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CHAPTER
16: THE YOGA DISCRIMINATING THE QUALITIES OF THE ENLIGHTENED AND THE
UNLIGHTENED
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About the
qualities of the divine and the godless
(1-3) The Supreme
Lord said: 'Fearless, good of heart, persevering in the knowledge of
yoga, compassionate, of restraint, willing to sacrifice, studious,
austere and simple; non-violent, truthful, free from anger, renounced,
peaceful, unmalicious, merciful to all, without greed, gentle, modest
and determined; arduous, forgiving, steadfast, clean, without envy and
not striving for honor, are the qualities of one who is born of the
divine. (4)
Deceit, pride, conceit and anger and surely violence and ignorance are
the qualities that are the consequence of the unenlightened, o son of
Prtha. (5) The divine
characteristics are of liberation while the qualities of the godless
result from bondage. Do not worry, o son of Pându, as your life
is the consequence of transcendental wealth.
(6) There are two types of conditioned beings in
this world: the godly and indeed the unenlightened. About the divine I
spoke at length; just hear about the godless from Me. (7) The disorderly ones do not know how to begin
or where to stop, they are unclean, do not know to behave and have no
truth in them. (8)
They say that the universe does not really have a purpose, that it has
no ruler, that it did not come into existence from a certain cause and
that there is no other cause than that of lust. (9) Less intelligent, having lost themselves
being complacent with this outlook, do the less favorable activities
flourish and does their work lead to the unfortunate of destroying the
planet. (10)
Confiding in lusts that are insatiable, in hypocrisy, arrogance and
driven by false pride, one, led by illusion, takes to the non-permanent
of material things and thrives in dedication to the impure. (11-12) Their fears and anxieties are endless and to
the point of death they trust in sense-gratification as the supreme
goal of life. Thus in this way they ascertain themselves of being bound
to the lust and anger, entangled in a network of expectations and of
that mentality they, for the enjoyment of their senses, desire to
accumulate wealth by unfair means.
(13-15) 'Today I have won this and that I shall get; this is what
Ì want, that is mine and tomorrow I will even have more of it.
That enemy I beated today and those I shall destroy too. For sure I am
the Lord. I am the enjoyer, the perfection and I am the happy one to be
in power. I am the wealthy one of noble company, I am the one and only,
who would there be else but me; I shall sacrifice and give in charity,
I am the one to be happy'; this is how they are deluded by their
ignorance. (16)
Thus perplexed by countless worries they are caught in a pool of
illusions and addicted to sensual pleasure they slide down into a hell
of disarray. (17)
Blasé, shameless of their wealth and imagined they in the full
of their delusion engage in so-called sacrifices which they perform out
of pride with no regard for rules and regulations. (18) Materially identified in their pride,
strength, lust and anger they enviously fell into mocking Me being
situated in themselves and in others.
(19) Those who are
envious and mischievous with Me I always cast into the ocean of matter
as the lowest of mankind who for sure inauspiciously are born from the
wombs of the degenerates. (20)
Life after life the foolish, thus attaining to births from the godless,
for sure will have to do without Me, o son of Kuntî, as they head
for the worst destinations. (21) In this selfdestruction there are three
gates of hell: lust, anger and greed. Therefore one must give up these
three. (22)
Liberated from these three gates of ignorance, o son of Kuntî, is
a person in respect with the soul and blessed with that does he go for
the supreme destination. (23)
The one who gives up on the regulations of the scriptures will be
acting according his own whims and never attain perfection, happiness
or the goal of the transcendent. (24) Therefore is it the scriptural authority
that determines what should and should not be done. Knowing the
regulations declared by the scripture, you should do your duty here.'
Spoken by Anand Aadhar Prabhu
to the text offered below