Lord Krishna
Divine TeacherThe Supreme Lord, the charioteer and divine guide of Arjuna. Krishna delivers the eternal wisdom of the Gita, revealing the nature of the soul, duty, and the path to liberation.
Speaking: Chapter 16, Verse 19
Verse 19
The Yoga of the Divine and Demonic Natures
These hateful, cruel, and vile people — the lowest of humanity — I continually hurl into demonic wombs in the cycle of rebirth.
Context & Meaning
Krishna states the consequence of the fully demonic life without softening: such beings are hurled (kṣipāmi — a forceful verb, cast, thrown) back into demonic births in the cycle of rebirth. This is not a sadistic punishment but a description of spiritual mechanics. The soul takes on the nature it has cultivated. A person who has spent a lifetime reinforcing demonic qualities — cruelty, hatred, arrogance, falsehood — becomes an instrument of those qualities. The next birth matches the instrument. The word ajasram (continually) suggests this is not a single punishment but an ongoing dynamic: as long as the demonic orientation persists, the births that express it continue. The door out is always the same: the turn toward the divine.
Scholar Commentaries
1 commentary · Public domainAdi Shankaracharya
AdvaitaKṣipāmi — I hurl. God as the inner governor and the orderer of karma does not exempt anyone from the consequences of their nature. But "hurling into demonic wombs" is not arbitrary cruelty — it is the expression of a law as impersonal as gravity: the soul gravitates toward the form that matches its inner content. The demonic soul, having cultivated demonic qualities throughout a life, naturally expresses itself in a demonic birth. The governance of God is therefore simultaneously justice and mercy: it holds every soul accountable while always leaving the door to transformation open.