Continuing his teachings Swamiji said,

From the 7th verse of the 16th chapter, Sri Krishna is talking about asuri sampat, which we have to know as an obstacle to spiritual growth; and therefore, we should take all pains to avoid these traits; And asuri sampat includes, rakshasic Sampath. Asuri sampat means raga pradhāna life; a life in which raga or attachment is dominant; rajasic raga is dominant and rakshasic sampat is that in which dvesha pradhāna behavior, tamasic behavior is dominant. In raga pradhāna life, one is utterly selfish and in dwesha pradhāna life, a person harms other people. Only difference is when I am selfish, I do not directly and immediately harm the people, but in the long run, a selfish person affects the society because he takes more and gives less to the society. And therefore, this behavior will create a disharmony in the society in due course, and it will hurt the society and also the very selfish person himself. but this disturbance is not immediately felt, it is a gradually poisoning of the society. Thus, a raga pradhāna person hurts the society very gradually, whereas dwesha pradhāna person hurts the society immediately and directly. But both of them harm the harmony of the society and both of them harm themselves, ultimately. And Sri Krishna is describing both asuri people as well as the rakshasic people; both are included.

And we generally call them materialistic people; or artha kama pradhāna people who do not value dharma and moksha. And we should remember when we criticize the materialistic people or materialism, we are not against the materialism totally.

Criticism of materialism must be carefully understood. We are not against materials, because we need them for our living; we require money for food, we require money for shelter. So, we are not against money and materials; we do not want to hate money and materials; but what we are criticizing is the over-emphasis of artha kama to such an extent, that this person has no time for dharma and moksha. And therefore, if we are not careful from attachment to money; we may go to the other extreme of hatred of money. If attachment to money is an evil; hatred of money is also equally an evil. And that is why in our culture money is seen as Lakshmi devi. Please give respect to money; even a sanyasi has to respect money, because money alone fetches the food that he eats; money alone fetches the dress that he is wearing; and if he has an ashram, money alone runs the ashram not Gita and Upanishads. Therefore, attachment is an evil; hatred is an equal evil. A balanced attitude towards money is what we are recommending and what is a balanced attitude? Use the money for spiritual growth; earn the wealth and use it for spiritual growth of yourselves as well as the other people. And these materialistic people do not have this balanced vision and therefore, they are obsessed with materialistic thing, they do not understand that behind the matter, there is spirit. Behind the body, there is atma, respect the body, respect the atma also. This is the balanced approach which the asuric people are missing.

And ,therefore, Sri Krishna is describing their thought pattern; what preoccupies their mind most of the time; they are obsessed with what type of thinking most of the time; our scriptures point out that one should start the day with thought of the Lord, as I said; think of Lakshmi, but have some time to think of Narayana also. How can you be so selective concentrating on Lakshmi only and miss Narayana? These people do not have the balance. And therefore what happens, we were seeing from verse No.13, the pattern of their thinking all the time is calculative wondering what all things they have acquired in life, and what all things they plan to acquire and how they want to implement those desires; And not only they are interested in things, they are interested in wealth also, only for their wellbeing and anybody who obstructs this, they consider as a competitor; a rival and they do not have any scruples at all. They want to finish off all those obstacles without any compunction.

Just as big companies swallow the small companies. They say in globalization, at the end, there will be only a few international giant companies and they can adjust the market itself in such a way; because they can afford that all these small people will be swallowed and they will be so powerful that they can even change the government.

These are the materialistic people; and their thinking is, I am the most powerful person; I alone enjoy, power and money; I am the most successful person, the strongest and given to all types of enjoyment.

Shloka 16.15:

आढ्योऽभिजनवानस्मि कोऽन्योऽस्ति सदृशो मया।
यक्ष्ये दास्यामि मोदिष्य इत्यज्ञानविमोहिताः।।16.15।।

16.15 ‘I am rich and high-born; who else is there similar to me? I shall perform sacrifices; I shall give, I shall rejoice,’-thus they are diversely deluded by non-discrimination.

