16.20 AsurIm yOnim ApannA

SrI:  SrImathE SatakOpAya nama:  SrImathE rAmAnujAya nama:  SrImath varavaramunayE nama:

Chapter 16

<< Chapter 16 Verse 19

SlOkam – Original

AsurIm yOnim ApannA mUdA janmani janmani |
mAm aprApyaiva kaunthEya thathO yAntyadhamAm gathim ||

word-by-word meaning

kaunthEya – Oh son of kunthI!
AsurIm yOnim ApannA: – (as explained in previous SlOkam) these people, having attained demoniac births
janmani janmani – in subsequent births
mUdA: – having nurtured with misunderstanding about me
mAm aprApya – without attaining true knowledge about me
thatha: – than those [lowly] births
adhamAm gathim yAnthi – attain lower states

Simple Translation

Oh son of kunthI! These people, having attained demoniac births (as explained in previous SlOkam), in subsequent births, having nurtured with misunderstanding about me, without attaining true knowledge about me, attain lower states than those [lowly] births.

Rendering based on ALkoNdavilli gOvindhAchArya swAmy’s English translation of gIthA bhAshyam

‘Entering wombs demoniac, in error spawning from birth to birth, never (do they) find Me, Kaunteya! but drag themselves down the Nether Path.’

Demoniac wombs = Such incarnate existences as are opposed to affinity for Me (=ānukūlya or harmony). Again and again do they spawn in such wombs, and their error or illusion or distorted understanding increases.

Never find Me = Never attain to the wisdom that Bhagavān (God) really does exist, —the all-Lord, Vāsudeva.

From such births, they slip further and further down the Nether Road.

The root-cause by which these Non-divine natures lose their souls, is now stated :—

>> Chapter 16 Verse 21

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