Chapter 16 · Verse 6·Spoken by Krishna
द्वौ भूतसर्गौ लोकेऽस्मिन् दैव आसुर एव च।दैवो विस्तरशः प्रोक्त आसुरं पार्थ मे श्रृणु
dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin daiva āsura eva cha daivo vistaraśhaḥ prokta āsuraṁ pārtha me śhṛiṇu
In this world there are two kinds of created beings: the divine and the demonic. The divine has been described at length. Now hear from me about the demonic, Arjuna.
Word by Word
Saved for this reading session
Three movements · tap a label to switch
Sanskrit recitation by Swami Brahmānanda
Audio from the Gītā Supersite, IIT Kanpur
Synthesis · a glossed leaf
machine-assisted draft, pending review
Convergence
rishna is sorting all beings in the world into just two kinds: the divine (daiva) and the demonic (asura). The phrase 'bhuta-sarga' means 'creation of beings,' and here it points not to two separate species but to two human dispositions, two natures with which people are born and act. Every person, the commentators stress, falls under one or the other of these two headings; this is the frame for the whole rest of the chapter.
Braided from 11 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas · Sant Jñāneśvar · Śrī Nīlakaṇṭha · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrī Puruṣottama
The two-fold count is deliberate, and the commentators defend it against the obvious objection. Scripture elsewhere speaks of a 'threefold' offspring of Prajapati (gods, men, and demons), and one might also expect a separate rakshasa (cruel, ogre-like) nature; so why only two here? The answer is that the rakshasa nature is folded into the demonic, and there is no genuine third moral path. As several put it, conduct is either dharma (in accord with scripture) or adharma (against it), with no third alternative, so a person is divine when, by the strength of scriptural training, he overcomes natural attachment and aversion and turns to dharma, and demonic when, ruled by attachment and aversion, he overrides scripture and turns to adharma.
Braided from 8 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Śrī Puruṣottama
The teaching rests on scriptural authority: the commentators anchor the two-fold division in the Veda, citing Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1.3.1, 'twofold indeed were the creatures of Prajapati, the gods and the asuras.' This shows the binary is not Krishna's improvisation but a settled scriptural pattern, which is why the division can be said to hold good 'for all' beings in this world of birth and rebirth.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrī Ānandagiri · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Dhanapati Sūri · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda
Krishna notes that the divine nature has already been described at length, in the opening verses of this chapter ('fearlessness, purity of being,' 16.1 and following), and according to several commentators across the earlier chapters too: the steady-minded one of Chapter 2, the devotee of Chapter 12, the knower of Chapter 13, and the one beyond the gunas of Chapter 14. The demonic nature, by contrast, has only been touched briefly so far (some point back to Chapter 9), so Krishna now promises to set it out in full.
Braided from 11 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Śrīla Baladeva · Swami Sivananda · Śrīla Viśvanātha · Swami Ramsukhdas · Ācārya Abhinavagupta · Dhanapati Sūri
The purpose of describing the demonic nature in detail is practical, not merely descriptive: it is given so that the seeker can recognize and avoid it. The commentators are clear that a fault clearly known is a fault that can be set aside; the long portrait of the asura that follows (roughly verses 7 to 18) is a diagnostic mirror the seeker holds up to his own inner life, to spot and remove even the smallest such mark in himself. The address 'Partha' carries warmth and reassurance here, since Arjuna himself is not demonic (as verse 5 said); the instruction is for his protection and for every reader who comes after.
Braided from 6 commentators
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Sivananda · Swami Ramsukhdas · Dhanapati Sūri
Divergence
Advaita Vedānta
The two-fold division is read primarily as a matter of conduct and inner conditioning rather than fixed birth-castes of soul. A person becomes 'divine' when the discipline derived from scripture overpowers his innate attachment and aversion and he commits to dharma, and 'demonic' when innate attachment and aversion overpower scripture and he turns to adharma. Because there is no third option beyond right and wrong action, the count must be two. This reading also takes pains to dissolve the apparent 'threefold' scriptural passage: men lacking self-control, generosity, and compassion are themselves figuratively spoken of as 'demons,' so the Prajapati teaching of 'da, da, da' (be self-controlled, give, be compassionate) is moral instruction for human beings, not evidence of three distinct kinds. (Note: baladeva is a Bhakti voice but argues the conduct-based two-fold division in the same terms here.)
