DEMONIAC TRAITS

dambho darpo'bhimaanashcha krodhah paarushyameva  cha
    ajnaanam chaabhijaatasya paartha sampadamaasureem  // 16.4 //

Hypocrisy,  arrogance, self-conceit, anger and also harshness and ignorance, belong to one  who is born in a demoniacal state, O Partha.

Hypocrisy  - Pretending to be righteous but living in unrighteous way of life.

Arrogance  - Pride in one's learning, wealth, social status or family connections thereby  living in imagined self-importance. This leads to self-conceit.

Anger  - When a person of self-conceit looks at the world and finds that its estimate  of him is totally different from his own he becomes angry over everything  around him which leads to audacity.

All  these qualities arise from one's own self-assessment out of self-delusion and  ignorance about the scheme of life in the world around him. This ignorance of  oneself and his relationship with the world around is the cause of his revolt  against his environment and the resultant eccentric actions. These types of  people are called demoniac or asuric in contrast to the Daivic or Divinely  described earlier. The effect of these two types is discussed now.

THEIR RESPECTIVE RESULTS

daivee sampadvimokshaaya nibhandhaayaasuree mataa
    maa shuchah sampadam daiveem abhijaato’si paandava  // 16.5 //

The  divine nature leads to liberation and the demoniacal for bondage. Grieve not, O  Arjuna, for you are born with divine properties.

After  hearing the features of the Divine and Demoniac natures Arjuna starts wondering  where he stands. Hence The Lord assures him that he is born with Divine  qualities.

He  reiterates that Divine nature is for liberation - liberation from the  psychological entanglements through living these healthy values of  righteousness. As a contrast to this Demoniac nature leads to confusion and  sorrow preventing one from rising high in the spiritual and moral fields.

Sri  Krishna analyses the diabolically fallen or people of demoniac nature in more  details in the following verses.

NATURE OF THE DEMONIAC PEOPLE

dwau bhootasargau loke’smin daiva aasura eva cha
    daivo vistarashah proktah aasuram paartha me shrinu  // 16.6 //

There  are two types of beings in this world - the divine and the demoniac; the divine  has been described at length; hear from Me, O Arjuna, of the demoniac.

pravrittim  cha nivrittim cha janaa na viduraasurah
    na  shaucham naapi chaachaaro na satyam teshu vidyate // 16.7 //

The  demoniac do not know about the way of action or the way of renunciation ; neither  purity nor right conduct nor truth is found in them.

asatyamapratishtham te jagadaahuraneeshwaram
    aparasparasambhootam kimanyat kaamahaitukam // 16.8  //

They  say ‘this Universe is without truth, without a (moral) basis, without a God,  brought about by mutual union with lust for its cause, what else’?

The  devilish personality is incapable of deciding about the actions to be pursued  and those to be avoided. He does not possess outer cleanliness or inward  harmony. Good conduct is absent in him. He can not maintain truthfulness in his  words.

They  fail to recognize the truth that upholds the Universe i.e. they do not recognize  the eternal unchanging Reality behind the ever-changing flux of things.  According to them there is no commanding intelligence that orders, regulates,  determines and guides the happenings in the world. They believe that the  universe is formed as a result of mutual combination of the elements and the  driving force that determines the creation is nothing but lust.

etaam drishtimavashtabhya  nashtaatmaano’lpabuddhayah
    prabhavantyugrakarmaanah kshayaaya jagato’hitaah //  16.9 //

Holding  this view, these ruined souls of small intellects and fierce deeds, come forth  as enemies of the world for its destruction.

Believing  that the world has no substratum, that there is no controlling power and that  it exists and continues on the basis of lust, the devilish people with selfish  sense-gratifying intellect and ruined soul i.e. ignorant of their own Divine nature  perform fierce deeds. They carry out all sorts of licentious acts to the  detriment of the world at large ultimately leading to the destruction of the  world itself. They bring about a discordant note of disharmony in the community  and plunge the world into disaster.

kaamamaashritya dushpooram dambhamaanamadaanvitaah
    mohaadgriheetvaasadgraahaan pravartante  shuchivrataah // 16.10 //

Filled  with insatiable desires, full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance, holding evil  ideas through delusion, they work with impure resolves.

Given  to desire - Yielding to desires devilish persons lead a life of perpetual  suffering and endless disturbances in and around them as all their desires are  insatiable. They are full of hypocrisy, pride and arrogance. They are the  victims of their own delusion because they forget their divine nature by  identifying themselves with the unreal things and values of life.

When  all these negative tendencies rule over the demoniac people their actions in  the world can not but be the cause for disaster and destruction to others.

chintaamaparimeyaam cha pralayaantaamupaashritaah
    kaamopabhogaparamaa etaavaditi nishchitaah // 16.11  //

Giving  themselves over to immeasurable cares ending only with death, regarding  gratification of lust as their highest aim and feeling sure that it is all.

aashaapaashatairbaddhaah kaamakrodhaparaayanaah
    eehante kaamabhogaartha manyaayenaarthasanchayaan  // 16.12 //

Bound  by hundreds of ties of desire, given over to lust and anger, they strive to  amass by unjust means hoards of wealth for sensual enjoyment.

This  materialistic doctrine which states

“yavad jivet sukham jivet rnam krtva ghrtam  pibet |
    bhasmibhutasya dehasya punar aagamanam  kutah ||

“Eat,  drink and be merry, for death is certain and there is nothing beyond”.

Such  desperate men with all anxieties and cares lead a futile life. Struggling to  acquire the desired objects and to be anxious for preserving what is acquired  are all the cares of their lives. Satisfaction of lust is their highest goal.  Their firm conviction is that there is nothing beyond this in life. They do not  know what is peace, harmony and joy in life. According to them sorrows and  cares alone are the contents of life. Ultimately they end in miserable death,  exhausted and disappointed.

Entangled  by insatiable desires, the energies of demoniac persons get dissipated. They  become restless and impatient with their surroundings and lose their sense of judgment.

Irritated  and constantly unhappy with their environment, they become angry over  unfulfilled desires. They ceaselessly try to acquire more and more wealth to  satisfy their sensual hunger losing sight of a diviner principle of existence.