Gita - Chapter 16 - The Distinction between Divine & Demonic Tendencies

Arjuna, there are two kinds of states
Beings come to possess in this world -
The Divine and the Demonic.
The Divine state leads to liberation and lightness.
The Demonic state leads to bondage and burden.

Part 1 - Divine Tendencies - The realm to Be! And to Love!

People when they adopt the tendencies towards the Divine, Arjuna, they exhibit the following qualities -

Courage, Perseverance & Love for learning

They become fearless and pure in heart.
They persevere in that path to knowledge,
And to the union with stillness and awareness within,
By studying and practicing
what the great books and
their teachers have taught them.
They first meditate, focus, and learn.
And then they act upon them with wisdom and awareness.

Austere, Sacrificing & Self-restrained

They are austere, upright and generous,
They practice self-restraint and sacrifice.
Their passions are sanctified,
Out of their persistent practice,
Of spiritual discipline of Love.
They are straightforward, truthful.
They are free from greed and covetousness.

Gentle, Compassionate & Loving

They are absent of anger, calumny and malice.
They harm no one.
They are gentle, modest and upright.
They are not bound with the fetters
Of the things of this world.
They have a tranquil mind,
And an unmalicious tongue.
They are compassionate towards all. They can forgive and endure.
They abstain from useless activities.
They have faith in the strength of their higher nature.
They are clean in thought and act.
They are free from hatred and from pride.

Lightness, freedom & joyful bliss

They are not constricted, with narrow selfish desires,
Laden with the burdens of anxiety and fear.
Rather they are free, open, light, creative,
And exhibit love, vigor, vitality, fortitude and endurance.
Such qualities leads to a life of lightness,
liberation, freedom and joyful bliss.

Part 2 - Demonic Tendencies - The Realm to Have! And to fear!

People when they adopt the tendencies towards the Demonic, Arjuna, they exhibit the following qualities -

Self preservation & self-gratification

Demonic men do not understand
When to act and when to refrain from action.
They are filled with hypocrisy, arrogance,
conceit, anger, cruelty and ignorance.
There is no purity, no good conduct,
Nor Truth, is found in them.
They are a dried up lake,
With no water to offer to anyone.
Their lives are for only,
Self-preservation and self-gratification.

Self created ossification & separation

They build up walls of fear, hatred and pride,
And are obstinate in their views.
They manipulate people, and look down upon them,
With a sense of false superiority.
They are envious of others.

The heavy bondage of desires & anxieties

Bound by a heavy hundred snares of desires -
lower selfish material ones,
Devoted to desire, lust and anger,
They seek to obtain,
By unjust means, hoards of possessions,
For gratification and consummation alone.

The anxiety binds them with
A hundred chains delivering them over to
Lust and Wrath.
They are ceaselessly busy,
Piling up dishonest gains
To satisfy their cravings,
And protect themselves from their own fears.

The Eternal Hell

They are addicts of sensual pleasure,
Made restless by their many desires.
And caught in the net of delusion.
They fall into hell of their own minds.
This eternal vicious cycle of consummated existence
of busy-ness, violence, war,
gratification, heaviness and anxiety **
is their destined eternal **curse.
This leads them to ever more bondage.

They get trapped in the vicious cycle,
Of having and losing,
And having more and losing more.
They never are able to break free from this cycle,
Of pain, anxiety and despair.
That is their eternal hell.
With the three doors -
Lust, rage and greed.

The self defeating journey

Their journey starts with selfish desires,
And ends with self-gratification.
And the cycle continues.
Interspersed anxiety, depression, listlessness, and despair,
When things do not go as per their little selfish plans.
And limitless arrogance and greed In that renewed will to get more,
When things go their way.

The dogma of utility, destruction & power

They believe the universe is without
An inherent beauty, or an ethical aesthetics.
Rather the world is brought about by
Utility, transactions, power, violence and lust alone.
This false belief makes them cruel,
and of limited intelligence,
Leading them to destructive actions.
They make numerable enemies.

The addiction to just have

Being maligned and full of egoism, vanity
Lust, wrath and consciousness of power,
They loathe hidden Divine aesthetics
That prevails in all creation.
They deny My presence -
Both in themselves and in others.

They become enemies of both mankind and Myself.
Denying the profound spiritual reality,
Of My immanence and transcendence.
In everything outside and within.

Instead, only for outward show,
And to appease their own dogmas,
They perform charity, do rituals
And visit temples.
All as a conceit,
To make their uncertain future secure,
To have more, be safe,
and avoid death & destruction.
Their pursuit towards Me,
Is only for selfish ends.
They are just takers.
From the world,
And from Me!

Ever Thirsty & never content

Their lust can never be appeased.
They are arrogant, and vain
And drunk with pride.
They run blindly after what is evil.
The ends they work for are unclean,
Guided by just one agenda -
self gratification of the senses.
And so, they are plagued by innumerable cares,
From which death alone can release them.

The self talk of the ignorant

Arjuna - Once in the demonic state, they become blind in their ignorance,
their self talk is like the following -

I wanted this and today I got it.
I want that : I shall get it tomorrow.
All these riches are now mine :
Soon I shall have more.
I have killed this enemy.
I will kill all the rest.
I am a ruler of men.
I enjoy the things of this world.
I am successful, strong and happy.
Who is my equal?
I am so wealthy and so nobly born.
I will sacrifice to the Gods.
I will give alms.
I will make merry.