Thoughts on the Above
The Daityas and the Dânavas are both called Asuras. But there is a radical difference between the two classes.
The Daityas are opposed to the Â-dityas. The root verb dâ means to cut to pieces, to separate. Diti is that which separates. Aditi is that which does not separate. Jivâtmâ is the same in all beings. One life principle animates all the forms of creation. The idea of separateness did not exist from before. The elementals that began life in this Kalpa from the spiritual plane, have hardly any idea of separate existence. The Devas and Pitris are described as classes (ganas), and not as individuals. In the Mineral Kingdom, again, there is no individual existence. Individuality has to be worked out, and the sons of Diti bring about this great work in the evolution of life forms.
When we have the sense of separate existence strong in us, we become capable of further evolution. By our individual experiences, we know what is right and what is wrong, what is pleasurable and what is painful. Things that give joy give pain as well. It is the measure of pleasure or pain that teaches us what to covet and what to shun. Then we have the fact that by our very existence we have duties to perform. The teachings of other ages that are revealed to the Rishis and proclaimed by them, give us a better idea of things, and they tell us more than we can know of by our own experience. The Asuras lead us on and on, till we reach the highest point that, with a sense of individuality, we may attain.
When the individual soul gathers all experience that may be acquired by the idea of separateness, it traces back its way to that spiritual home whence it came. In the return journey, it is helped by the Âdityas, who gradually efface the idea of separateness, by an ever increasing infusion of Satva: Vishnu himself became Âditya and taught men the unity of all souls.
The Âdityas who guided the early elementals had to be crushed, so that separateness might grow. Pushan and Bhaga were therefore overpowered by the attendants of Śiva at the sacrifice of Daksha.
The Âdityas who guide humanity in their return to spirituality are themselves high spiritual energies, the highest Devas of our Trilokî.
Our evolution is thus two-fold — individual and non-individual. When we work as individuals, we are under the influence of Daityas. When we want to cast off separateness, we are under the influence of the Âdityas.
In both cases, however, it is the bliss element in us that is worked on by the Daityas and A-dityas. This bliss element is our eternal heritage from Ishvara, and it is this element that saves us in our contact with manifold matter. The measure of bliss, (ananda), enables us to judge what matter to accept and what not.
Individuality developed under Hiranyakasipu, and all sorts of blissful experiences were acquired. The sons of Hiranyakasipu were all called Bliss (Hrâda), but the perfection of Bliss (Pra-Hrâda) was in Prahlâda, He found out that the worldly joys were unreal, and that the real joy could be had only from Him above, who was joy itself.
But Prahlâda did not realise that there was one life underlying all beings, and that all beings were essentially one and the same. He was separate in his devotion, though unselfish to the extreme. He knew that men had separate existences, and while he attained perfection, others did not. It was therefore his duty to raise others to his level. With all unselfishness and devotion, Prahlâda was an Asura, because he worked from the stand point of individual life. The foster-father of Sri Krishna was Nanda, the word meaning also bliss. But the bliss of Gopas and Gopis consisted in forgetting self altogether. The bliss that was then evolved will draw humanity to the highest level of spirituality in our Kalpa.
The reign of the Daityas may be divided into three periods: —
— The period of Hiranyâksha and Hiranyakasipu.
— The period of Râvana and Kumbhakarna.
— The period of Shishupâla and Dantavakra.
I. Hiranyâksha and Hiranyakasipu
Jaya and Vijaya are the outer aspects of Vishnu. Vishnu preserves the universe, and He preserves all beings. Existence, consciousness and bliss all proceed from Vishnu, and it is these essential attributes that bring about the involution and evolution of all beings. In minerals, there is existence, but it is Tâmasic. Consciousness and bliss are completely eclipsed by the Tâmasic opacity of gross matter.
In the vegetables, there is existence and something more — the bare dawning of perceptive consciousness. There is predominating Tamas in the vegetables also. But Rajas also tries to manifest itself.
In the animals, Rajas asserts itself by increasing activity, and by the action of the senses. The animals exist, they are conscious and they have blissful experiences.
