ātmasambhāvitāḥ stabdhā dhanamānamadānvitāḥ | yajante nāmayajñaiste dambhenāvidhipūrvakam ||16.17||
Those who are self-glorifying, vain (conceited), filled with pride and arrogance because of their wealth, perform rituals that are rituals in name only, not according to stipulations (but) out of pretension.
They looked upon themselves as endowed with all the noble attributes - ātmasambhāvitāḥ. They filled with pride because of their wealth - dhanamānamadānvitāḥ. Naturally they are stabdhāḥ - not able to bend down to any one either physically or mentally, since they think they are the best. And they perform rituals, which are rituals only in name - yajante nāmayajñaiste. When a ritual is performed, one must have śraddhā, and follow the procedures prescribed by Veda. But the rituals done by them are not done accordingly to the stipulations - avidhipūrvakam. Why did they do them? Because of pretension - dambhena. Their aim is only self-glorification, showing off oneself as someone who does all the rituals.
Their lots will be despatched into āsurī yoni again and again, next.
ahaṅkāraṁ balaṁ darpaṁ kāmaṁ krodhaṁ ca saṁśritāḥ | māmātmaparadeheṣu pradviṣanto’bhyasūyakāḥ ||16.18||
tānahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṁsāreṣu narādhamān | kṣipāmyajasramaśubhānāsurīṣveva yoniṣu ||16.19||
Those who are completely given to egoism, (brute) strength, insolence, enjoyment and anger, who despise Me in their own and others’ bodies, who are great cavaliers…
…who are hateful and cruel, who are the lowest of men, who are wrongdoers, I despatch them repeatedly into a life of transmigration only in āsurī wombs.
saṁśritāḥ - people who are completely given to ahaṅkāraṁ - egoism.
In general ahaṅkāraṁ means sense of individually which accounts for superimposition of doer-ship and enjoyer-ship upon ātmā. But in the sense in which it is used here, there is a lot of subjectivity involved, therefore one is selfish doing things just for their own benefits and cruel when people are on their way to get what they want. They have darpaṁ - arrogance which makes them cross the boundary of what is proper or improper because they think they are always right. Being committed to objects of enjoyment - kāmaṁ, naturally there will be krodhaṁ - anger when they are not fulfilled. Because of their commitment, they also have strength - balaṁ which is backed up by their likes and dislikes, that is used to overpower others.
Lord Krsna said, they despising Me Īśvara - mām pradviṣantahaḥ, who is the indweller of their own body and others - ātmaparadeheṣu, by transgressing the universal ethics. Further they are abhyasūyakāḥ - fault finder. If someone has some virtues, they will try to find and point out some defect. Seeing the merits of others makes them feel small, and to counteract that, they will look for what is lacking in the person. They particularly cannot tolerate the qualities, lifestyle, discipline, and values of people who are spiritual seekers and who follow dharma. These people who transgress Īśvara’s mandate, are cruel - krūrān, and are the lowest of man - narādhamān, because they don’t use their viveka - capacity to discern what is right and what is wrong. saṁsāreṣu - in the lives of becoming, indicates many different births they will take, one after another constantly - ajasram. Because they have gathered so many pāpa, they can’t exhaust all of them in just one birth, therefore they will be born in āsurī wombs again and again based on law of karma. Therefore it is said that Īśvara despatch them repeatedly into a life of transmigration only in āsurī wombs - kṣipāmyajasramaśubhānāsurīṣveva yoniṣu. Anything that frightens you legitimately, like snake, scorpion, etc are āsurī yoni. As a human being with a capacity to think and to choose, one is suppose to follow dharma, but instead one become a terror for everybody, therefore they will be born as these animals to exhaust their pāpa and previous kāma.
Comentários