These are the thoughts of the materialistic people.

 I am the richest person and I belong a noble family, although it is doubtful if he even knows the Gayathri.

A culture which has started from millennia before, all of them have been surrendered at the altar of money.

Bhrthari in his Vairagya shatakam looks back: Oh Lord in search of money what all I did; I dug all part of earth, hoping to get some wealth from ground; I went in search of all types of ores, to extract the metals, gold, silver, etc. I went in search of; I went all round the globe in search of the wealth and for this travel, I have to please so many bureaucrats and politicians and counsels and all types of people; I did not propitiate the devatas and gods; I propitiated all these arrogant human beings;

What all should not have been eaten, I ate, all for the purpose of business promotion; I went to the black money people , I ate all kinds of things which are banned in the religion, what all should not be drunk, eaten, everything I did contrarily, in concentrated form; At least am I happy now; at the fag end of my life; I have not improved anything at all; only losing the culture and tradition; is only the thing that happens; You read Bhrthari, you will feel like running away; so powerful is his writing;

So, he says; I belong to wonderful family but I did not make use of the advantage that I had; I squandered this manuṣya Jenma advantage and the rival won and I lost.

Bhrthari says such a person is the embodiment of arrogance. He does not believe in the scriptural study or puja, but still he wants to perform certain rituals, not for

inner growth; but for the publicity. And therefore, he says; I will do big rituals and make sure that it is captured in the photos and videos so that my name will

spread. Even puja is done only to pump his arrogance.

 I will give charity but I will make sure that my name appears in the appropriate newspaper in the appropriate magazine;

When person after person comes and glorifies me, institutions glorify me, because they need my money, they will glorify and all adding to the ego which is the cause of spiritual destruction. More bloated the ego is, less the chances of spiritual growth.

And Sri Krishna says, thus, all these people are utterly deluded and confused; they do not know, they are digging their spiritual grave, they do not know what is good and what is bad; and they are suffering. In fact, Lord is angry with those people and only feels pity for them. And Lord has provided methods of avoiding these traps. We have got mahatmas to guide us; we have got the scriptures to guide us; from these traps; but the problem is that he does not make use of them, because his arrogance does not allow him to go to a Mahatma or even read a few verses of the Geeta.

And therefore, Bhagavan says, medicine is there; but he does not make use of it

And Bhagavan cannot come and force the medicine down his throat. Bhagavan has given us something called grey matter.

Therefore, Sri Krishna says: he is deluded by utter ignorance. And as I have often said, ignorance itself is not a sin; because all of us are born with ignorance; In

fact, that is our capital; that is the only wealth we all uniformly brought. Therefore, ignorance in itself is not sin; but perpetuation of ignorance is the greatest sin;

because Bhagavan has provided methods for the removal of ignorance, he has provided wonderful pramanams, but these people do not expose themselves to them.

Shloka 16.16

अनेकचित्तविभ्रान्ता मोहजालसमावृताः।
प्रसक्ताः कामभोगेषु पतन्ति नरकेऽशुचौ।।16.16।।

16.16 Bewildered by numerous thoughts, caught in the net of delusion, (and) engrossed in the enjoyment of desirable objects, they fall into a foul hell.

Therefore  deluded by ignorance; carried away by the abovementioned thought patterns;  given in the previous three slokas, 13, 14, and 15, they are immersed and lost in, a network of moha or delusion, or misconception, the misconception being that money and possessions will give the ultimate goal, will give the ultimate security, will give everything that I want. Thus, we have a set of beautiful sayings: They say money can buy a house, but it cannot buy a home; money can buy bed, but money cannot buy sleep; money can buy people; but money cannot buy love. In fact, money can buy many things; but all-important things in life, like peace, knowledge, love, all these things money cannot buy; But these people do not understand this and it is called moha.

