Commentary on the Bhagavadgita : 39 - Swami Krishnananda.

 ========================================================================

=======================================================================

Thursday, June 09, 2022. 21:00.

Discourse 45: The Sixteenth Chapter Concludes – "What is Proper and What is Improper in Our Life : 

POST-39.

=======================================================================

BG-ch-16. Slo-20.

"Asurim yonimapanna mudha janmani janmani

mamaprapyaiva kaunteya tato yantyadhamam gatim."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Translation of the slokam :

Entering into demoniacal wombs, and deluded, not attaining to Me, birth after birth, they thus fall, O Kaunteya, into a condition still lower than that.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Words Meaning :

asurim = demoniac; 

yonim = species; 

apannah = gaining;

mudhah = the foolish; 

janmani janmani = in birth after birth;

mam = Me; 

aprapya = without achieving; 

eva = certainly; 

kaunteya = O son of Kunti; 

tatah = thereafter; 

yanti = go; 

adhamam = condemned; 

gatim = destination.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Commentary

Apannah, being born, having acquired; (births) asurim, among the demoniacal; yonim, species; janmani janmani, in births after births; the mudhah, fools, non-discriminating ones; being born in every birth into species in which tamas prevails, and going downwards, aprapya eva, without ever reaching, approaching; mam, Me, who am God; O son of Kunti, yanti, they attain; gatim, conditions; tatah adhamam, lower even than that. Since there is not the least possibility of attaining Me, what is implied by saying, ‘without ever reachin Me’, is, ‘by not attaining the virtuous path enjoined by Me.’ This is being stated as a summary of all the demoniacal qualities. The triplet-under which are comprehended all the different demoniacal qualities though they are infinite in number, (and) by the avoidance of which (three) they (all the demaniacal qualities) become rejected, and which is the root of all evils- is being stated:

Asurim yonim apann (16.20): These unfortunate souls that enter into the wombs of asuras—that is to say, totally undivine characters—may run into cycles of transmigratory life again and again, endlessly, as it were, and may lose hope of redemption for an endless period of time.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As we know very well, the way to hell, the gate to hell, is mentioned here as threefold, as reference to it was made in the Third Chapter. Kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇa samudbhavaḥ, mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhyenam iha vairiṇam (3.37) : If you have any enemy in this world, your enemy is your instinct to like and dislike, passion and anger. 

Trividhaṁ narakasyedaṁ dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ (16.21): The self-destructive ways to hell, the gates to hell, are kama, krodha and lobha: greed, insatiable desire, and anger. The one automatically leads to the other. When there is desire, the other two automatically follow.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The tendency to grab appurtenances from the world as much as possible, and never being satisfied with any kind of possession or any amount of possession, is greed. Anger, of course, is retaliation in respect of any hindrance to the fulfilment of desires. And desire is well known to us. Etat trayaṁ tyajet: Therefore, we must very meticulously avoid these three traits—kama, krodha and lobha—in human nature, because these are the gateways to hell. Dvāraṁ nāśanam ātmanaḥ: They destroy the self, as it were, and hurl the individual into subhuman realms.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Etair vimuktaḥ kaunteya tamodvārais tribhir naraḥ, ācaratyātmanaḥ śreyas tato yāti parāṁ gatim (16.22): Freed from these three kinds of traits—kama, krodha and lobha—one works for one's own welfare with proper understanding of the way of conducting oneself in life for attaining the spiritual goal. 

One begins to realise and keep in mind what is actually one's welfare. Most people do not know what is good for them. They have a blindfolded vision of things, a distorted vision of things, which makes them believe in things which are really not enduring, and doubt the existence of things which are really there. But here a person who is free from these qualities of kama, krodha and lobha will be automatically purified in nature, and this purified mind will reflect within itself the aspiration necessary for the attainment of the great goal of life. Tato yati param gatim: Automatically one reaches the Supreme State.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vartate kāmakārataḥ (16.23) : One should not act according to one's own whim and fancy. 

We should not do things merely because they occur to us. There are certain norms that have been set forth by ancient Masters, who recorded their experiences and their impressions in texts called Shastras—such as the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, the Smrtis. These Shastras give us a norm of conduct and behaviour prescribed in the light of the ultimate aim of life. Shastras, or scriptures, lay down the necessity to place oneself in a harmonious state of affairs in the context of dharma, artha, kama and moksha.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To be continued ....

=========================================================================