Demigods and Demons

1. Different forms of life
2. The peculiarity of the human form of life
3. 33 Million demigods
4. Characteristics of the divine and demonic natures
5. Adharma strengthens the Asuras
6. Ahimsa – non-violence
7. The power of the Asuras today on this planet
8. Technical achievements
9. Overcoming asurian Power
10. Additional remark

„We all know there are no gods“, I recently read on a website and a little later I even heard the same sentence on the radio. In this statement two assertions are made: 1. there are no gods and 2. we all know that. What do people who make such statements base their claims on? How do they know what 7 billion people know or don't know, or who do they mean by we all? What do they even mean by “gods”?

Different forms of life

According to the Vedas, the universe is populated by 8,400,000 forms of life. There are 900,000 forms of aquatic life, 2,000,000 species of plants, 1,100,000 million forms of insects, 1,000,000 species of birds, 3,000,000 species of animals and 400,000 human forms. They are born from eggs, seeds, sweat, excrement and wombs.

Human forms include humans, Devas (demigods), Daityas (demons), Rakshasas (carnivores who also like to feast on the flesh and blood of humans), Yakshas, Charanas, Bhutas, Pretas (spirits), Vidyadharas, Kinneras, Kimburushas, Siddhas, Gandharvas, apsaras and others. All these life forms exist on different planets in the universe (lokas – Kinnera-loka, Siddha-loka, Gandharva-loka etc.) in three main worlds – celestial planetary systems, middle planetary systems and hellish planetary systems.

The peculiarity of the human form of life

The life forms are various coverings of the spiritual souls, tools for the fulfilment of their material desires, consisting of various combinations of the 24 elements (mahābhūtas, manas, etc). Depending on which desires a living being develops and cultivates in the human life form, it is provided with a corresponding body by material nature.

The human forms of life are especially intended for knowledge of the self and of God, for spiritual development; in the other forms of life this possibility does not exist. People who do not use this possibility are compared in the scriptures to people who possess a great treasure but do not use it, i.e. to miserly people.

From the human form, the spiritual soul can rise upwards or downwards in the evolutionary cycle. This depends on the dispositions a person develops under the influence of the three guṇas (sattva, rajas and tamas). (See: 3 modes of appearance of material nature).

33 million demigods

In the upper regions of the universe - called Svargaloka - 33 million demigods dwell. They could also be called celestials. The chief demigods – Indra (the king of heaven), Varuna (deity of waters), Agni (deity of fire), Surya (the sun god), Vayu (deity of wind), Candra (moon god) and others – regulate various processes in the universe as limbs and faithful servants of the Supreme Lord together with their helpers. They are sons of Kashyapa Muni's consort Aditi. Kashyapa is one of the forefathers of humanity. With his second consort, Diti, he begat the enemies of the Adityas and the Devas called Daityas. The descendants of Diti's sons are also called Daityas.

From time to time, powerful Daityas fight against the Devas with their hosts. Sometimes the demons are victorious. The Purāṇas and the Mahābhārata narrate such battles. When the demigods are weaker than the demons, they seek refuge with Śrī Viṣṇu in their distress. With Brahmā at their head, they go to Dhruvaloka, the pole star, where on the island called Svetadvipa Śrī Viṣṇu rests on his serpent bed Ananta-Sesa. The Supreme Lord is impartial, yet He helps the demigods as they seek refuge with Him, are devoted to Him and obey His orders.

Devas and Daityas had incarnated on earth in large numbers at the end of the Dvapara Yuga about 5,000 years ago to participate in the pastimes of Sri Krishna, who had appeared to destroy the miscreants, protect the pious and reintroduce the principles of true religion. The Daityas fought against the Pandavas at the great battle of Kuruksetra as allies of the Kauravas (Duryodhana and his brothers). And powerful Devas fought on the side of Yudhistira and his brothers. Yudhistira was a son of Yamaraja, the righteous Lord of Death. He was crowned emperor of the world after the battle. All this is described in detail in the 100,000 verse long Mahabharata. It also gives the names of the devas and Asuras and the names of their incarnations on earth. For example, Duryodhana was an incarnation of Kali, Shakuni was an incarnation of Dvapara, Draupadi was an incarnation of Lakshmi, the goddess of fortune, Drona was a partial extension of Bhrihaspati, the Guru of the Devas and Dhrishtadyumna was a partial extension of Agni (demigod of fire). All the warriors killed in the great battle went to the heavenly realms after death, Devas and Asuras returned to their respective realms.
[See: Mahabharata - Jewel of the Poets, Part 1: The History of the Pandavas, Prehistory, Devas and Asuras Incarnate on Earth]

The great Devas can also visit the earth for a short time when an incarnation of the Supreme Lord has appeared to pay homage to him, to serve him directly and to enjoy his transcendental deeds. Invisible to earthlings, they then watch the events from the firmament. In the golden age, the Satya-Yuga, they can even be seen by humans. When great personalities give up their mortal shell and return to the spiritual world, several great demigods may also be present, such as at Bhishma Maharaja's passing away or several years later when Sukadeva Goswami spoke the Srimad-Bhagavatam to Maharaja Pariksit in the presence of great sages, brahmanas and kings - before his death by the bite of the snake Takshaka within seven days.

At Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's transcendental pastimes in Navadvipa, Bengal, about 500 years ago, hosts of Devas and Devis were often present invisibly, and at the great Sankirtan, the march of Sri Caitanya, His associates and hundreds of thousands of people to the palace of the Kazi, where the Supreme Lord and all the participants sang and danced the whole time to the sound of His holy name (Hari, Krishna, Rama etc.), many of the great Devas like Brahma, Shiva, Indra, Yamaraja, Shukadeva, Narada etc. were involved. They had assumed human forms and sang and danced unrecognised among the people. This Līla (transcendental pastime of the Lord) is narrated in the Caitanya-Bhagavata, Madhya-Khanda, Chapter 23 by Vrindavan Dasa Thakur.

Characteristics of the divine and demonic natures

According to the characteristics of their nature, living beings are divided into divine and demonic natures in Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic scriptures (Bhagavad-gītā, Chapter 16, "Daivasura Sampada Yoga - the yoga of distinguishing between divine and asuric nature or of understanding divine and demonic nature").

Truthfulness, self-control, the development of spiritual knowledge, renunciation, non-violence, kindness, mercy, cleanliness, etc. are qualities of the divine nature, and pride, anger, greed, avarice, deceit, ignorance, ruthlessness, violence, harshness and envy etc. are qualities of the demonic nature. These are two poles. In between there is still a mass of people today who tend either more towards one pole or towards the other in their thoughts, words and actions. To which pole, however, is clearly evident. Among the demonic natures there is a minority that is very evil and diligently saws at the branch on which we all sit. The majority of demonic natures follow them blindly. Whatever they do, under whatever guise, nothing good comes out of it.

The demigods, but also humans with a divine nature, are called Devas or Suras and the demons are called Asuras or Daityas. The main characteristic of human beings with a divine nature is that they accept the supremacy of the Supreme Lord, obey His laws, respect the divine order and serve Him (or at least try to), whereas human beings with a demonic nature do not.

The demigods and other human beings on the higher planetary systems are devotees of the Supreme Lord, while the demons deny the Lord's personality or are envious of Him. In their ignorance and stupidity, they think they are free to act however they please without ever being held accountable for their offences against the divine order.

Nowadays there is even a massive attempt by Asuras to present and make unnatural perversions of all kinds – such as killing of human beings in the womb, paedophilia, sodomy and other unnatural lusts and practices – as something quite normal. This is Kali-Yuga – noble principles no longer apply and what was once sacred is being dragged through the mud and the impure, the perversion, is being propagated and even promoted by the state, because the Asuras are in power and sit in many governments and hold high economic positions and through their propaganda network say and determine what is right and what is wrong according to their agenda.

Adharma strengthens the Asuras

Many Vedic scriptures repeatedly point out that adharma is the cause of all difficulties and problems on earth. Dharma is the divine law, the observance of which leads to happiness and peace. Dharma includes instructions, regulations, duties in the Varnashrama (Vedic social system), rules for right conduct, what should be done (yama) and what must not be done (niyama). Yama includes, for example, worshipping the Supreme Lord and performing sacrifices, offering food to Vishnu, to the devas, to the ancestors. niyama includes violence (there are innumerable forms of violence today), killing people and animals, theft, fraud, extramarital and perverted sexuality, spreading avidya (ignorance; material knowledge that serves only unrestricted sense gratification), manufacturing and selling destructive weapons, poison and addictive drugs (including alcoholics), etc., etc.

Adharma means non-observance of dharma, disregard of the Vedic scriptures, godlessness, irreligion, atheism. Through adharma in society, i.e. when the mass of people do not follow dharma and act against the divine order, the demonic natures become strong. This is what all the great teachers of humanity, teachers of Vedic knowledge, say – Shiva says it, Brahma says it, Manu says it and many others.

Ahimsa – non-violence

A very important religious principle is ahimsa, non-violence towards all living beings, and this means in particular “stop meat eating”, putting an end to the barbaric mass slaughter of pigs, cattle, etc. (In Germany alone – a comparetively small country with about 80 Million people – about 750 million animals were slaughtered in 2020, 50 million pigs, 5 million cattle, etc.) Anyone who supports this in any way, whether as an animal slaughterer, a meat eater, a meat seller, a butcher or simply as a waiter serving a guest a meat or sausage dish, is guilty and will receive the reactions for this in due course.

