The Two Classes of Men Deva and Asura
А. Ч. Бхактиведанта Свами Прабхупада · Сананд · 1975
Главы
[translated throughout] BG 16.7प्रवृत्तिं च निवृत्तिं च जना न विदुरासुराः ।न शौचं नापि चाचारो न सत्यं तेषु विद्यते ॥७॥pravṛttiṁ ca nivṛttiṁ cajanā na vidur āsurāḥna śaucaṁ nāpi cācārona satyaṁ teṣu vidyateThose who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found in them.
Distinction between divine and demoniac natures
Yaśomatīnandana: There's something [indistinct].
Prabhupāda: That's all right.
Yaśomatīnandana: They're connecting.
Prabhupāda: Now here is the description of the asuras as stated by Kṛṣṇa.
There are two classes of men, asura and deva. Daiva and asura... Viṣṇu-bhakto bhaved deva asuras tad-viparyayaḥ. The devas, devatāloka... [aside:] Don't talk. [indistinct] No... And whatever it may be, why you are interpreting?
You stop.
In the upper planetary system, beginning from the sun, there are Sūryaloka, Candraloka, Maṅgala, Bhūr, Bṛhaspati, up to Saturn, there are different lokas. So the upper planetary system, beginning from Sūrya, they are called devaloka. They are all devotees of the Lord; therefore they are called devatā. They are not pure devotees, but they are not disobedient to the orders of the Supreme Lord.
Spiritual and material cosmic manifestations
Śuddha-bhakta means they do not come to the material world. Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam the śuddha-bhaktas, nitya, nitya-siddha, they do not come to this material world.
They are everlastingly liberated soul, engaged in the service of Nārāyaṇa. This material creation is exhibition of one-fourth energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The three-fourth creation is in the spiritual world, Vaikuṇṭhaloka. So in this material world they have come... All of us, beginning from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, we have come here for material enjoyment.
And in this material world, according to different desires and karma, they are getting different types of bodies. Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa jantur deha upapatti
Karmaṇā, by our work, and by the supervision of the supreme power, we are getting different types of body. So there are two kinds of living entities.
One kind of living entities, they are trying to go back to home, back to Godhead.
They are called devatās. And the asuras, they are not aware of the spiritual world; neither they are endeavoring to go back to home, back to Godhead. So Kṛṣṇa has described about the devotees in so many ways.
Now He is discriminating who are the demons.
Overcoming the bodily concept of life
So for the asuras there is no knowledge what is the aim of life. So they are described in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also,
SB 7.5.31न ते विदुः स्वार्थगतिं हि विष्णुंदुराशया ये बहिरर्थमानिनः ।अन्धा यथान्धैरुपनीयमानास्तेऽपीशतन्त्र्यामुरुदाम्नि बद्धाः ॥३१॥na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁdurāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥandhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāste 'pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥPersons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṇu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.
These asuras, or the persons who are in ignorance, in material enjoyment, they do not know what is the goal of life.
Everyone is in the bodily concept of life, and they are trying to improve the condition of bodily comforts.
The more we are interested in the bodily comforts of life, the more we are asuras. So these asuras, they are not very cleansed, na śaucam. Na śaucaṁ nāpi ca ācāraḥ: "They have no good behavior, neither they are very clean." Therefore, according to varṇāśrama-dharma, the brāhmaṇas are called śuci, means pure.
But this śuci... The opposite word is muci. So there is a Bengali Vaiṣṇava poet. He says that, śuci haya muci haya yadi kṛṣṇa tyajemuci haya śuci haya yadi kṛṣṇa bhaje
The purport is that if somebody takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, even he is born in the family of muci, then he becomes śuci. And if a person born in the brāhmaṇa family or kṣatriya family but he does not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he becomes a muci. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā, māṁ hi pārtha vyapāśritya ye 'pi syuḥ pāpa-yonayaḥ
Pāpa-yoni means muci, less than the śūdras. If he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, te 'pi yānti parāṁ gatim, they are also eligible to go back to home, to back to Godhead.
So even a muci or a pāpa-yoni born in the low grade family, if he takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he becomes a devatā. This is also confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam by Śukadeva Gosvāmī,
SB 2.4.18किरातहूणान्ध्रपुलिन्दपुल्कशा आभीरशुम्भा यवनाः खसादयः ।येऽन्ये च पापा यदपाश्रयाश्रयाः शुध्यन्ति तस्मै प्रभविष्णवे नमः ॥१८॥kirāta-hūṇāndhra-pulinda-pulkaśāābhīra-śumbhā yavanāḥ khasādayaḥye 'nye ca pāpā yad-apāśrayāśrayāḥśudhyanti tasmai prabhaviṣṇave namaḥKirāta, Hūṇa, Āndhra, Pulinda, Pulkaśa, Ābhīra, Śumbha, Yavana, members of the Khasa races and even others addicted to sinful acts can be purified by taking shelter of the devotees of the Lord, due to His being the supreme power. I beg to offer my respectful obeisances unto Him.
So it doesn't matter where we are born. If we take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he becomes a śuddha, śuci, purified, and he is eligible to go back to home, to back to Godhead.
Principles of detachment and devotional service
So to take the shelter of a pure devotee means he knows what is pravṛtti and what is nivṛtti. All our Vedic literature is meant for nivṛtti. Pravṛttir eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛttis tu mahā-phalā [Manu-saṁhitā].
These, all living creatures, who are struggling for existence in this material world, that is their pravṛtti, to enjoy this material world.
But when one becomes inclined to nivṛtti, he becomes devatā. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, which was inaugurated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, is for nivṛtti-mārga. Nivṛtti-mārga means "No more material enjoyment.
