एतैर्विमुक्तः कौन्तेय तमोद्वारैस्त्रिभिर्नरः।आचरत्यात्मनः श्रेयस्ततो याति परां गतिम् ॥

Teachers usually read this idea across several verses together, one shared reflection covers the whole unit.

• 16.17Self-conceited, stubborn, filled with pride and intoxication of wealth, they perform sacrifices in name only for ostentation, contrary to scriptural ordinances.
• 16.18Given over to egoism, power, haughtiness, lust, and anger, these malicious people hate Me in their own bodies and in the bodies of others.
• 16.19Those cruel haters, the worst among men in the world, I hurl those evil-doers into the wombs of demons only.
• 16.20Entering into demoniacal wombs and deluded, birth after birth, they do not attain Me, thus falling, O Arjuna, into a condition still lower than that.
• 16.21There are three gates to this hell, destructive of the self: lust, anger, and greed; therefore, one should abandon these three.

• 16.22A person who is liberated from these three gates of darkness, O Arjuna, practices what is beneficial for them and thus goes to the Supreme Goal.

• 16.23He who, having cast aside the ordinances of the scriptures, acts under the impulse of desire, does not attain perfection, nor happiness, nor the Supreme Goal.
• 16.24Therefore, let the scripture be thy authority in determining what ought to be done and what ought not to be done. Having known what is said in the ordinance of the scriptures, thou shouldst act in this world.

gatim

goal

yāti

attain

parām

supreme

etaiḥ

from this

naraḥ

a person

tataḥ

thereby

kaunteya

Arjun, the son of Kunti

tribhiḥ

three

ācharati

endeavor

vimuktaḥ

freed

ātmanaḥ

soul

śhreyaḥ

welfare

tamaḥ-dvāraiḥ

gates to darkness