There are many passages in the Mahabharata that refer to meat-eating and animal slaughter. No Vedic scripture condones the slaughter of animals for sensual pleasure, let alone factory fattening and slaughter. For example, the Mahabharata states:

“The one who ensures that meat is available; the one who approves such provision; the one who slaughters; the one who buys or sells the meat; the one who cooks it and the one who eats it – they are all considered animal killers.”

yo 'hiṁsakāni bhūtani hinastyātma-sukhaicchayā | sa jīvāṁśca mṛtaś caiva na kva cit sukhamedhate | yo bandhana-vadha-kleśān prāṇinaṁ na cikīrṣati | sa sarvasya hita-prepsuḥ sukham-atyantam-aśnute

“One who injures an innocent living being out of a desire for pleasure never finds happiness, either alive or dead [Note: I.e., neither in this life nor the next]. But one who does not cause the suffering of imprisonment and being killed, but strives for the good of all beings, attains endless happiness.” (— Manu-samhita 5.45-46)

The reactions can result in wars, famine and other hardships for entire countries. “Where there are slaughterhouses, there are battlefields”, the famous philosopher and author L. Tolstoy once said. For he who behaves cruelly and ruthlessly towards other living beings should not expect mercy from material nature towards himself. It could be that human beings are regarded by other human beings – by the “great” Asuras – as animals, guinea pigs or slaves, and are then treated accordingly by the many petty Asuras, their brainless executors of orders. Here we see once again that all suffering is rooted in ignorance (samagram dukhamayat tama vijnane dvayashrayam), as stated in the Ayurvedic classic Caraka-Samhita.

The power of the Asuras today on this planet

Because of adharma, the Asuras are powerful on earth today. They skilfully control the masses of people by means of technical achievements through lies and deceit, violence, permanent propaganda, intimidation, scaremongering, division, agitation and so on and so forth. For example, today, under the guise of humanity and health, heinous experiments are being carried out and millions of human beings and other living beings are being driven into suffering and despair. Asuras are even amassing immense wealth through this without the slightest shame, without remorse. Wake up! All this is possible only through adharma. In the Mahabharata, that great work of truth, it says with regard to rulers in the Kali Yuga:

“And, O Lord of men, numerous Mleccha regents [mleccha is a sanskrit term denoting sinful men, who are living outside of vedic social system] then rule the earth! And these sinful mighty ones, given to false speech, govern their subjects according to false principles. . . .”

Technical acchievements

Many technical achievements are dangerous tools of destruction in the hands of the Asuras. They are a manifestation of rajas and tamas (passion and ignorance) – for the Vedic injunction, the motto of the Suras is: “simple living – high thinking", not to get entangled with inventing more and more technical things and building machines that are supposed to improve one's life circumstances, but to be satisfied with what one really needs to live and to use one's precious lifetime for the study of the revealed Vedic scriptures and for devotional service to the Personality of Godhead in order to develop spiritually. Advancing mechanisation mainly serves the “great” Asuras. People do not need weapons of mass destruction, chemical factories, fat machines, televisions, robots and the whole mass of ignorance. This only leads to further entrapment, further bondage.

In 2015, in a European country that was then considered prosperous and progressive, an Asurian leader made it known several times that it was imperative to “push digitalisation”. I thought naively at the time, “my God, what now, more of this? Everything is already digitalised. Nothing can be done without computers”. In the meantime, it has become clear to me what this Asura was talking about and what the worldwide plan of powerful Asuras is.

“A ring to subjugate them all. . . .” Heard this before? This sentence comes from the fantasy novel “The Lord of the Rings” by J.R. Tolkien. This ring is today the digital technology used and developed by Asuras for their purposes to subjugate and dominate humanity. I do not want to go further into this in this article. Others know better.

Please do not misunderstand: Nothing against digital and other technologies per se; what matters is how they are used and for what purpose, with what aim. In any case, the consequences of mechanisation and technologisation should definitely be considered and reconsidered. “What do we really need and what can we abandon for the spiritual benefit of all living beings?”, one should ask oneself.

Overcoming Asurian Power

The Asuras can be weakened and deprived of their dominion by sankirtan-yajña, mass kirtan. That is, when more and more people all over the world, in cities and villages, regularly gather and joyfully worship the Supreme Lord together by chanting His Holy Names accompanied by musical instruments, the Supreme Lord is personally present and protects those who serve Him in this way. Thus a purification of the consciousness of all participants, but also of uninvolved outsiders, takes place and people again develop divine qualities such as peacefulness, purity, forbearance, abstinence, honesty, erudition, wisdom, religiosity, non-violence, mercy, fearlessness, contentment, truthfulness and respect towards all living beings as tiny particles of the Supreme. In this way, the asuric mentality and thus the domination of the Asuras over the earth can be gradually overcome.

We are dealing with a spiritual problem that can only be removed by a spiritual process. In the Kali Yuga, Sankirtana is the best, most effective, easiest and quickest method of purification of consciousness through which an auspicious atmosphere is created and by which the whole world can also be put in order. Only lamenting and complaining and warning against the evil activities of the Asuras is of no use. Believing and praying is also of no use - acting in trust according to the instructions of the Vedas is better. The positive effect of chanting Hari, Krishna, Rama, Govinda, Gopala and other names of the Supreme Lord together can be experienced by everyone within themselves.

On the audio page you can listen to several such kirtans or sankirtans. Absolutely recommendable for everyone, just listen, listen to the chanting without any bias and let it have an effect on you and maybe even try to sing along. On the video page you can see kirtan and also spiritual texts of the Vedic scriptures and also mantra recitations, all of which can purify and clear the consciousness and grant real spiritual joy.