In men, Rajas plays the most important part. Through the ever increasing activities of mind and the development of consciousness, man runs after all sorts of experience, pleasurable and painful, till at last the idea of lasting and real bliss settles down in him, and he knows more of bliss than any other being in the universe. The future evolution of man lies in the permanence of spiritual bliss, which is purely Sâtvic in its character.
Vishnu preserves all beings in their Tâmasic, Râjasic and Sâtvic stages. For preservation means the maintenance as well as the improvement of beings. Therefore preservation is Sâtvic, and Vishnu is the Preserver. We live and move onwards in all stages of our being. But in Râjasic and Tâmasic stages, it is the attendants of Vishnu, the door-keepers, that preserve us, and the Daityas are the lower manifestations of Jaya and Vijaya. One is Tâmasic and the other Râjasic.
Hiranyâksha is Tâmasic. He represents the original inertia of matter, its primary resistance to the onward process of evolution. There was existence after Pralâyic sleep But it was homogeneous existence, with little or no phenomenal change. Varâha got over this homogeneal tenacity by the killing of Hiranyâksha, and he set going the process of planetary and individual life.
Hiranyakasipu came next. He was the favoured son of Brahmâ. He helped the evolution of individual life. Minerals became vegetables. Vegetables became animals, and animals became men. The intellectual power of men rapidly increased, and there was material and moral progress. The limit of moral progress was reached by Prahlâda. But the ideal of Prahlâda was based upon the conception of differences and of individualities. It is for this reason that Varna and Ashrama Dharma, or the separate duties of life for separate classes of men, is dealt with in the discourses with Prahlâda.
But though Prahlâda was a son of Hiranyakasipu, he was an exception to the general run of material evolution which was fostered by Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu hated the development of Sâtvic virtues, he hated Hari, the embodiment of Satva. Nrisinha killed the great Daitya, and Satva made its appearance in men.
Hiranya means gold.
Hiranyâksha is gold-eyed.
Hiranyakasipu is gold bedded.
II. Râvana and Kumbhakarna
Hiranyakasipu represented the gradual development of material and intellectual evolution, till the highest point was reached.
Then there was a period of intellectual abuse. The Intellect of man tried to get a supremacy over the established order of things: Râvana sought to make Nature subservient to his own purposes. The universe existed for man, and not man for nature. This was the perverse idea that guided the people of the Atlantean Continent. The intellectual giants, maddened by this material grandeur, did not look for any world beyond the one they lived in. They cared not for Svarga, nor for the sacrifices that led to Svarga. The flow of evolution, the breath of Íshvara seemed to stand still for a time as it were. The human will tried to override the divine will. There was chaos and disorder, which tended to cause dissolution in the universe. Hence Râvana was a Râkshasa. The Tâmasic Kumbhakarna with his six-monthly sleep was the back ground of Râvana.
The spiritual forces that were called forth to put an end to this state of things were equal to the occasion. The great Atlantean Continent was washed away by the sea. The sacred Gangâ came rushing forward from the heights of the Himalayas, and eventually Râma appeared to give a finishing stroke to the evolutionary work of the time.
Vishvâmitra and others had paved the way for the great work undertaken by Râma. They propounded the Karma Kânda of the Vedas.
Men who knew nothing but the joys and sorrows of this short span of earthly life, and whose ideas and aspirations were all confined to that life, made a great advance when they were taught of an existence after death. When they further knew that life in Svarga was infinitely happier and far more lasting than what they called life on this earth, they made the beginning of a really spiritual life. The Vedic Devas are permanent dwellers in Svarga, and the Vedic Sacrifices establish communion with them by means of Apurva, a spiritual force generated by the performance of sacrifices, and life in Svarga becomes prolonged for a very very long period. People took time to understand this truth, but in time they accepted the performance of Vedic Sacrifices as the only religion for man.
There was however a re-action. The intellectual giants, called Râkshasas, looked down upon Vedic Sacrifices, and they did not care for any life after death. They were the worst enemies of the Vedic Rishis.
Vishvâmitra took the help of Râma in protecting the Rishis in the peaceful performance of Yajnas.
But people had grown old in their ideas about Vedic sacrifices. The first seceders were some Kshatriyas. They did not understand why Vedic Sacrifices should be the monopoly of Brâhmanas, and they aspired to the position acquired by them. The foremost of these Kshatriyas were the Haihayas and Tâlajanghas. But they were defeated by Parashurama, who re-established the supremacy of the Brâhmanas.
