard to that which is a means to the human ends; and nivirttim, what is not to be done, the opposite of that (former) and from which source of evil one should desist. Nor only do they not know what is to be done and what is not to be done, na, nor; does saucam, purity; na api, or even; acarah, good conduct; or satyam, truthfulness; vidyate, exist; tesu, in them. The demons are verily bereft of purity and good conduct; they are deceitful and given to speaking lies. Swami Chinmayananda's Translation and Commentary

 

7. The demoniac know not what to do and what to refrain from; neither purity, nor right conduct, nor truth is found in them.WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO REFRAIN FROM --- The men of Asuric nature know not either 'action' or 'inaction.' Here 'action' means any intelligent piece of work undertaken and pursued with a right motive so as to gain for ourselves a better inner satisfaction. Religious acts, selfless work and dedicated service are all examples of right actions whereby the individual gains not only immediate profits, but also the ultimate inner heightening of culture; for he will then be working without losing sight of his Higher Goal. 'Inaction' here means forbidding ourselves from striving in the right channels, and that can bring about only restlessness for ourselves and for others. The list enumerating the negative tendencies of the 'fallen' starts with the idea of 'ignorance.' This is very significant. If any one commits a crime in 'ignorance,' though justice may not accept it as an excuse, the heart of the society will readily discover a tender forgiveness for the erring soul. NEITHER PURITY NOR RIGHT CONDUCT NOR TRUTH IS FOUND IN THEM --- Outer cleanliness is, to a large measure, a reflection of the inner condition. A disciplined man with education and culture alone can, in fact, maintain a systematic order and cleanliness around him. One who is incapable of deciding the actions to be pursued as well as those to be avoided by him, has no harmony within; and therefore, there is no inner purity, or outer cleanliness (shaucha), for such an individual. If the mind is indisciplined there cannot be a decent, and well-regulated life, since outward behaviour (Achara) is nothing but an expression of the mind. Therefore, Krishna indicates that in them good conduct is conspicuous by its absence. He who is confused about 'action' and 'inaction,' who has no purity, or external cleanliness, and who fails in good conduct, cannot maintain TRUTHFULNESS in his words. All through, if you read these terms very carefully in the spirit in which the Divine Charioteer has given them out you will find in them a divine tenderness for such 'Diabolically Fallen' folks. There is no revengefulness for the sinner anywhere, even hinted at, in the entire length of the Geeta. It is a logical conclusion that such a man must necessarily be untruthful in words, not because he is deliberately pursuing dishonesty, but because by temperament he is incapacitated to be honest. MOREOVER:

 

to be continued...

 

Hare Krishna!!!