SIXTEEN: DIVINE AND DEMONIC CIVILIZATION
“Lord Shri Krishna continued: Fearlessness, clean living, unceasing concentration on
wisdom, readiness to give, self-control, a spirit of sacrifice, regular study of the scriptures,
austerities, candour,
harmlessness, truth, absence of wrath, renunciation, contentment, straightforwardness,
compassion towards all, uncovetousness, courtesy, modesty, constancy,
Valour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, freedom from hate and vanity; these are his who
possesses the Godly Qualities, O Arjuna!
Hypocrisy, pride, insolence, cruelty, ignorance belong to him who is born of the godless
qualities.
Godly qualities lead to liberation; godless to bondage. Do not be anxious, Prince! Thou
hast the Godly qualities.
All beings are of two classes: Godly and godless. The Godly I have described; I will now
describe the other.
The godless do not know how to act or how to renounce. They have neither purity nor
truth. They do not understand the right principles of conduct.
They say the universe is an accident with no purpose and no God. Life is created by sexual
union, a product of lust and nothing else.
Thinking thus, these degraded souls, these enemies of mankind – whose intelligence is
negligible and whose deeds are monstrous – come into the world only to destroy.
Giving themselves up to insatiable passions, hypocritical, self-sufficient and arrogant,
cherishing false conception founded on delusion, they work only to carry out their own
unholy purposes.
Poring anxiously over evil resolutions, which only end in death; seeking only the
gratification of desire as the highest goal; seeing nothing beyond;
Caught in the toils of a hundred vain hopes, the slaves of passion and wrath, they
accumulate hoards of unjust wealth, only to pander to their sensual desire.
This I have gained today; tomorrow I will gratify another desire; this wealth is mine now,
the rest shall be mine ere long;
I have slain one enemy, I will slay the others also; I am worthy to enjoy, I am the
Almighty, I am perfect, powerful and happy;
I am rich, I am well-bred; who is there to compare with me? I will sacrifice, I will give,
I will pay – and I will enjoy. Thus blinded by Ignorance,
Perplexed by discordant thoughts, entangled in the snares of desire, infatuated by passion,
they sink into the horrors of hell.
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