Bhagavad Gita 16.22एतैर्विमुक्तः कौन्तेय तमोद्वारैस्त्रिभिर्नरः।आचरत्यात्मनः श्रेयस्ततो याति परां गतिम् ॥
etair vimuktaḥ kaunteya tamo-dvārais tribhir
naraḥ ācharaty ātmanaḥ śhreyas tato yāti parāṁ gatim
Sanskrit recitation
Choose a guide wiser than impulse · 16.17–16.24 · Teaching
Translation
A person who is liberated from these three gates of darkness, O Arjuna, practices what is beneficial for them and thus goes to the Supreme Goal.
Hindi translation
हे कुन्तीनन्दन ! इन नरकके तीनों दरवाजोंसे रहित हुआ जो मनुष्य अपने कल्याणका आचरण करता है, वह परमगतिको प्राप्त हो जाता है।
Meaning
When these gates to hell are abandoned, the path to salvation is made clear for the aspirant. He gets the company of sages, which leads to liberation. He gets spiritual instructions and practises them. He hears the scriptures, reflects, meditates and attains Selfrealisation.Tamodvara Gate to darkness leading to hell which is full of pain and delusion.
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→
- gatim
- goal
- yāti
- attain
- parām
- supreme
- etaiḥ
- from this
- naraḥ
- a person
- tataḥ
- thereby
- kaunteya
- Arjun, the son of Kunti
- tribhiḥ
- three
- ācharati
- endeavor
- vimuktaḥ
- freed
- ātmanaḥ
- soul
- śhreyaḥ
- welfare
- tamaḥ-dvāraiḥ
- gates to darkness
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- 6.5One should raise oneself by one's own self alone; let not one lower oneself; for the self…
- 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…