Bg. 16.6

BG 16.6

Devanagari

द्वौ भूतसर्गौ लोकेऽस्मिन्दैव आसुर एव च । दैवो विस्तरश: प्रोक्त आसुरं पार्थ मे श‍ृणु ॥ ६ ॥

Verse text

dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin daiva āsura eva ca daivo vistaraśaḥ prokta āsuraṁ pārtha me śṛṇu

Synonyms

dvau two ; bhūta-sargau created living beings ; loke in the world ; asmin this ; daivaḥ godly ; āsuraḥ demoniac ; eva certainly ; ca and ; daivaḥ the divine ; vistaraśaḥ at great length ; proktaḥ said ; āsuram the demoniac ; pārtha O son of Pṛthā ; me from Me ; śṛṇu just hear.

Translation

O son of Pṛthā, in this world there are two kinds of created beings. One is called divine and the other demoniac. I have already explained to you at length the divine qualities. Now hear from Me of the demoniac.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

6. There are two types of created beings in this world— the divine and demonic. I have described the divine at length. Hear from Me about the demonic, O son of Pṛthā.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

6. There are two types of created beings in this world—the divine and demonic. I have described the divine at length. Hear from Me about the demonic, O son of Pṛthā.

Purport

Lord Kṛṣṇa, having assured Arjuna that he was born with the divine qualities, is now describing the demoniac way. The conditioned living entities are divided into two classes in this world. Those who are born with divine qualities follow a regulated life; that is to say they abide by the injunctions in scriptures and by the authorities. One should perform duties in the light of authoritative scripture. This mentality is called divine. One who does not follow the regulative principles as they are laid down in the scriptures and who acts according to his whims is called demoniac or asuric. There is no other criterion but obedience to the regulative principles of scriptures. It is mentioned in Vedic literature that both the demigods and the demons are born of the Prajāpati; the only difference is that one class obeys the Vedic injunctions and the other does not.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Now Kṛṣṇa begins to explain about the asuric qualities to the despondent Arjuna. I have spoken about the divine persons in detail already, in verse 1-3.

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

Seeing that Arjuna’s lamentation did not go away, the Lord began to describe the qualities of the asura. In this world of humans who are ordained to act (asmin loke), there are two types of created humans (bhūta sargau). When a person in this world of men restricts his inborn attraction and repulsion through the injunctions of scripture and performs goals according to the scriptures, he is godly. When he gives up scriptural injunctions and acts against scripture under the control of attraction and repulsion, he is demonic. There does not exist anything other than dharma and adharma in wandering through millions of births in this universe. The śruti says dvayā ha prājapatyā devāś cāsurāś ca: the deva and the asura, these two were produced by Brahmā. (Bṛhad Āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.3.1) I have in detail described the divine perons in verses 1-3. Now hear about the demon. I will describe him in detail

Surrender Unto Me

These naturally follows the information about the modes because these qualities are coming from the modes of passion and ignorance. Their realizations are: