The divine set (16.1–3) runs to some twenty-six qualities and needs no gloss beyond noticing its balance — it weds inner virtues (fearlessness, purity, serenity) to outer ones (charity, non-violence, gentleness), and strength (vigour, fortitude) to softness (modesty, compassion). The demonic set is defined first in miniature (16.4 — hypocrisy, arrogance, self-conceit, anger, harshness, ignorance) and then unfolded at length (16.7–18). Its essence is diagnosed at 16.7: “the demonic know not what is to be done nor what is to be refrained from” — they have lost the very compass of pravṛtti and nivṛtti. From this root failure grow their marks: they deny truth and God (16.8), do fierce deeds for the world’s ruin (16.9), are bound by insatiable hope and driven by lust and anger (16.10–12), hoard wealth by any means (16.13), deify themselves (16.14), and perform even worship as hollow show (16.17). The contrast is not between two tribes of people but between two tendencies alive in every heart — for the guṇas of canto 14 are the soil of both.

“They say the world is without truth, without moral ground, without a Lord (asatyam apratiṣṭhaṃ te jagad āhur anīśvaram), produced by mere mutual union, caused by nothing but lust.” A verse easily misused to condemn every non-believer, so it must be read with care. The target is not the honest agnostic, nor the scientist who withholds assent for want of evidence, nor the sincere doubter (the Gītā, recall, praises enquiry and reason — 2.49, 4.34, 18.63). The target is the specifically nihilistic stance that pulls the floor out from under all value: “nothing is real, nothing matters, there is no order, so let me grab what I can.” Asatya here is not “unproven” but “without any grounding truth”; apratiṣṭha is “without moral foundation”. The verse indicts a self-serving denial adopted precisely to license appetite (see 16.9–15), not a humble uncertainty pursued in good faith. An agnostic of upright life and open mind is far nearer the daivī sampad than a temple-going hypocrite (16.17). The Gītā condemns the fruit of the creed — the moral collapse — not the mere absence of a stated theology.