Monday, May 05, 2008
GITA 108 DAYS - Day 87
87. Diabolic qualities and Life in Hell
Divine qualités (deva-guna) cause libération and the diabolic qualités (asura-guna) cause bondage. Asuras are the ones who revel in physical comforts and sense pleasures thinking of them as real. Their minds are caught up in the net of misunderstandings and their mind is never at peace. They indulge in sensory pleasures and end up in the ignoble realm of hell. Hell is not a place away from the earth. It is here, wherever man experience sorrow. The three doorways to hell are lust, rage and greed. They prevent us from gaining wisdom and denigrate the self. They are to be discarded.
Those with asura-nature do not know what is to be undertaken and what is not worthy of our attention. They are clean and they are not truthful. They do not know how to behave or what to speak and when. They don’t comprehend their limitations and they don’t follow traditions either. What we should do is to know our limitations and to try overcoming those consciously. There is no point in lamenting or cursing our fate or surroundings. For the people of asuric tendencies, the world is not proper and there is no reason behind it. There is no God and we have no symbiotic relationship with other creatures. According to them, desire is the sole cause of everything. They indulge in activities that are of no use to anyone and they treat all others as their adversaries. These dull-witted people, under the influence of unending desires, undertake cruel and unthinkable deeds that destroy the world. Pride, illusion and arrogance are their trademarks. They want to amass wealth using any means. “I did this, I have amassed this much wealth, I have killed my enemies, I am mighty, I will enjoy, I have given so much in charity, I will do rituals” are their utterances based on their wealth, pride and position. These are enumerated here to measure ourselves. If we look at others with these ‘qualities’, we are also being asuric. To be revengeful against these tyrants and to hope for appropriate punishments for them is also being asuric in nature. A student of Gita should try to redirect these asuric individuals to the path of knowledge.
Divine qualités (deva-guna) cause libération and the diabolic qualités (asura-guna) cause bondage. Asuras are the ones who revel in physical comforts and sense pleasures thinking of them as real. Their minds are caught up in the net of misunderstandings and their mind is never at peace. They indulge in sensory pleasures and end up in the ignoble realm of hell. Hell is not a place away from the earth. It is here, wherever man experience sorrow. The three doorways to hell are lust, rage and greed. They prevent us from gaining wisdom and denigrate the self. They are to be discarded.
Those with asura-nature do not know what is to be undertaken and what is not worthy of our attention. They are clean and they are not truthful. They do not know how to behave or what to speak and when. They don’t comprehend their limitations and they don’t follow traditions either. What we should do is to know our limitations and to try overcoming those consciously. There is no point in lamenting or cursing our fate or surroundings. For the people of asuric tendencies, the world is not proper and there is no reason behind it. There is no God and we have no symbiotic relationship with other creatures. According to them, desire is the sole cause of everything. They indulge in activities that are of no use to anyone and they treat all others as their adversaries. These dull-witted people, under the influence of unending desires, undertake cruel and unthinkable deeds that destroy the world. Pride, illusion and arrogance are their trademarks. They want to amass wealth using any means. “I did this, I have amassed this much wealth, I have killed my enemies, I am mighty, I will enjoy, I have given so much in charity, I will do rituals” are their utterances based on their wealth, pride and position. These are enumerated here to measure ourselves. If we look at others with these ‘qualities’, we are also being asuric. To be revengeful against these tyrants and to hope for appropriate punishments for them is also being asuric in nature. A student of Gita should try to redirect these asuric individuals to the path of knowledge.
# posted by Sukumar Canada @ 9:01 PM 
