Bhagavad Gita 16.20असुरीं योनिमापन्ना मूढा जन्मनि जन्मनि।मामप्राप्यैव कौन्तेय ततो यान्त्यधमां गतिम् ॥
āsurīṁ yonim āpannā mūḍhā janmani janmani mām
aprāpyaiva kaunteya tato yānty adhamāṁ gatim
Sanskrit recitation
Choose a guide wiser than impulse · 16.17–16.24 · Teaching
Translation
Entering into demoniacal wombs and deluded, birth after birth, they do not attain Me, thus falling, O Arjuna, into a condition still lower than that.
Hindi translation
हे कुन्तीनन्दन ! वे मूढ मनुष्य मेरेको प्राप्त न करके ही जन्म-जन्मान्तरमें आसुरी योनिको प्राप्त होते हैं, फिर उससे भी अधिक अधम गतिमें अर्थात् भयङ्कर नरकोंमें चले जाते हैं।
Meaning
These degraded Asuras are cast into the demoniacal wombs. They are reduced to the very lowest condition or the most appalling state. They are cast into utter darkness. They fall into lower and yet lower wombs in response to their own satanic desires and actions and their extreme Tamasic nature. From the birth of a tiger, they will get the birth of a serpent from a serpents they will get the birth of a wormfrom that they will get the birth of a tree, etc. In Sanskrit the suffix Tara denotes comparative degree and Tama is superlative degree. These people get Nikrishtatama Yonis (the lowest wombs).They do not reach Me as their minds are filled with impurities, as they do not tread the path of righteousness in accordance with the injunctions of the scriptures. The diabolical nature is inimical to spiritual progress. Therefore, you will have to annihilate the evil tendencies by cultivating divine alities and the practice of regular meditation. Then and only then will you attain liberation.
After Swami Sivananda
Choose a guide wiser than impulse· 16.17–16.24→
Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.
- 16.17Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform…
- 16.18Given over to egoism, power, haughtiness, lust, and anger, these malicious people hate Me…
- 16.19Those cruel haters, the worst among men in the world, I hurl those evil-doers into the…
16.20Entering into demoniacal wombs and deluded, birth after birth, they do not attain Me, thus…
- 16.21There are three gates to this hell, destructive of the self: lust, anger, and greed;…
- 16.22A person who is liberated from these three gates of darkness, O Arjuna, practices what is…
- 16.23He who, having cast aside the ordinances of the scriptures, acts under the impulse of…
- 16.24Therefore, let the scripture be thy authority in determining what ought to be done and…
Word-by-word→
- eva
- even
- mām
- me
- gatim
- destination
- yonim
- wombs
- yānti
- go
- tataḥ
- thereafter
- adhamām
- abominable
- aprāpya
- failing to reach
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- āsurīm
- demoniac
- āpannāḥ
- gaining
- mūḍhāḥ
- the ignorant
- janmani janmani
- in birth after birth
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- 17.5Those men who practice terrific austerities not prescribed by the scriptures, given to…
- 11.53Neither by the Vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice can I be seen in…
- 6.42Or he is born in a family of even the wisest of yogis; verily, such a birth is very…