But a silent revolution was going on, in which the Kshatriyas and Brâhmanas equally took part. King Janaka and Rishi Yajnavalkya gave the finishing stroke to the Upanishad movement, and side by side with Karma Kânda grew up the Jnâna Kânda of the Vedas. Râma brought the two divisions of the Vedas into closer union, as he was himself the resting place of both. And as Vishnu himself, He became the object of Upâsanâ. The three Paths appeared, that of Karma, Bhakti and Jnâna. Vedic Sacrifices held their own, and a school grew up which accepted these as the highest Karma which man could perform. Another school, following the very old teachings of Kapila, dissected the transformable parts in man and discriminated the same from the non-transformable. A sister school followed up the teaching with practices in conformity to these, and taught how to concentrate the mind on the discriminated Atmâ. Another school confined itself to the properties of matter and mind, soul and oversoul, and remained wonder-struck at the superior properties that divided Jiva from Íshvara. Schools of independent thought grew up. Each school had its followers. There were differences and dissensions. There was disunion, self-sufficiency, pride, envy, jealousy and other evil traits of human character that thinks too much of itself. Every one followed his own faith and hated the follower of other faiths. This was the cycle of Shishupâla and Dantavakta.
Jarâsandha performed Vedic sacrifices, and he put in chains the Vaishnava kings. There were those who believed in the existence of two primary causes, (Dvivid). Men, like the king of Kashi, prided themselves on mock wisdom. Religious faiths existed in all possible shades, and their difference was accentuated by dogmatism and mutual jealousy. “The Vedas are different, the Smritis are different. He is not a Muni, who has not some distinctive opinion of his own.” This well known verse related strictly to the period of which we are now speaking. Shishupâla had respect for the Munis. He was essentially a man of the period.
Sri Krishna taught harmony. He gave the essence of all religions, the eternal truths that formed the ground work of all faiths. He proclaimed in the clearest language possible the One underlying the Many, the eternal Brahmân as forming the essence of Jiva and Ishvara. He particularly emphasised the relations of man, Íshvara and the universe, and the duties that followed from these relations. Religion became a science, the law universal, and all teachings found there respective places in the universal religion which He proclaimed. The Rishis bowed down their heads before Him. The Upanishads were never explained so lucidly before. The key-note of all truths and all religions was unravelled beyond all doubt. Such knowledge could proceed only from Ishvara Himself. The Rishis recognised Sri Krishna as the Lord. But Shishupâla was slow to believe in this novel revolution. He did not understand why the Rishis gave the first place to Sri Krishna at the Rajasûya sacrifice performed by Râjâ Yudhisthira. The difference formed a religion with Shishupâla. But the age of differences was doomed. The age of unity, of harmony, of spiritual glory was now to reign in the Universe. Hundreds and hundreds of years have passed away, but the scriptures one and all proclaim the glory of the Lord Sri Krishna. What He has done for our universe, we shall see later on.
Danta-vakra was the Tâmasic counterpart of Shishupâla.
The Asuras advanced as the Kâlpic age advanced. There was no end of advancement from the standpoint of self. There is no big jump from individual self to universal self. Though the essential idea of spirituality is unity and the essential idea of materiality is diversity, the one idea develops into the other idea, by an ever widening view of things. Our duties enlarge. Our relations increase. The range of life widens, till it includes the life in Svarga. Vedic Yajna is then performed, though from a pure motive of self-advancement. The advanced self comes very near to the universal self. The performance of Vedic sacrifices is Asuric in so far as it is selfish, but it minimises the self of earthly existence, and gives a transitory character to our worldly joys and sufferings, and it gives the idea of an enlarged self, of widened existence and of higher duties. The Karma Kânda of the Vedas therefore opens the door widely to real spiritual life.
This explains why Vishvarupa, an Asura, guided the Devas for some time. The three heads of Vishvarupa represent the three Vedas. The swallow head is the Rik, the sparrow head is the Sâman, and the Tittiri head is proverbially the Yajur. This refers to the prevalence of Karma Kânda. But when better times came, Indra killed Vishva-rûpa. The place of Vishva-rûpa was however speedily taken, up by Vritra. And Indra had recourse to Atharva, the fourth Veda and to Dadhîchi, a votary (represented as the son) of Atharva Veda, the very ideal of self-sacrifice.
