Adhyaya 16 : Daivăsura Sampad -
Vibhăga Yoga
In order to attain
unitive knowledge of the Absolute Brahman one must be freed from all kinds of
delusions arising out of ignorance. In previous Adhyaya this need was stressed time and
again. The 16th Adhyăya shows the way throwing discerning light on two types of
human manifestations,; one of divine and the other of demoniac. Discarding demoniac
tendencies one has to cultivate divine ones to become worthy of liberation. What is useful
and what is harmful for spiritual development, 16th Adhyăya is a major guide.
The Lord brings the discourse from
theoretical level to practical level that speaks about human behaviour. After acquiring
the discriminatory knowledge in spiritual matter it is very important to get that
knowledge reflected in seekers behaviour so that the dawn of the unitive experience
soon comes close to him.
The Lord straightaway begins describing the
virtues that form the wealth of the divine. They are twenty six in number, each one having
a distinct flavour.
1) Abhayam : The first and
the foremost is fearlessness The divinely born has no fear of death because he experiences
the same Ătman everywhere. He has no reason to be
afraid of anybody.
2) Sattvasamshuddhi : He has
purified his existence by burning the tendencies of rajas and tamas.
3) Dnyăn Yőga
vyavasthit : Making his mind steady he is devoted wholeheartedly to spiritual knowledge
and carries his duty with detached mind not expecting any fruit.
4) Dăn: His charity is to
assist the afflicted by all means, using his body mind and speech, irrespective of his
position.
5) Dama : He controls all
passions that create hurdles in spiritual development.
6) Yadnya : Surrendering his
ego and desires, he performs duties in the spirit of sacrifice.
7) Swadhyăya : He studies
spiritual lessons and meditates upon the name of God with intense desire to attain self
realisation.
8) Tapa : His penance is
to exploit body, mind and senses in the service of the Ătman
and to remain always awakened to the reality.
9) Ărjavam
: His polite and courteous treatment to all beings is due to his simplicity of heart.
10) Ahimsă : He is harmless
in true sense. He being non violent in nature, works for the happiness of the world using
his body, mind and speech in a positive way.
11) Satyam : He speaks the
truth which is pleasant, beneficial and full of good advice.
12) Akrődha : His mind
remains free from anger even in serious provocations.
13) Tyăga : His egoless
nature makes him to renounce all worldly desires and fruits.
14) Shănti : His
tranquillity is of highest nature where the knowledge, the known and the knower
gets fully merged into eternal peace.
15) Apaishunam : He is not
simply unmalicious but he corrects others mistakes and puts them on right path.
16) Dayă : His compassionate
heart is so great that not only he feels sorry over others catastrophe and pain but
also feels himself happy when others are happy.
17) Alőlupatvam : He is
not greedy.
18) Mardavam : He is
extremely gentle in his behaviour
19) Hri : He feels ashamed of his
identification with the gross body that puts him into the cycle of birth and death.
20) Achăpalam : His
determination is in controlling his mind, the life force and the senses. He remains
steadfast in all circumstances.
21) Teja : His strength is
spiritual and it is exhibited in his facing boldly all difficulties that obstruct his
devotion.
22) Kshamă : He forgives
and forgets all about it. He is also learned to great extent
23) Dhriti : He
courageously endures all troubles that come in the way of his spiritual progress.
24) Shoucham : His purity is
from within and without. His outward actions are clean and inward knowledge is pure. Thus
he gets purified internally and externally.
25) Adrőha : He is free from
hatred, so much so that he always cares for the wellbeing of all.
26) Nătimanită : He
abstains from esteeming himself as deserving honour from others although he really
deserves it.
Thus these twenty six virtues go into
making a divine nature. In contrast to this sublime picture of a godly man, the Lord draws
a dark picture of the men of demoniac qualities.
1) Dambha : His hypocrisy
makes him to talk about his virtues and goodness though in fact he does not possess them.
2) Darpa : He takes pride
in exhibiting his worldly eminence of learning, wealth, status etc.
3) Abhimăn : Out of his
arrogance he nourishes vanity
4) Krődha : Once his
desires are thwarted he becomes angry. He is also enraged seeing others prosper.
5) Părushya : His behaviour is
so insolent as if he vomits fire and breeds cruelty.
6) Adnyăn : The basic defect
with such a man is his lack of spiritual knowledge. His ignorance about the true nature of
things results into wrong judgements. Pwog Divine virtues lead to liberation and demoniac
qualifies bring bondage. The Lord compliments Arjuna for being born in divine nature.
Beings in this world are born in two
categories; one divine and the other demoniac. The Lord described the first in detail now
turns to the other.
The men of demoniac nature know neither the
path of activity nor the path of renunciation. In them, there is no purity, no rightful
conduct and no truth also.
They say that this world is unrealistic and
it has no support. It is godless and exists without any connection. They think that the
worlds only purpose is enjoyment. Firmly adopting this attitude, these men of small
intelligence, with their self lost, perform harmful and horrible deeds to ruin this world.
These persons getting under the sway of
hypocrisy, conceit and pride, attached to insatiable lust, adopting wrong approach due to
delusion work for impure ends.
Remaining in limitless worries till the end
of life; drowned in enjoyment, entangled in the net of hundreds of desires and always
attached to lust and anger, they are constantly busy in hoarding the wealth by unlawful
means for self - gratification.
" I have gained this today and I shall
achieve that desire tomorrow, this wealth is mine and that also will be mine. I have
killed this enemy to - day and I shall kill others tomorrow. I am the god, I am the
enjoyer. I am successful, I am powerful and happy. I am rich and I am born of high family.
Who else is there like me? I shall offer sacrifice, I shall give charity, I shall
rejoice." Blinded by ignorance the men of demonic nature boast in this fashion.
Getting confused by many thoughts,
entangled in the network of delusions, always attached to sensual pleasure, they fall in
the dirty hell.
Self - praising and impudent as they are,
getting intoxicated by the wealth and status they offer sacrifice for name sake only with
hypocrisy and without observing sacred rules.
Imbued with egoism, power, pride, lust and
anger they hate me getting critical about my presence in them as well as others.
These envious and cruel malignant creatures
of evil characters are always thrown by Me into the wombs of demoniac nature in this
material world.
Thus born into demoniac wombs, births after
births, these fools fail to reach Me and go on sinking into the lowest state.
After describing the demoniac nature in
various ways the Lord suggests the remedy for coming out of it. The Lord continues.
The hell has three gates, lust, anger and
greed that lead to the ruin of the Self, therefore, these three should be abandoned.
One who escapes these three gates of
darkness, carries out whatever is for the good of his self and reaches the highest goal at
last.
But he who discards the rules of the
scriptures and act according to his own impulses neither attains perfection nor happiness
nor the supreme goal.
The Lord in the end advises Arjuna to accept scriptures as
his true guide to decide what to do and v~ nut to do. By knowing the rules taught by
scriptures he has to act in this world. |