Shrimad Bhagavad Gita - Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Shree Bhagavan said: Fearlessness, purity of mind from being based in the knowledge and yoga; charity, restraint, sacrifice, self-study of the Vedas, austerity and sincerity. (1)

Non-violence, truthfulness, absence of anger, renunciation, peacefulness, restraint from fault-finding, compassion towards all living beings, absence of greed and envy, gentleness, modesty, lack of fickleness. (2)

Brilliance, forgiveness, patience, cleanliness & purity, bearing enmity towards none, modesty & humility; these are the qualities of those who are divinely endowed; O Arjuna, the scion of Bharata. (3)

And O Arjuna (O Partha, the son of Pritha); hypocrisy, arrogance, conceit and anger, harshness and certainly ignorance are qualities of those who possess demoniac nature. (4)

Divine qualities lead towards liberation and the demoniac qualities are considered to lead to bondage; do not grieve, O Arjuna (O Pandava, the son of Pandu); as you are born with saintly qualities. (5)

There are only two creations of beings in this universe, the divine and the demoniac; have described at great length the divine; O Arjuna (O Partha, the son of Pritha); hear from me the demoniac. (6)

Those persons possessing demoniac nature do not comprehend proper actions and improper actions and neither purity, nor conduct and not even truthfulness exist in them. (7)

They say the world is untrue, without any basis, without a God; randomly created; what else than but because of the cause of sexual desire. (8)

Holding such views; the misdirected souls of those with small intellect, lead to cruel actions, harming the interest of the world. (9)

Resorting to insatiable lust, which is difficult to fulfill, intoxicated with hypocrisy, pride and arrogance; deluded by material nature they move forward with impure resolve. (10)

Saying that gratification of desires is the purpose of life with complete assurance; they resort to immeasurable anxiety, taking refuge in it until death. (11)

Bound by hundreds of ropes of hope, they are devoted to lust and anger; they strive to accumulate wealth by unjust means for the sake of enjoyment of the desires. (12)

This I desire is gained by me today; this is mine, again also I shall acquire wealth in the future. (13)

That enemy has been destroyed by me and I shall destroy the others too. I am the God, I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, I am powerful, I am happy. (14)

I am recognized to be wealthy-rich and well-off, and who else is like me? I will give sacrifice as alms, thus rejoices deluded by ignorance. (15)

They led astray by delusion with many imaginings, like enveloped in a mesh; addicted to gratification of sensuous pleasures, descend to dark gloomy hell. (16)

Intoxicated with arrogance, pride, wealth; stunned by self-conceit; they perform sacrifices to showoff for namesake only, with no regards to the rules of the scriptures. (17)

With their dependence on egotism, strength, arrogance, desire and anger; poisoned with the needles of fear, they hate ME, the soul within the body. (18)

These hateful, cruel and the worst of men in the world; I hurl them again & again into the inauspicious demonic wombs. (19)

Ignorant, taking the demoniac womb birth after birth; failing to attain ME, O Arjuna, the son of Kunti; they then go to the worst destination. (20)

This is the threefold gate of hell, the destruction of the self; lust, anger and greed; therefore, one should abandon these three. (21)

By these, O Arjuna, the son of Kunti; a person is liberated from the three gates of darkness; a soul with good endeavors then attains the supreme destination. (22)

Those who disregarding the scriptural guidance, live under the impulse of desire; neither do they attain perfection, nor happiness, nor the supreme goal. (23)

Therefore, the scriptures provide the guidance for the actions to be done and those that are forbidden actions; having understood the scriptures, you should perform actions in this world as revealed by the scriptures. (24)