Chapter 16: Deva Asura Sampad Vibhag Yoga; The Divine and Demoniac Natures

Maa Radha Madanmohan sharanam!

Maa Bhagavad Gita sharanam!

Verse 16.1,2&3: Dear Arjuna, following are the qualities of a saintly person possessing the divine nature - fearlessness, pureness of body, mind, and intellect,  abide by jnana yoga (spiritual wisdom), charity, control senses, mind, and intellect, perform duties as a sacrifice, study vedanta, austerity, simplicity; non-violence in thought, word and deed, truthfulness, absence of anger even in provocation, absence of feeling of doer, peace, abstain from fault finding, compassion for all living beings, freedom from greed and material attachment, gentleness, modesty, not frivolous; spiritual radiance, forgiveness, courage, cleanliness of body, mind and intellect, freedom from envy and enmity, and no desire for honor.

Verse 16.4: Qualities of a person with demoniac nature are following - hypocrisy, arrogance, self-admiration, harshness and ignorance of spiritual wisdom.

Verse 16.5: The divine nature/qualities lead to liberation, whereas the demoniac nature leads to bondage. Dear Arjuna, you should not worry as you possess divine qualities.

Verse 16.18: Overwhelmed by ego, strength, pride, material/selfish desires, and anger, the demoniac people do not believe in atman (soul) and Paramatma (Supersoul), who are situated in their and others bodies; and they also despise them.

Verse 16.21: Material/selfish desires, anger, and greed - these three are the gates of hell. They bring down the downfall of jiva atma (soul), therefore one should give-up all these three.

Verse 16.22: Dear Arjuna, a person who avoids these three gates of hell, and acts with divine qualities for self-realization, gradually attains his eternal divine nature of sat-chit-ananda (divine truth-consciousness-happiness) and the Divine world.

Verse 16.23: One who discards teachings of the Shastras (scriptures) and acts according to his own sweet will, does not attain perfection, peace, happiness, and his divine nature.

Verse 16.24: Therefore teachings of the Shastras (scriptures) should be our guide to determine what should be done and what should not be done. When one acts according to the Shastras, he will gradually be liberated.

Maa Bhagavad Gita sharanam!

Shri Hari ॐ sharanam!