The Lord clarifies what He has said. Those with sattvic antaḥkaraṇa, with sattvic faith, with rules of sattvic scripture, worship devatās. Because of having faith in those devatās, they are said to be deva. In the same way, those with rajasic and tamasic antaḥkaraṇas take up such faith, and worship Rākṣasas and Bhūtas or Pretas, [Note: According to Baladeva, the Pretas are the spirits of those who have fallen from caste duties, or else a type of Piśāca. The Bhūtas are according to some, the seven mothers, or the followers of Śiva.] and are said to be Rākṣasas and Bhūtas.

“You asked the question ‘What is the position of those who, giving up the rules of scripture but with faith, and not simply enjoying as much as possible, perform worship?’ Now hear the answer.” The Lord answers in two verses. They perform austerities which are harmful to living entities (ghoram). The mention of austerities is representative of other acts such a japa and sacrifice as well. They perform all these acts against the rules of scriptures. The absence of whimsical enjoyment and endowment of faith (sraddhānvitāḥ) are understood in this context. But they are endowed with ostentation (dambhaḥ) and pride (ahaṅkāraḥ) because without those two, they could not transgress the rules of scripture. They also have desire for eternal youth, eternal life, kingdom and such things (kāma), attachment to their particular austerity (rāga), and ability to perform the austerity (bala), like that Hiraṇyakaśipu and others. Endowed with these qualities, they starve or cause suffering (karṣyantaḥ) to all elements such as earth (bhūtā-gramam), to Me (mām) and to My aṁśa the jīva, situated in their bodies. Know these people to be also situated on the level of asuras.

The results of worshipping with the different faiths are described in this verse. Those persons who with faith born of their previous impressions worship sattvika devas such as Vasu and Rudra without the discrimination of scripture are called sāttvika. Those who worship ṛajasic entities such as Yakṣas, Rākṣasas, Kuvera and Nairṛti are in the mode of passion. Those who worship tamasic entities such as pretas and bhūtas are in the mode of ignorance. The pretas are fallen brāhmaṇas who attain an airy body after death in the form of ulāmukhas, kaṭas or pūtanas, according to Manu. The pretas are a type of piśaca (evil spirit) according to others. Ca indicates the seven mothers [Note: These are said to be Brahmānī, Vaiṣṇavī, Maheśvarī, Kaumārī, Vārāḥī, Indrāṇi and Camuṇḍī] and other entities. [Note: The bhūta gaṇas are not explained. According to some commentators they are the followers of Śiva.] Thus the three types of faith arising from the differing natures due to previous impressions, without following the rules of scripture because of laziness, have been described. It should be understood that by conquering over their natures by association with persons following Vedic principles, these persons sometimes come under the authority of the Vedas. Bg 17.5, Bg 17.6, Bg 17.5-6 AXaaṣivihTa& gaaer& TaPYaNTae Yae TaPaae JaNaa" ) dM>aahªarSa&Yau¢-a" k-aMaraGabl/aiNvTaa" )) 5 )) k-zRYaNTa" XarqrSQa& >aUTaGa]aMaMaceTaSa" ) Maa& cEvaNTa" XarqrSQa& TaaiNvṬyaSauriNaêYaaNa( )) 6 )) aśāstra-vihitaṁ ghoraṁ tapyante ye tapo janāḥ dambhāhaṅkāra-saṁyuktāḥ kāma-rāga-balānvitāḥ karṣayantaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ bhūta-grāmam acetasaḥ māṁ caivāntaḥ śarīra-sthaṁ tān viddhy āsura-niścayān aśāstra—not in the scriptures; vihitam—directed; ghoram—harmful to others; tapyante—undergo; ye—those who; tapaḥ—austerities; janāḥ—persons; dambha—with pride; ahaṅkāra—and egoism; saṁyuktāḥ—engaged; kāma—of lust; rāga—and attachment; bala—by the force; anvitāḥ—impelled; karṣayantaḥ—tormenting; śarīra-stham—situated within the body; bhūta-grāmam—the combination of material elements; acetasaḥ—having a misled mentality; mām—Me; ca—also; eva—certainly; antaḥ—within; śarīra-stham—situated in the body; tān—them; viddhi—understand; āsura-niścayān—demons.

In the previous chapter the Lord said that those who do not follow Vedic authority are never freed from lower births. This is confirmed now in two verses. Endowed with obstinacy (balam), given by Me alone to let them accomplish their deeds, and endowed with desires for sense objects (kāma raga), they perform terrible austerities, giving pain to others, according to their own scriptures, which are contrary to the Vedas (aśāstra vihitam), and make the combination of elements (bhūta gramam) which are basic components of the body (śarīraṁ stham) wither away (karṣayantaḥ), by means of such things as useless fasting, and they also make Me wither away, by offending Me, who am situated within their bodies (antaḥ śarīraṁ stham). They are devoid of discriminating scriptural knowledge (acetasaḥ). Know for certain that these person are demonic (āsura niścayān), who do not follow the injunctions of the Vedas. It is understood that they cannot avoid the unfortunate destinations described in the last chapter. Those who worship the yakṣas, rakṣas, and pretas with faith arising from their natures, by the very strong mercy of followers of Vedic principles, can have their demonic natures destroyed, by developing faith in the scriptures. [Note: Those with rajasic and tamasic natures and faith would be more likely to indulge in the activities mentioned in the verse. Then they would be classed as asura.] But it is accepted that those who worship the devas, by attaining the mercy of those fixed in Vedic principles, very easily begin to follow the rules of scripture, because of being situated in sattva. [Note: They would not indulge in the practices mentioned in this verse because of their sattvika nature.]

Krsna begins immediatly explaining that from faith comes worship and according to the modes that affects one's faith one will worship in one way or another.