Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 16: The Yoga of the Distinction between the Divine and the Demoniacal

All 24 verses of Chapter 16 of the Bhagavad Gita in Sanskrit, with English translation, per-word meanings, and Adi Shankara's commentary.

• Verse 16.1 — Fearlessness, purity of heart, steadfastness in knowledge and Yoga; alms-giving…
• Verse 16.2 — Harmlessness, truth, absence of anger, renunciation, serenity, absence of calumny…
• Verse 16.3 — Energy, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, absence of hatred, absence of pride; these belong…
• Verse 16.4 — Ostentation, arrogance and self-conceit, anger as also insolence, and ignorance, belong…
• Verse 16.5 — The divine nature is deemed for liberation, the demoniac for bondage. Grieve not, O…
• Verse 16.6 — There are two creations of beings in this world, the divine and the demoniac. The divine…
• Verse 16.7 — Neither action nor inaction do the demoniac men know; neither purity nor good conduct nor…
• Verse 16.8 — They say, "The universe is unreal, without a basis, without a Lord, born of mutual union…
• Verse 16.9 — Holding this view, these ruined souls of small intellect, of fierce deeds, rise as the…
• Verse 16.10 — Filled with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding…
• Verse 16.11 — Beset with immense cares ending only with death, sensual enjoyment their highest aim…
• Verse 16.12 — Bound by hundreds of bands of hope, given over to lust and wrath, they strive to secure…
• Verse 16.13 — "This today has been gained by me; this desire I shall attain; this is mine, and this…
• Verse 16.14 — "That enemy has been slain by me, and others also shall I slay. I am a lord, I enjoy, I…
• Verse 16.15 — "I am rich and well-born. Who else is equal to me? I will sacrifice, I will give, I will…
• Verse 16.16 — Bewildered by many a fancy, entangled in the snare of delusion, addicted to the…
• Verse 16.17 — Self-honored, stubborn, filled with the pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform…
• Verse 16.18 — Given over to egotism, power, haughtiness, lust, and anger, these malicious people hate…
• Verse 16.19 — These cruel haters, worst of men, I hurl these evil-doers for ever in the worlds into the…
• Verse 16.20 — Entering into demoniac wombs, the deluded ones, in birth after birth, without ever…
• Verse 16.21 — Triple is this, the gate to hell, destructive of the self: LUST, WRATH, and GREED…
• Verse 16.22 — A man who is released from these, the three gates to darkness, O son of Kuntī, does good…
• Verse 16.23 — He who, neglecting the scriptural ordinance, acts under the impulse of desire, attains…
• Verse 16.24 — Therefore, the scripture is thy authority in deciding as to what ought to be done and…