A materialistic society will use all its resources only to improve methods of entertainment. That is the indication of a materialist society; whether there is material resources or scientific advancement, all

of them will be used to improve sense pleasures and they think that is the growth of the society; and that is why, you can find in India, any scientific improvement comes first, it will be used in religious field; TV, Ramayana and Mahabharata serials. All swamis will start appearing in TVs. that is our culture; any

scientific advancement, we imagine, we think of using for spiritual purpose; that is called a healthy society; a materialistic society will think of improving sense

pleasures; and these materialistic people are lost in entertainment and enjoyment of sense objects.

And even medical advancement, they want to use the body to become younger and younger so that again that the body can be used not for spiritual sadhana but for, how I can be young at the 90th year.

So, what will happen to them?

Sri Krishna gets so wild; he says they will go to hell. Animals are the only living beings which have got only two purusärthas; after-all animals work for their

security; animals work for their enjoyment; animals do not know what is dharma; animals do not know what is moksha; animals do not require veda purva; animals do

not require veda anta.

This inferior life is called is called narakam.  Spiritually inferior life is called naraka for one’s who are spiritually backward. Such a person falls.

Shloka 16.17

यजन्ते नामयज्ञैस्ते दम्भेनाविधिपूर्वकम्।।16.17।।

आत्मसम्भाविताः स्तब्धा धनमानमदान्विताः।

Self-conceited, haughty, filled with pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform sacrifices which are so in name only, with ostentation and regardless of the injunctions.

When our dharma shastras talk about a dharmic way of life, it is a way of life in which I maintain harmony at all levels. It starts with internal harmony; harmony between my thought, word and deed, is internal harmony. Even my eating, sleeping, etc.

should have a harmony, even among the various organs of the body, there should be harmony. It starts with internal harmony; then I lead a lifestyle in which there is harmony in the family; among the various members. There is no stress; strain or tension, I am not

uncomfortable I should feel at home. That is why it is called a home; inter-action should be smooth, well-oiled, there should not be any friction

 And similarly, I should have harmony in the society; and therefore, social customs, social manners, politeness, etiquette; all of them are also part of dharma.

Dharma is not mere religious activity but even social interaction must be in keeping with harmony. And therefore, every refined civilized society has its own manners all indicating my refined conduct and behavior expressed in my body language.

The way you stand; the way you sit; the way you talk, the way you eat; because the body language communicates something and therefore in our culture, they say; we all have as children, we have experienced, when some mahatma or somebody comes, our

parents will say sit properly, how you hold your hands, your head, your legs; therefore these are all body language should convey, respect, love, humility; and not only body language should convey my refinement; even my words should convey my refinement; that in a group, I do not dominate by talking all the time.

And Sri Krishna says when a materialistic person grows in money and power, chances are he becomes more and more puffed up with power and pride. He becomes more and more gross. He becomes more and more desensitized and he does not bother about his behavior; his conduct, his manners, his language and the

first causality is humility; and the unfortunate thing is when I become a man of power and wealth, there will be always a coterie of sycophants around me. They want to take advantage of my power and money; and therefore, they will come and they will glorify me

An oft quoted shloka says: Once you have got money and power, everybody would come and say, that you are beautiful, you are cultured; and your language is

wonderful, you are educated, they will do namaskar. Already arrogant, these people already pumped and their ego gets bloated and bloated, First humility goes

and then devotion to God disappears. Arrogance and Ĩśvara bhakti cannot go together. You study the life of all our rakshasas, whether it is Ravana or Kamsa, or

Hiranyakashipu, or Hiranyaksha, as money and power comes, arrogance comes, humility goes, and then devotion goes.

Once humility and devotion goes, the mahatmas will begin to avoid me; because where there is ego, the great people do not go there, as God is absent; and therefore mahatmas avoid; Therefore my few chances of correcting myself is also gone; if I have at least some great people around; they will tell me as it is.

