Chapter 16The Divine and the Demoniac Natures DefinedVerse 11, 12

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Anvaya

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Commentaries of the Four Authorized Vaisnava Sampradayas

as confirmed in the Garga Samhita Canto 10, Chapter 61, Verses 23, 24, 25, 26
Rudra Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Visnuswami

Sridhara Swami's Commentary

The demoniac who are excessively greedy take on gargantuan undertakings in pursuing and increasing their avarice and power. Yet they are always full of anxiety and under pressure to maintain what they have gained and are filled with immense anxiety and constant worry which they carry with them to their very graves at the time of death. Lord Krishna explains that infatuated by illusion the demoniac incessantly pursue the objects of the senses foolishly thinking that this is the main goal of existence and that there is nothing else of more value. So to have the ability to fully exploit all forms of sense gratification the demoniac manipulate themselves surreptitiously into all areas of power and contrive to the utmost to control by deceptive, dishonest and despicable means as much wealth as possible. Such devious depravity is the demoniacs own undoing and they themselves are deceived and cheated by maya the illusory energy which makes them think what is false is real. Hence the demoniac shackle and bind themselves by their innumerable desires which enslaves them by their own expectations propelled by lust and greed. As the aphorism from sage Brihaspati states: Sensual enjoyment is detriment of men who consider the physical body the self, oblivious of the fact that the physical body is endowed with the atma or immortal soul.

Brahma Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Madhvacarya

Madhvacarya's Commentary

Sri Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Ramanuja

Ramanuja's Commentary

Although death is waiting patiently for their demise at any moment; to carry them off to hellish worlds of great suffering; Lord Krishna explains that the demoniac are so involved in the deception of their material manipulations for planetary power and control of planetary wealth which they amass to the maximum that they become oblivious to the existence of a higher reality. The demoniac are deceived in the vastness of their own schemes and undertakings which consumes all of their time as they are constantly endeavouring to keep their power intact. Simultaneously the demoniac are pursuing their lusts for sense gratification with full power imagining that it constitutes the apex of success as the highest ambition of all existence. The demoniac are so completely deluded that they believe that enjoying the objects of the senses is the final goal of all hopes and dreams with no conception more advanced than this. In this way they deceive and fully shackle themselves in bondage by the illusion of their own hopes and expectations which keeps them bound inexorably in perdition.

Kumara Vaisnava Sampradaya:


Nimbaditya

Kesava Kasmiri's Commentary

The demoniac constantly besiege themselves with insatiable desires that are very difficult to accomplish and then maintain. They are always harassed by expectations of success and worried about the threat of failure without discerningly considering the uncertainty of life and calculating the reality that death may come at any moment. The constant pursuit of power and wealth in order to enjoy unrestricted sense gratification is for them the only goal in material existence. They are absolutely convinced that there is nothing superior then the joy of sensual pleasure even if enjoyed over and over and over again without cessation. Hence the demoniac mentality itself holds the demoniac tightly in bondage by the innumerable expectations they harbour from the innumerable desires they are always hankering for as a result of extreme lust and greed. So Lord Krishna has clearly defined the characteristics of the demoniac who by deceptive, dishonest and despicable means surreptitiously manipulate themselves into positions of power and control and deliberately contrive by vile and unrighteous means to usurp the divine order and destroy creation.

Thus ends commentaries of chapter 16, verse 11, 12 of the Srimad Bhagavad-Gita.

Verse 11, 12


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