Bhagavad Gita 16.6

dvau bhūta-sargau loke ’smin

daiva āsura eva ca

daivo vistaraśaḥ proktaḥ

āsuraṁ pārtha me śṛṇu

 

Two kinds of beings fill this sphere,

Both divine and demonic reside here;

About the divine I have spoken in detail,

About the demoniac I will now tell.

 

My dear Lord, help me avoid the two extremes of denying that everyone, including myself, has an inborn nature and of reducing people to their inborn nature.

O universally benevolent Lord, when I fail to understand that people have an inborn nature, then my interactions with them become more distressing than necessary. If their inborn nature is ungodly, I hurt myself unnecessarily by trusting them excessively. If their inborn nature is godly, I hurt them unnecessarily by suspecting them excessively.

O beloved Lord, I may similarly assess myself wrongly. I may let myself rush into the danger of temptation or provocation by assuming my nature is higher than it is. Alternatively, I may let fear hold me back when my nature equips me to face challenges that you send my way for my spiritual evolution.

Conversely, O indwelling Lord, if I reduce people to their inborn nature, then I may consider their present disposition to be their permanent disposition, thereby equating their material psychophysical orientation with their spiritual essence. Everyone is a precious, perennial part of you and therefore has divine potential.

O infallible Lord, help me first to look at your pure, potent, personal, and personable nature, and then to view everyone in a way that helps them come closer to you, or at least helps me come closer to you.

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16.06 O son of Pṛthā, in this world there are two kinds of created beings. One is called divine and the other demoniac. I have already explained to you at length the divine qualities. Now hear from Me of the demoniac.