Bhagavad Gita

[Skull]

Minds & spiritual tendencies vary much between individuals, but chapter 16 is a good reliable guide for living. Over 5000 years ago Krishna tells his warrior disciple Arjuna what sorts of virtues to have and which vices to avoid. In short, the line between Divine & demonic humans is made clear.

Before the translation and commentary of Swami Yogananda begins, these are the subject headings plus a key thought:

CHAPTER XVI - EMBRACING THE DIVINE AND SHUNNING THE DEMONIC

The Soul Qualities That Make Man Godlike
The Nature and Fate of Souls Who Shun the Divine
The Threefold Gate of Hell
The Right Understanding of Scriptural Guidance for the Conduct of Life

[The sattvic] qualities are all divine attributes of God; they constitute man’s spiritual wealth. A Godseeker
should strive to obtain all of them. The more he manifests these virtues, the more he reflects the
true inner image of God in which he is made. He ever holds before his aspirations the criteria of the
Supreme Perfection. Christ said: ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’

 

[Skull]

The Blessed Lord said:
(1) Fearlessness, purity of heart, perseverance in acquiring wisdom and in practicing yoga,
charity, subjugation of the senses, performance of holy rites, study of the scriptures, self-discipline, straightforwardness;
(2) Noninjury, truthfulness, freedom from wrath, renunciation, peacefulness,
non-slanderousness, compassion for all creatures, absence of greed, gentleness, modesty, lack of restlessness;
(3) Radiance of character, forgiveness, patience, cleanness, freedom from hate, absence of
conceit—these qualities are the wealth of a divinely inclined person.

 

[Skull]

Part of Yogananda's comments on the first virtue:

Divine spokesmen always speak in absolutes, not to describe what is beyond the aspiring devotee, but as a
measure for striving. Chapter XVI cites the sattvic or good qualities that lead devotees to Self-realization,
and points out the tamasic or evil tendencies that unfit men to attain divinity. Stanzas 1–3 list twenty-six
ennobling qualities, as follows:

1. Fearlessness (abhayam) is mentioned first because it is the impregnable rock on which the house of
spiritual life must be erected. Fearlessness means faith in God: faith in His protection, His justice, His
wisdom, His mercy, His love, His omnipresence.

The spiritually intrepid devotee is mightily armed against any foe that obstructs advancement.
Disbelief and doubt, delusion’s first line of attack, are summarily routed by undaunted faith, as are desires
and all of their enticements that bluff with threats of unhappiness if not embraced.

Fear robs man of the indomitability of his soul. Disrupting Nature’s harmonious workings emanating
from the source of divine power within, fear causes physical, mental, and spiritual disturbances. Extreme
fright can even stop the heart and bring sudden death. Long-continued anxieties give rise to psychological
complexes and chronic nervousness.

Fear ties the mind and heart (feeling) to the external man, causing the consciousness to be identified
with mental or physical nervousness, thus keeping the soul concentrated on the ego, the body, and the
objects of fear. The devotee should discard all misgivings, realizing them to be stumbling blocks that
hinder his concentration on the imperturbable peace of the soul.

 

[Skull]

Earlier in chapter Nine, Krishna mentions those worldly folk hostile to spirituality. Swami Rama comments:

11. Only the foolish attribute to Me a lesser station when I assume human bodies—not knowing
My supreme aspect, which is the great Lord of all beings.
12. Of vain expectations, with vain actions, their knowledge in vain, devoid of wisdom, they have
resorted to the enticing, demonic, and evil nature.

When there is a great need the Lord assumes a human form to help human beings attain awareness of
the Supreme. In his human disguise the Lord seems to act like a human being, and ordinary people take
Him as such. They are unable to appreciate His divine qualities that express themselves in His human
form. Those who are confused and deluded do not understand and accept the presence of the Lord in a
human body. Even for the wise it is difficult to comprehend how the finite vessel carries the infinite
within, how the Lord can resort to a human body that moves about in this world. Many people disregard
Him, and some even despise Him. What He stands for threatens deluded people who are infatuated with
the objects and pleasures of the mundane world. They wish to cling to their values and attachments, so
they react venomously to any kind of teaching that puts forth a contrary way of living. Thus many of the
great teachers of the world who advocated non-attachment and love were assassinated by those who
frantically clung to the world. The worldly person stands for everything that is opposed to the bringers of
light, and the bringers of light stand in opposition to the values of the worldly person.

The royal power that resides in every human being is very subtle and invisible and cannot be
grasped by sense perception. That power is superior to all other powers. It dwells in every living
creature from the minutest to the largest. The ignorant do not recognize and acknowledge that power of
powers. In their deluded condition they despise the Lord by despising other human beings. But truth is
always victorious. Their longings and actions eventually prove to be in vain because they are attached
and resort to evil. They continue to act foolishly and wrongly, and thus create sorrow and misery for
themselves. They are finally brought down by their own actions.

It is a law of Providence that the ignorant eventually suffer because their actions are motivated by the
desire to fulfill their selfish ends. Selfishness contracts the human personality; it does not allow it to
expand. But the law of life is expansion, and one who learns to expand his individual consciousness to the
universal consciousness by being selfless and non-attached finds enjoyment in establishing himself in his
true nature, which is peace, happiness, and bliss.

 

[Skull]

This summary of chapter 16 by Swami Sivananda gives the valuable ideas it contains:

This discourse is important and very instructive to all persons who wish to attain happiness,
prosperity and blessedness, and to seekers in particular, who wish to attain success in their spiritual
life. Lord Krishna brings out quite clearly and unmistakably here the intimate connection between
ethics and spirituality, between a life of virtue and God-realisation and liberation. Listing two sets
of qualities of opposite kinds, the Lord classifies them as divine and demoniacal (undivine), and
urges us to eradicate the latter and cultivate the divine qualities.

What kind of nature should one develop? What conduct must one follow? What way should
one live and act if one must attain God and obtain divine bliss? These questions are answered with
perfect clarity and very definitely. The pure divine qualities are conducive to peace and liberation
and the undivine qualities lead to bondage. Purity, good conduct and truth are indispensable to
spiritual progress and even to an honourable life here.

Devoid of purity, good conduct and truth, and having no faith in God or a higher Reality
beyond this visible world, man degenerates into a two-legged beast of ugly character and cruel
actions, and sinks into darkness. Such a person becomes his own enemy and the destroyer of the
happiness of others as well as his own. Caught in countless desires and cravings, a slave of sensual
enjoyments and beset by a thousand cares, his life ultimately ends in misery and degradation.
Haughtiness, arrogance and egoism lead to this dire fate. Therefore, a wise person, desiring success,
must eradicate vice and cultivate virtue.

In this world three gates lead to hell—the gates of passion, anger and greed. Released from
these three qualities one can succeed in attaining salvation and reaching the highest goal, namely
God. Thus the sacred scriptures teach wisely the right path of pure, virtuous living. One should
therefore follow the injunctions of the sacred scriptures that wish his welfare and be guided in his
actions by their noble teachings.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

The pope would still withhold religious sanction.