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Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 16.7
प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुरासुरा: ।
न शौचं नापि चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु विद्यते ॥ ७ ॥
pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ ca
janā na vidur āsurāḥ
na śaucaṁ nāpi cācāro
na satyaṁ teṣu vidyate
Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them.
Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.ioWhat this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.
3 study points
Demoniac people do not know what to do or avoid. They lack cleanliness, proper behavior, and truth.
Prabhupāda explains that they either do not know scriptural rules or are unwilling to follow them.
Keep your body clean, and practice inner cleanliness by remembering God's holy names and chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa.
This verse establishes the Demoniac nature
Don’t know what is to be done and not to be done/Do not follow sastras.
Unclean – he neither likes nor follow these rules
Improper behavior
Untruthful
Self-centered
Don’t know what is to be done and not to be done / Do not follow sastras
Acts whimsically and not according to set of scriptural rules and regulations set-up for a civilized society
Either do not know scriptural rules and regulations
Even if knows, have no inclination to follow
Lack of faith
in Vedas – No faith in Vedic injunction
in Sages – Do not accept any instructions or experiences of great sages – this causes ‘miserable social condition’ of demoniac people
Aryans – They are the most advanced civilized people and they adopt the Vedic injunctions as it is FOCUS OF LEARNING: PURPORT 16.7 continued…
Unclean — he neither likes nor follow these rules
External cleanliness – Brushing, shaving, bathing etc.
Internal cleanliness – Chanting the Hare Krishna maha-mantra
Improper behavior
Manu-samhita is the guide for human behavior (Especially Hindus follow it)
Improper behavior with others – Anger, harshness
Manu-samhita explains the laws of inheritance and other legalities also – examples of proper social behavior.
Women should not be give freedom
Women are protected in all ages, not as slaves but as children
Result of modern woman liberation – Moral condition of women is not very good and marriage is practically an imagination
Untruthful
Concoct philosophies for their own purposes
Krishna wants to assure Arjuna that he possesses divine and not demoniac qualities
Describes the activities, mentality and qualities of those with demoniac tendencies
Krishna repeatedly casts these mischievous demons into demoniac, abominable species
Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.
The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.
Key ideas: daivī-sampat, dharma.
Take one thing from this verse into your day.
What does BG 16.7 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to character & ethics?
Choose one virtue to practice consciously today.
Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.
Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.
Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.