Srimad Bhagavad-Gita Chapter-16. Slokam-17. Daiva-asura-sampad-vibhaga-yogam

 

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Saturday, May 15, 2021. 08:39.PM.
Srimad Bhagavad-Gita
Chapter-16.  Daiva-asura-sampad-vibhaga-yogam 
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Slokam-17 :

atma-sambhavitah stabdha dhana-mana-madanvitah

yajante nama-yajnais te dambhenavidhi-purvakam

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Translation : of Slokam

BG 16.17: Such self-conceited and stubborn people, full of pride and arrogant in their wealth, perform ostentatious sacrifices in name only, with no regard to the rules of the scriptures.

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Translation by words :

ātma-sambhāvitāḥ—self-conceited;

stabdhāḥ—stubborn; 

dhana—wealth; 

māna—pride; 

mada—arrogance; 

anvitāḥ—full of; yajante—perform sacrifice; 

nāma—in name only; 

yajñaiḥ—sacrifices; te—they; 

dambhena—ostentatiously; 

avidhi-pūrvakam—with no regards to the rules of the scriptures

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Commentary :

Virtuous people perform sacrifice to purify the self and to please God. The travesty is that demoniac people also perform sacrifices, but with an impure intent. They do grandiose ritualistic ceremonies so as to look pious in the eyes of society. But they do not adhere to the injunctions of the scriptures, and instead perform sacrifices for personal advertisement and pretentious display. However, the injunction of the scriptures is: gūhitasya bhaved vṛiddhiḥ kīrtitasya bhavet kṣhayaḥ (Mahabharat)[v11] “If we advertise a good deed we have done, its merit decreases; if we keep it secret, its merit multiplies.” In this verse, Shree Krishna dismisses the ritualistic ceremonies of the demoniac by saying that they are incorrectly performed.

Lord Krishna describes telltale signs and characteristics of the demoniac.

Sambhavitah means conceited, self aggrandizing. The demoniac flatter themselves.

Stabdah means impertinent, pompous. Thinking they are the better than all others.

Dhana-mana-mada-anvizah means inebriated and puffed up by wealth, bloodlines, etc.

Avidhi-purvakam means the demoniac do pseudo rituals condemned by the Vedas.

The pseudo-rituals enacted by the demoniac are nothing more then pretentious exhibitions of ostentatious decadence regardless of the opulence they are always void of devotion to the Supreme Lord and are performed contrary to the injunctions and ordinances of the Vedic scriptures.

As Lord Krishna has explained previously the demoniac also deceptively imitate the righteous by performing ostentatious rituals so as to look pious in the eyes of society. 

The demoniac are never motivated by pure intentions in sattva guna the mode of goodness. 

They are praised only by those of duplicitous mentalities like themselves but they are never acknowledged by devotees of the Supreme Lord no matter how opulent or pompous their sacrifices may be conducted. 

The demoniac are belligerent, haughty, vain, impertinent, pompous and arrogant all due to their possessing great wealth and exercising the power and control that great wealth can manipulate. 

The perverted rituals the demoniac execute are always performed in opposition to all that is righteous totally disregarding the ordinances and injunctions prescribed Vedic procedures and devoid of any recognition to the Supreme Lord. 

The ostentatious rituals that the demoniac orchestrate for public consumption are only pretentious displays of piety and pompous exhibitions to show off how much wealth they can possess.

Lord Krishna reveals that whatever ritualistic ceremonies the demoniac execute is nothing more than a pretentious display of self-conceit. 

They make a big show so the public will think that they are pious. 

Their active engagement looks on the outside as if it is correct but it is never attuned to devotion unto the Supreme Lord neither does it adhere to the ordinances of the Vedic scriptures. 

This is inferred and made clear by the descriptive adjectives such as sambhavitah or conceited and stabdhah or pompous. 

The demoniac possessing arrogance and impertinence due to intoxication of wealth make superficial rituals without faith and void of righteousness only for deceiving the public into regarding them as pious and not due to any spiritual pusuits.

To be continued  ...

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