And who is this Vritra? The Vedas say: — “Sa imân lokân Avrinot etat Vritrasya Vritratvam.”
He spread over (vri) all these Lokas, this is the Vritraship of Vritra.
The Bhâgavata says: — “These Lokas are spread over by him in the form of Tvashtri’s Tapas. Hence he is called Vritra.” VI. — 9-xviii.
The invocation of Tvashtri is thus described in the Bhâgavata: — “Rise up, O Indra — Shatru, never give up enmity.” VI — 9-xii.
The word shatru means enemy. Tvastri meant to say “he who is to become the enemy of Indra.” But by proper grammatical construction, the expression means, he of whom Indra is to become the enemy. The invocation was therefore defective and it produced a contrary result. Pânini points this out as an apt illustration of what bad grammar leads to.
The Vedas thus speak of the invocation: — “As he said-Svâha! O Indra-Shatru! rise up — so Indra became the enemy of Vritra.” Notwithstanding his wisdom, Chitra-ketu was anxious to have a son. He wept bitterly, when the son was lost. He was a votary of Sankarshana, who presides over Ahankâra or Egoism. So by devotion he became the king of the Vidyâdharas. This selfish devotion, the worship of Gods for the gratification of selfish aspiration, which is so universal, is Vritra.
Vritra was killed by a weapon made of the bones of Dadhîchi the Rishi of self-sacrifice. We want to kill thee for thy bones, for they will be of service to the universe, so said the Devas. And Dadhîchi felt the height of pleasure in giving himself completely up, that the universe might prosper.
We are told that the fight with Vritra took place in the Vaivasvata Manvantara. The readers will easily understand why this is so.
The fight between the Devas and the Asuras is only a counterpart of struggles on our earth between the forces of materiality and spirituality. With the appearance of Lord Krishna, the ascendancy of the Asuras is virtually over, and however self-seeking we may be by our nature, we bow down before the ideal of unselfishness, of One Life pervading all beings, so prominently held before us by that greatest of all Avatâras, and the circle of those that follow this ideal is daily increasing.
But why is Atharva Veda spoken of as the Veda of unselfishness? The popular idea about that Veda is quite the contrary.
People resort to it for Tântric malpractices. The Vajra or thunderbolt is an electric current, which in the hands of Indra has the power of spiritualisation. The Asuras dread the subtle forces of nature which reach them even in the regions of Pâtâla. Who knows what purpose the electric discharges serve in the economy of nature? Who knows of the subtler currents of spiritual forces that silently bring about the grandest revolutions in nature? Atharva Veda inculcates an intimate acquaintance with the subtle forces of nature. It opens the door alike to White as well as Black Magic. But at the present day, the Black Magic only survives, making the Atharva a name of opprobrium and reproach.
Marut is Vâyu. The Maruts are forms of Pranic energy. They are 49 in number, corresponding to the 49 forms of Agni. These 49 forms include all sorts of Pranic energy in the spiritual, intellectual and material planes. As the whole process of evolution is dependent on life activities, and as life itself is essentially divine, the Maruts are the companions of Indra. As by life, we understand individual life as imprisoned in Jivic centres, the Maruts are by birth Daityas.
We have lingered so long over the Daityas. The Dânavas are also called Asuras, but they are essentially different from the Daityas. Every individual has got two aspects — Prâkritic and Purushic. The Purusha aspect in him is limited by the individual Prakriti. The individual limitation appertains to the Daityas. The Prâkritic element in man is Dânavic. The chief Dânava, Mâyâ, is an aspect of Mâyâ. Mâyâ is a great magician, as the essence of Prakriti is illusion. Duryodhana and his brothers could not discriminate between the illusory aspect of the assembly-ground prepared by Mâyâ. To the Pândavas, the followers of Sri Krishna, there was no illusion. The Dânavas lead men away from spirituality, so much so that they may be estranged completely from their spiritual nature. These dark forces in nature have no redeeming feature in them. Fortunately for the history of the universe, we do not hear much of them.