dvau bhūtasargau loke ‘smin daiva āsura eva ca
daivo vistaraśaḥ proktaḥ āsuram pārtha me śṛṇu (Bhagavad Gita XVI - 06)
Human beings are created with two groups of ideas prominent in them; One is called Daiva group and the other is called Āsura group.
Śrī Śankarācārya, interpreting these lines from Bhagavad Gita wrote: “dvau dvisaṅkhyākau bhūtasargau bhūtānām manuṣyāṇām sargau sṛṣṭī bhūtasargau.” There are two kinds of creations of human beings; they are called Deva group and Asura group. Those individuals having good and progressive ideas dominant in them are called Deva group. Those having negative and destructive ideas prominent in them are called the Asura group.
The creation happens in Nature. It is stated here that this good nature, as well as the bad one, is the creation in Nature; not the creation of human beings. If man wants he cannot be good or bad all of a sudden; it is through a process, by changing his internal Nature, that he can transform.
Patanjali says in his Yogasutra-s:
“nimittam aprayojakam prakṛtīnām varaṇabhetastu kṣetrikavat.” (IV - 03)
The various methods of practice in Nature for self control are not effective upon the true Nature of the Self; The true realisation of the Self is covered up by impurities; just remove the veil of ignorance which cover up the wisdom; the transformation happens by itself. Any action by human beings has no effect in the true transformation; the true realisation should come from inside by itself. As farmers break the mud-wall which stopped water from flowing into the field, when they want the water to flow in. The flow of water is not because of the work of the farmer; on the other hand, it is because the nature of water is to flow. Similarly, the transformation into Daiva Prakṛti or into Āsura Prakṛti is not under the control of individuals.One can try hard to remove the coverage and the wisdom should arise by itself. So to remind all that good or bad ideas are not the creation of an individual, Daiva and Āsura groups of ideas are called Bhūtasargau.
Śrī Śankarācārya continues that “sṛjyate iti sargau.” They are called Sargau because they are created in Nature. “bhūtānyeva sṛjyamānāni daivāsurasampaddvayayuktāni dvau bhūtasargau ityucyate.” They are called two bhūtasarga-s because the human beings are created with different orientations of Daiva and Āsura. The human beings are importantly mentioned here as creations because the Deva and Asura ideas are prominent only in human minds. Other creatures also have such responses in them. But they have only basic mental responses to the surroundings.
Śrī Śankarācārya quotes this line of Upaniṣad: “dvayā ha prājāpatyā devāśca asurāśca” (Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad. 1-3-1). The creation of Prajāpati, the God of Creation, is in two groups; Daiva and Āsura. The same ideas from Upaniṣad are used by BG.
Śrī Śankarācārya continues: “loke asmin samsāre ityarthaḥ; sarveṣām dvaividhyopapatteḥ." The word Loka here does not mean the whole universe; it means only the creatures who take birth and die due to their embedded samskara-s inside. This is called Samsāra. It is this embedded Samskāra, the sleeping tendencies, which is the reason for the body and other qualities of each birth. Such embedded Samskāra-s lead to the Deva or Asura groups of individuals.
This fact that Samskāra-s are the reason for the future nature of creation, shows the way to get rid of the negative ideas and to cultivate positive ones. Building positive Samskāra-s through right practice of good Karma-s in day-to-day life is the remedy for transforming negative ideas into positive. This is suggested when Śrī Śankarācārya pointed out that ‘Loke means in this Samsāra’. All Yajña-s and Sādhana-s are practised only to get rid of this Samsāra, or the negative Samskāra-s embedded in the deepest layers of mind.