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīla Baladeva
Viśiṣṭādvaita
The two creations are read in terms of karma and obedience to the Lord's command. Beings are born divided, at the very moment of their origination, by the force of their earlier karma in the form of merit and demerit: some are shaped to follow the Blessed One's command and some to act against it. The 'conduct' the divine creation is for was already taught as the threefold discipline of action, knowledge, and devotion; the demonic creation likewise has its own characteristic conduct, which Krishna now describes. The third, rakshasa kind is simply folded into the demonic for the chapter's purposes, leaving the divine-versus-demonic binary as the operative distinction.
Rāmānujācārya · Vedānta Deśika
Śuddhādvaita
Reading from the Pushtimarga (path of grace), this school sees the two creations not as two bare metaphysical kinds but as two modes of one's nature (svabhava), and it finds a hidden third stream implied. The very fact that scripture ordains a stream of worldly flow (pravaha) and a line of regulated duty (maryada), and yet also speaks of the path of devotion, is taken to carry with it the acknowledgement of a further path, the pushti-marga of the Lord's causeless grace (illustrated by the gopis of Vraja), which does not stand on the asura-versus-daiva ledger at all. One voice in this school also draws a pastoral lesson: the detailed portrait of the demonic is offered as a diagnosis of 'sanga-dosha,' the fault of bad company, since demonic traits can creep into one born to the divine nature through the company he keeps, so the devotee must learn the marks of the asura in order to turn away from such company.
Vallabhācārya · Śrī Puruṣottama
Bhakti
These voices add a vivid, observational texture. One pictures the two estates as flows of action running on from time without beginning, like night-wanderers who do their business by night and human orders who do theirs by day, each transacting in its own way; and it stresses that the demonic nature cannot be perceived on its own, just as there is no musical sound without an instrument and no fragrance without a flower, but once it takes hold of a body it spreads through it as fire pervades dry wood and grows as the body grows, like the juice swelling in a growing sugar-cane. Another notes the tender pastoral framing: the Lord unfolds the demonic nature at length precisely because Arjuna is still despondent, so the teaching is meant to lift him.
Sant Jñāneśvar · Śrīla Viśvanātha
Modern
These voices read the binary as a moral and devotional discrimination handed to the seeker as a tool. One observes that Krishna repeatedly speaks of beings in pairs throughout the Gita (perishable and imperishable, real and unreal, knowledge and ignorance) precisely to sharpen the seeker's discernment at every step, and that the present pairing is moral: those who walk toward the Lord (daiva) and those who walk away from him (asura). The order of the coming description is also significant, beginning with the most basic defect and ending with the gravest, hatred of the indwelling Lord, so the whole arc is a mirror the seeker holds before his own heart. The other emphasizes that every single person in the world falls under one of the two classes, and that understanding the demonic qualities is the means to avoid them.
Swami Ramsukhdas · Swami Sivananda
A Seeker Asks
If everyone is sorted into just two boxes, divine or demonic, with no third option, does that not flatten the obvious fact that most people are a changing mix of better and worse impulses?
The two-fold count is not a fixed label stamped on a soul at birth but a description of which way a person is presently turned. The commentators define 'divine' as the state in which scriptural training overcomes one's natural attachment and aversion and one acts in accord with dharma, and 'demonic' as the state in which attachment and aversion override scripture and one turns to adharma; since conduct at any moment is either in accord with right or against it, there is no third direction to face.
Śaṅkarācārya · Madhusūdana Sarasvatī · Śrīla Baladeva
The point of the binary is practical rather than tribal: it is a discrimination handed to the seeker to use on himself. The detailed marks of the asura that follow are given so a fault clearly known can be set aside, a mirror to hold before one's own heart, not a verdict to pass on others; so the changing mix you notice is exactly the material this teaching works on, prompting you to recognize and remove each demonic trace as it appears.
Śaṅkarācārya · Śrīdhara Svāmī · Swami Ramsukhdas · Swami Sivananda
Contemplation
Take the long portrait of the demonic nature that is about to begin as a mirror, not a label for other people. The marks of the asura are set down so you can hold them up before your own heart and recognize even the smallest such trace in yourself, and then remove it; they are not a list for despising others. Notice too the gentleness in the word 'Partha.' The teaching comes not as an accusation but as protection, for you and for everyone who reads this chapter. As you read on from here, let each described fault become a quiet question turned inward, and let the whole arc steady your discernment between what walks you toward the divine and what walks you away from it.
Sit with this · Swami Ramsukhdas
Pull up a chair.
You have come to sit with this verse. When you are ready to hear the translators and the commentators in full, tap a name in The seating.