tān ahaḿ dviṣataḥ krūrān
saḿsāreṣu narādhamān
kṣipāmy ajasram aśubhān
āsurīṣv eva yoniṣu
Translation of Bhagavad Gita 16.19
Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.
Commentary by Sri A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
In this verse it is clearly indicated that the placing of a particular individual soul in a particular body is the prerogative of the supreme will. The demoniac person may not agree to accept the supremacy of the Lord, and it is a fact that he may act according to his own whims, but his next birth will depend upon the decision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead and not on himself. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam, Third Canto, it is stated that an individual soul, after his death, is put into the womb of a mother where he gets a particular type of body under the supervision of superior power. Therefore in the material existence we find so many species of life—animals, insects, men, and so on. All are arranged by the superior power. They are not accidental. As for the demoniac, it is clearly said here that they are perpetually put into the wombs of demons, and thus they continue to be envious, the lowest of mankind. Such demoniac species of men are held to be always full of lust, always violent and hateful and always unclean. The many kinds of hunters in the jungle are considered to belong to the demoniac species of life.
Commentary by Sri Vishvanatha Chakravarthi Thakur of Gaudiya Sampradaya:
No commentary by Sri Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakur.
Commentary by Sri Ramanuja of Sri Sampradaya:
16.19 Those who hate Me in this manner, I hurl them, the cruel, inauspicious and the vilest of mankind into the cycle of births and deaths for ever, viz., old age, death etc., revolving again and again, and even there into demoniac wombs. I hurl them into births, antagonistic to any friendliness towards Me. The meaning is that I shall connect them to cruel minds as would impel them to actions which lead them to the attainment of cursed births.
Commentary by Sri Sridhara Swami of Rudra Sampradaya:
The demoniac never deviate from their diabolical evil nature. These despisers of righteousness, the Supreme Lord Krishna keeps incessantly revolving in samsara the perpetual cycle of birth and death. Because the demoniac are a perpetual offence to all creation the Supreme Lord sees that they are hurled into ever more and more degraded species with each successive birth until they take birth as ferocious beasts and cruel reptiles such as vicious tigers and envious snakes. This is the factual result of the sinful activities of the demoniac.
Commentary by Sri Madhvacharya of Brahma Sampradaya:
Sri Madhvacharya did not comment on this sloka.
Commentary by Sri Keshava Kashmiri of Kumara Sampradaya:
After describing the activities and characteristics of those possessing a demoniac nature; Lord Krishna explains in this verse and the next the consequence of such. The demoniac are the vilest among created beings. They are evil, diabolical, devilish, cruel, sinful and spiteful; executing abominable activities that are always opposed to Lord Krishna and sanatan dharma the path of eternal righteousness. The Supreme Lord who is fully cognizant of every aspect of His creation, continuously awards the demoniac the opportunity to oppose Him by assuring that the demoniac are hurled into demoniac wombs birth after birth after birth in order that their venomous nature can increase against Him which is their innate compulsive obsession.
Commentary by Sri Adi Shankaracharya of Advaita Sampradaya:
16.19 Because of their defect of unrighteousness, aham, I; ksipami, cast, hurl; ajasram, for ever; all tan, those; who are dvisatah, hateful of Me; kruran, cruel; and asubhan, who are evil doers; samsaresu, in the worlds-who are on the paths leading to hell; who are the nara-adhaman, vilest of human beings, who are opposed to the right path, who are hostile to the pious people; eva, verily; asurisu, into the demoniacal; yonisu, classes-tigers, loins, etc., which are full of evil deeds. The verb cast is to be connected with ‘into the classes’.
Commentary by Sri Abhinavagupta of Kaula Tantra Sampradaya:
16.17-20 Atmasambhavitah etc. upto gatim. They pretend to perform sacrifices : The meaning is that their sacrifice is fruitless. Indeed all is ruined because of their anger. Or, namayjna [may mean] ‘the sacrifices which are in name only’. Or, it [may denote] those sacrifices that are performed for one’s name sake i.e., for one’s reputation, because of which one gets the appellation as ‘He is performer of [such and such] sacrifices’ These sacrifices, performed out of hypocricy alone, do not , however fetch any fruit. Becasue these persons are rugged with anger etc., they hate people and by that they hate Me only [in fact]. For, I, the Vasudeva (the Universal Soul), dwell every-where. Entertaining hatred towards their own Soul, they perform action, that is hostile to themselves, and responsible for their own fall into the hells. These persons I hurl into nothing but the demoniac wombs.
Sanskrit Shloka Without Transliteration Marks:
tan aham dvisatah kruran
samsaresu naradhaman
ksipamy ajasram asubhan
asurisv eva yonisu
Sanskrit to English Word for Word Meanings:
tān — those; aham — I; dviṣataḥ — envious; krūrān — mischievous; saḿsāreṣu — into the ocean of material existence; nara-adhamān — the lowest of mankind; kṣipāmi — I put; ajasram — forever; aśubhān — inauspicious; āsurīṣu — demoniac; eva — certainly; yoniṣu — into the wombs.