Brhathari says:

A few cultured and refined people you associate with; they will guide me; but in the case of this person, Mahatmas go away gradually; and sycophants surround me, and they will further see to it that all my culture, manner, politeness, all of them go away as well. As we have read in purana, Kamsa refused to even to get up, when Sri Krishna came. So, these are all the problem.

Therefore, Krishna says, every namaskara I receive from others, can bloat my ahamkara; that is why there are people who do not take namaskara from

others; there are some swamis who do not allow; or if at all they do, they say that you do not receive the namaskara, quietly hand over to your guru; let him handle it; and what will your guru do, he will give his guru; and ultimately it will go to God, no problem, because God deserves all the namaskara.

Therefore, glorification is deadly and these people, they

are egoistic, power hungry, arrogant, full of materialistic desires; and full of anger, because they can get away with any form of behavior; because money and power

compensates. Therefore, nobody will criticize me, nobody will correct me; They will be dominating any group.

Because of dhanam, wealth, they have these weaknesses; they do lot of puja alright, but the puja should give them more humility; but if puja is not approached properly, instead of giving humility, that puja itself will add to arrogance; he will say that I have done this, I have done that; means pujas for names sake only; there is no heart in the puja but for pomp and show.

Shloka 16.18

अहङ्कारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं च संश्रिताः।
मामात्मपरदेहेषु प्रद्विषन्तोऽभ्यसूयकाः।।16.18।।

16.18 Resorting to egotism, power, arrogance, passion and anger, hating Me in their own and others’ bodies, (they become) [As the finite verb is missing in the verse, we have supplied ‘they become’. S. adds the verb prabhavanti, wax strong, from verse 9, and constructs the last portion thus: ‘৷৷.the envious ones wax strong.’ Following S. S., however, one may combine this verse with the preceding verse by taking ‘perform sacrifices’ as the finite verb.-Tr.’] envious by nature.

So, all the refinement in his behavior is the causality; all the social etiquettes, humility, politeness in manners everything goes away, because there is nobody to correct him; and he can get away with all those things. Therefore, what all things happen? His life is dominated by ego, power; born out of status; with resulting arrogance; and desire and anger. And gradually this will lead to a nasthika svabhava also; because it is unconducive to devotion and therefore devotion will gradually get eroded.

So, they begin to hate me, says Sri Krishna; not only he begins to hate the Lord, he begins the hate the scriptures also; he becomes highly critical of the scriptures, which are supposed to be the gifts from the Lord himself.

Shloka 16.19:

तानहं द्विषतः क्रूरान्संसारेषु नराधमान्।
क्षिपाम्यजस्रमशुभानासुरीष्वेव योनिषु।।16.19।।

16.19 I cast for ever those hateful, cruel, evil-doers in the worlds, the vilest of human beings, verily into the demoniac classes.

So thus, religious life disappears from them; religious life goes away; religious practices goes away; and of course, spirituality also disappears.

They feel bad declaring that I am a Hindu; I am a vaidhika; they consider themselves secular.

We do not want to declare to anyone, and even the names are chosen in such a way, and you

do not know what they are; original name is Meenakshi, Kamakshi, but now they keep pinky, chinky, etc. but they do not want to reveal their identity.

They are also very rude in their behavior, lacking politeness, culture, and refinement. So, they are representatives of ashubha; ashubha means deterioration in spirituality; amangalam, means dharma and moksha deterioration, they are representatives of amangala.

And Sri Krishna says what can I do; I have to throw them into naraka. First, I try through scriptures and mahatmas; hoping that the scriptures and mahatmas will change the society; and when the society is so corrupted, that even the mahatmas and scriptures cannot change, I will take avathara and I will annihilate them.

Take away:

They say money can buy a house, but it cannot buy a home; money can buy bed, but money cannot buy sleep; money can buy people; but money cannot buy love. In fact, money can buy many things; but all-important things in life, like peace, knowledge, love, all these things money cannot buy;

With Best Wishes,

Ram Ramaswamy