etaam dristhimavashthaabya nashtotmaanolpabuddhayaha |
prabhavantyugrakarmaanaha kshayaaya jagatohitaahaa || 9 ||
 
Holding this view, these narrow minded, lost souls who engage in acts of terror, rise as enemies of the world for its annihilation.
 
etaam : this
dristhim : view
avashthaabya : holding
nashtotmaanaha : lost souls
alpabuddhayaha : narrow minded
prabhavanti : rise
ugrakarmaanaha : those that engage in acts of terror
kshayaaya : annihilation
jagataha : world
ahitaahaa : enemies
 
If we examine the life of any tyrant, gangster, terrorist or despot, a common theme arises. There was one moment in their life where they realized that using physical force on another person gave them power and joy. In other words, they did not have any regard for the consequences of their actions, especially when it came to harming others. Such people are the embodiment of the aasuric or the devilish tendencies.
 
Shri Krishna now begins to describe such people in great detail. First, he says that such people hold a petty, narrow minded view of the world. If I win, someone has to lose, this is their outlook. They have no sense of connectedness, nothing in common with anyone else. They are nashthaatmaanaha, they are lost souls. They have no concept that there is something beyond the physical body, whether it is god, soul, humanity, nationality, nothing at all.
 
Now when such people don’t have any connection with other human beings, with the rest of the world, they have no qualms in engaging in acts of terror. We nowadays come across people who create and deploy computer viruses, bombs, chemical weapons and so on. It all begins with a seemingly simple notion – that the body is the only truth in this world, and that everything is justified in preserving one’s body at the expense of someone else’s.