Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 16, Verse 6: Krishna to Arjuna — Daivāsura-Sampad-Vibhāga-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  In this saṃsāra (world-process), two kinds of human births are spoken of — the daiva (divine) and the āsura (demonic) — because beings, even as they are projected, arrive already endowed with one or the other saṃpat (disposition). The śruti confirms: 'dvayā ha prājāpatyāḥ — devāś cāsurāś ca' (BṛU 1.3.1). The daiva sarga (divine creation) has already been elaborated in detail beginning with 'abhayaṃ sattva-saṃśuddhiḥ' (16.1); now, O Pārtha, attend to the āsura — for what is fully known can be fully renounced.

  divergence: Śaṅkara: 'daivaḥ bhūtasargaḥ abhayaṃ sattvasaṃśuddhiḥ ityādinā vistaraśaḥ proktaḥ... āsuraṃ pārtha me vacanāt ucyamānaṃ vistaraśaḥ śṛṇu avdhāraya'

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  In this karmabhūmi (field of action), the two types of birth arise from prior puṇya (merit) and pāpa (demerit): the daiva sarga (divine birth) is birth oriented toward following Bhagavān's command — its conduct is karma-yoga, jñāna-yoga, and bhakti-yoga; the āsura sarga (demonic birth) is birth oriented toward violating that command. These are not merely behavioral tendencies but ordained at the moment of birth itself through Bhagavān's own dispensation. O Pārtha, hear now the conduct that marks the āsura birth.

  divergence: Rāmānuja: 'prācīnapuṇyapāparūpakarmavaśād bhagavadājñānuvṛttitadviparītakaraṇāya utpattikāla eva vibhāgena bhūtāni utpadyante'

• Madhvadvaita

  *Dvau bhūta-sargau loke 'smin daiva āsura eva ca* — two creations of beings stand in this world: the *daiva* (divine) and the *āsura* (demonic). The distinction is not merely moral but ontological: each *jīva* (individual self), as *paratantra* (eternally dependent) upon *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) Hari, bears a graded standing within *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy). The divine creation moves in alignment with Hari's sovereign will; the demonic opposes it. Both classes are real, both are distinct from one another and from the Lord — *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction) admits no collapse of these categories. The *daiva* disposition has been set out at length; Arjuna is now directed to hear the *āsura*. The instruction is not academic: knowing the demonic thoroughly, the *jīva* who aspires to *bhakti* (devotion) as ontological subordination to Hari can recognize and renounce it.

  divergence: Madhva and Jayatīrtha are silent on this verse. The reading proceeds from Dvaita *siddhānta*: real *jīva*–Īśvara *bheda*, *taratamya* among *jīvas*, and *bhakti* as the proper expression of *paratantra* dependence.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  In this world, beings who are aṃśa (portions) of divine māyā take birth in two streams — daiva and āsura — and Vallabha's gloss on 'eva ca' is pointed: even now, in this age, the āsura tendency is rising within the daiva stream itself. The maryādā-mārga (path of scriptural rule) describes the daiva elaborately elsewhere; the puṣṭi-mārga (path of grace), won by Bhagavān's unconditional anugraha (grace) alone, stands apart from both — but you must first hear the āsura described so that its darkness is fully seen.

  divergence: Vallabha: 'eva ca ityanen-ādhunā tu daive'py āsurabhāvodayakāla āyāta iti dyotayati... nirhetukaḥ bhagavadanugraikā-labhydayā... bhaktimārgasya kathanāt puṣṭim astīti niścayaḥ'

• Śrīdharabhakti

  In order that the āsurī-saṃpat (demonic disposition) be abandoned in its entirety, Kṛṣṇa now elaborates it. Two births, two streams — daiva and āsura: Śrīdhara notes that the rākṣasī (demonic-violent) nature is here subsumed under the āsura, yielding precisely two, not three — resolving the apparent tension with the three-nature typology of Chapter 9 ('āsura-rākṣasīṃ caiva prakṛtiṃ mohinīṃ śritāḥ'). What has been seen must be renounced; hear, O Pārtha.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'āsurarajāksasaprakṛtyorekakaraṇena dvāvity uktam... navamādhyāyoktaprakṛtitridhyenāvirodhah'

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  There is no third category — not a separate human nor a separate rākṣasa sarga: when a person, by the force of śāstra-saṃskāra (scriptural formation), subdues innate rāga-dveṣa (attraction-aversion) and becomes dharma-oriented, that person is daiva; when innate rāga-dveṣa overwhelms śāstra-saṃskāra and adharma prevails, that person is āsura. The śruti's triple 'da' (BṛU: dāmyata, datta, dayadhvam) itself confirms this — humans addressed without self-restraint, generosity, or compassion are already āsura. Kṛṣṇa has described the daiva across Chapters 2, 12, 13, 14, and this chapter's opening; now, O Pārtha — relationship-word — hear the āsura, so it may be fully known and fully forsaken.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'yo yadā manuṣyaḥ śāstrasaṃskāraprābalyena svabhāvasiddhau rāgadveṣāvabhibhūya dharmaparāyaṇo bhavati sa tadā devaḥ... nahi dharmādharmābhyāṃ tṛtīyā koṭir asti... ekeneva da-ityakṣareṇa...'