Bhagavad Gita 16.19
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 19 of 24
तान् अहं द्विषतः क्रूरान् संसारेषु नराधमान् । क्षिपाम्य् अजस्रम् अशुभान् आसुरीष्व् एव योनिषु ॥
tān ahaṃ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṃsāreṣu narādhamān | kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu ||
Those who hate Me — cruel, vilest among humans — I continually cast into āsurī wombs, the inauspicious.
Word by word (3)
- tān ahaṃ dviṣataḥ krūrān saṃsāreṣu narādhamān
- — those (tān) who hate (dviṣataḥ) Me (aham), cruel (krūrān), vilest among humans (narādhamān) in the worlds of saṃsāra — the three-fold characterization
- kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
- — I cast/hurl (kṣipāmi) them, inauspicious ones (aśubhān), continuously/incessantly (ajasram) — divine response is continuous, matching the continuity of their hatred
- āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
- — into āsurī wombs (āsurīṣu yoniṣu) only (eva) — the specificity: they are placed in conditions that perpetuate and deepen their āsurī nature
These people who hate Me, cruel and the lowest of humans in the worlds of saṃsāra — these inauspicious ones I continuously hurl into demoniac wombs.
A modern analogy
A spinning top — the direction it spins determines where it ends up. The āsurī who has been spinning in the direction of ego, hatred, and cruelty is, by the logic of their own momentum, cast into a birth where that spinning continues. It's not punishment from outside; it's the continuation of the trajectory.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
MISSING — SH Ch.16 V19 not indexed; Ganguli and Telang used as primary. [1]
MISSING — V19 not indexed; Ganguli and Telang used as primary. [4]
These enemies, ferocious, meanest of men, and unholy, I continually hurl down to these worlds only into demoniac wombs. [9]
These haters of Me, cruel, the vilest among men, and unholy, I hurl continually down into demoniac wombs. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Sattva-abiders go upward; rajasic dwell in the middle; tamas-abiders sink downward — the cosmic gradient.
This most secret śāstra spoken — knowing it, one becomes truly wise and kṛta-kṛtya: all duties fulfilled.
Sāttvic jñāna: seeing ONE imperishable being in ALL — undivided among the divided.
I taught this imperishable yoga to the sun-god at the dawn of time — it has been passed down through kings ever since.
The sound of righteous forces pierces the hearts of those who know they are on the wrong side.
Dispassion toward sense-objects, no ego, and clearly seeing birth-death-age-disease as painful — this is jñāna!
Verse 19 of 24 · back to Chapter 16