Canto 3: The Status QuoChapter 6: Creation of the Universal Form

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 3.6.28

ātyantikena sattvena

divaḿ devāḥ prapedire

dharāḿ rajaḥ-svabhāvena

paṇayo ye ca tān anu

SYNONYMS

ātyantikena — excessive; sattvena — by the mode of goodness; divamin the higher planets; devāḥ — the demigods; prapedire — have been situated; dharām — on the earth; rajaḥ — the mode of passion; svabhāvena — by nature; paṇayaḥ — the human being; ye — all those; ca — also; tān — their; anu — subordinate.

TRANSLATION

The demigods, qualified by the superexcellent quality of the mode of goodness, are situated in the heavenly planets, whereas the human beings, because of their nature in the mode of passion, live on the earth in company with their subordinates.

PURPORT

In Bhagavad-gītā (14.14-15) it is said that those who are highly developed in the mode of goodness are promoted to the higher, heavenly planetary system, and those who are overpowered by the mode of passion are situated in the middle planetary systems — the earth and similar planets. But those who are surcharged with the mode of ignorance are degraded to the lower planetary systems or to the animal kingdom. The demigods are highly developed in the mode of goodness, and thus they are situated in the heavenly planets. Below human beings are the animals, although some of them mingle with human society; cows, horses, dogs, etc., are habituated to living under the protection of human beings.

The word ātyantikena is very significant in this verse. By development of the mode of goodness of material nature one can become situated in the heavenly planets. But by excessive development of the modes of passion and ignorance, the human being indulges in killing the animals who are meant to be protected by mankind. Persons who indulge in unnecessary animal killing have excessively developed in the modes of passion and ignorance and have no hope of advancing to the mode of goodness; they are destined to be degraded to lower statuses of life. The planetary systems are calculated as upper and lower in terms of the classes of living entities who live there.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness