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Chapter 17
In the sixty-second and sixty-third verses of the second chapter in the Gita, it is mentioned, that anger springs from desire, which is a mode of passion, while from anger arises delusion, the mode of ignorance. Similarly, in the twenty-seventh verse of the eighteenth chapter, a doer, who is swayed by sorrow and who is given to violence, is said to be passionate, while in the twenty-fifth verse of the same chapter, violence has been called, a mark of the mode of ignorance, and in the thirty-fifth verse, sorrow, a mark of firmness of the mode of ignorance. Thus several signs of the mode of ignorance and of passion, are similar.
Sattvika feelings, thoughts and conduct, are included in divine nature, while the rajasika and tanrasika, are included in demoniac nature. A man's position, is decided in accordance with, his nature. Here, by the term 'position', Arjuna wants to know what is the fate of such a man, as he also asked, in the thirty-seventh verse of the sixth chapter.
Here, Arjuna addresses the Lord as Krsna (One who attracts). He wants to ask, of what status, He will consider such a man i.e., what is his status and what is his end.
Now a question arises, whether the Lord attracts persons, or whether they are attracted, according to the fruit of their actions. The answer is, that a man receives the fruit of his actions, but the controller of those fruits, is the Lord. He awards the fruits, according to their action. But, being a disinterested friend of all, He throws them into hell, to purify them, of their sins, and then he attracts all of them, towards Him. So the Lord says, for the people of demoniac nature, that those deluded beings, instead of attaining Him, go down to lower planes[1]. It means, that the Lord is sad, when he sees that human beings, instead of attaining Him, go down to lower states.
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