Is the classification of the four kinds of miscreants in Gita 7.15 strict?

From: T AMIT KUMAR

prji in BG 7.15 it seems that Mudhas,maya apahrita jnanis and asuris all three can also be called naradhamas because all of them miss human chance.also i feel that every category can have the quality of other categories.so is it a strict way of classification of the people who are duskritinas?can you pls explain.

Transcript

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Amit Kumar In Bhagavad Gita 7.15 it seems that modhas, mayaparita, jnanas and asuris it’s asurambha, mamashrita all three can also be called naradhamas because all of them miss human chance also I feel that each category can have the quality of other categories so is it a strict way of classification in the people who are Dushkritanas? Can you please explain? Answer No system of classification reflects reality precisely just like we can have the color say pink and red but then there will be shades in between so reality in general is continuous and taxonomy of any kind taxonomy is the subject of classification of any kind is always problematic we know we divide people into three modes but then there will be shades of each and everyone so the same problem of taxonomical classification it especially applies more the subtle characteristics that are there for gross objects with measurable characteristics taxonomy might be easier but with subtle characteristics it becomes more difficult so here Krishna is talking about the mentality of people and mentality is definitely certain characteristic so yes this classification is not water tight it is indicative of the mentalities which cause people to go away from Krishna and stay away from him in fact if you look at the commentaries of the previous Acharyas often they give significantly different explanations of each category in broad terms the words are self explanatory so mudha refer to people who are just animal like they they have no higher sensibilities developed at all although they have a higher human life they are just involved in animal propensities Naradhamas they may have a higher intelligence but they just don’t never take any interest maya aparita jnana they have knowledge they even have spiritual knowledge but their spiritual knowledge is lost because of their own misconceptions and asurambhavad maashritaha you could say they have anti-spiritual knowledge in the sense they are actively working against God and his mission so mudhas have no spiritual information at all Naradhamas don’t take time out for spiritual interest don’t take in the effort maya aparita jnana get deluded and delude others because of their own misconceptions and asurambhavad maashritaha go actively against God so this will be a broad classification or a broad explanation of what each of these categories means and Srila Prabhupada elaborates on this now I have followed Srila Prabhupada who largely gives us explanation which is in agreement with the meaning of the term but then he gives further specific details so now it is the living Vedic tradition that considers it its duty to counter the most current and contemporary formulations of avidya that means in whatever way avidya is manifesting today that will be refuted by the living Vedic tradition so for example now Srila Prabhupada may include say atheistic scientists or mayavadis who say manasevay madhasevay, Dharitra Narayan in mayaparita jnana I am just giving an alternative example over here so now there might not have been atheistic scientists with Darwin’s theory of evolution say during Baldevidya Bhushan’s time so then he will not talk about those people in that category so he may well talk about the specific brand of mayavad that was prevalent at that time within that particular category so we can use this categorization as a means to get a general understanding of the mentalities which make people go away from Krishna but they surely have overlap and in fact we may find in ourselves some traces of each of these propensities also which make us stay away from Krishna and people who whom one particular propensity is maximum developed that may become their primary cause for staying away from Krishna or going away from Krishna further so yes rather than getting into the hair splitting about each specific category we need to understand their broad intention of indicating the generic mentalities that keep us away from Krishna