Let me make progress towards Kṛṣṇa consciousness." Therefore this devotional service, or bhakti-yoga, it is called nivṛtti-mārga. This is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam,
SB 1.2.7वासुदेवे भगवति भक्तियोग: प्रयोजित: ।जनयत्याशु वैराग्यं ज्ञानं च यदहैतुकम् ॥ (७)vāsudeve bhagavatibhakti-yogaḥ prayojitaḥjanayaty āśu vairāgyaṁjñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukamBy rendering devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, one immediately acquires causeless knowledge and detachment from the world.
Bhakti-yoga... And Sarvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he was a impersonalist, followers of the Śaṅkara philosophy.
When he became convinced about the Vaiṣṇava philosophy, he wrote one hundred ślokas, prayers to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Amongst that śloka, one of the prominent śloka is,
CC Madhya 6.254বৈরাগ্য-বিদ্যা-নিজ-ভক্তিযোগ-শিক্ষার্থমেকঃ পুরুষঃ পুরাণঃ ।শ্রীকৃষ্ণচৈতন্যশরীরধারী কৃপাম্বুধির্যস্তমহং প্ৰপদ্যে ॥ ২৫৪ ॥vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥśrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārīkṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye“Let me take shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who has descended in the form of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu to teach us real knowledge, His devotional service and detachment from whatever does not foster Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He has descended because He is an ocean of transcendental mercy. Let me surrender unto His lotus feet.
He said that "This Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the same Kṛṣṇa.
He has come to teach vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga." Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā, no more this material enjoyment—that is vairāgya. Jñānaṁ ca yad ahaitukam
The result of jñāna is vairāgya. Vairāgya-vidyā... Bhakti-yoga is vairāgya-vidyā means that bhaktiḥ pareśānubhavo viraktir anyatra syāt
Bhakti means one is making progress towards Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and automatically he becomes detestful to the material world. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has given the example = just like hungry man.
If he is given food, he takes it, but as he takes it, he becomes satisfied. And when he is fully satisfied, he does not require any more food. There is another śloka, given by Yāmunācārya. He says,
yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravindenava-nava-rasa-dhāmany udyataṁ rantum āsīttad-avadhi bata nārī-saṅgame smaryamānebhavati mukha-vikāraḥ suṣṭhu niṣṭhīvanaṁ ca
He says that "Since I have been engaged in the service of the Lord," yad-avadhi mama cetaḥ kṛṣṇa-padāravinde, "since I have begun my life to serve Kṛṣṇa, since that time, whenever I think of sex life I spit on it." So therefore, when we stop our desires for material enjoyment...
Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam Karma means to desire to be elevated in the higher planetary system, Svargaloka. [break] ...jñāna. The jñānīs, they are trying to elevate themselves to the impersonal Brahman.
So these are not pure devotional service. [break] Anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam no desire for material conception of life. So jñāna is also another desire, negative desire, to become free from this material world. That is desire.
Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu has said,
Attaining peace through spiritual desirelessness
CC Madhya 19.149কৃষ্ণভক্ত — নিষ্কাম, অতএব ‘শান্ত’ ।ভুক্তি-মুক্তি-সিদ্ধি — কামী সকলি ‘অশান্ত’ ॥ ১৪৯ ॥kṛṣṇa-bhakta — niṣkāma, ataeva 'śānta'bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī — sakali 'aśānta'“Because a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa is desireless, he is peaceful. Fruitive workers desire material enjoyment, jñānīs desire liberation, and yogīs desire material opulence; therefore they are all lusty and cannot be peaceful.
He said that bhukti-kāmī, the material persons who are desiring improvement in this world, in this life, and going to the heavenly planet next life...
That is called bhukti. And mukti... Desiring liberation, that is called mukti, and...
Or become one with the Supreme Brahman, that is mukti. And siddhi, yogīs, they are trying to achieve some success in aṣṭa-siddhi, aṇimā, laghimā. So everyone is desiring.
So therefore Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, kṛṣṇa-bhakta niṣkāma: "A devotee of Kṛṣṇa is not desirous of anything, either bhukti, mukti or siddhi." The purport is, so long you desire something, you'll never get peace of mind.
And a bhakta does not desire anything. He is satisfied in any position, whatever is offered to him by Kṛṣṇa. SB 6.17.28नारायणपराः सर्वे न कुतश्चन बिभ्यति ।स्वर्गापवर्गनरकेष्वपि तुल्यार्थदर्शिनः ॥२८॥nārāyaṇa-parāḥ sarvena kutaścana bibhyatisvargāpavarga-narakeṣvapi tulyārtha-darśinaḥDevotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.
Anyone who is nārāyaṇa-parāyaṇa, he does not fear whether he is going to hell or heaven, because wherever he goes he is with Nārāyaṇa, he is safe. It doesn't matter whether it is hell or heaven.
That is offered by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His prayer, CC Antya 4na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁkavitāṁ vā jagadīśa kāmayemama janmani janmanīśvarebhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī...
The idea is that a bhakta does not require any material happiness or distress. He does not require any monistic proposition to merge into the existence of the Supreme.
And neither he desires any jugglery of aṣṭa-siddhi yogam. So in order to become devatā, not to become asura... Asuras are always against Kṛṣṇa. There are many examples, like Rāvaṇa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaṁsa.
There are many. So we should remember that devatā means who is fully surrendered to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa.
So there are many symptoms of the asuras. They are all described in the Sixteenth Chapter—it requires a long time to discuss; it is not possible to discuss all the symptoms—but one of the most important symptom of the asura is here described.
How? Asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te jagad āhur anīśvaram
Refuting atheism and practicing modern yoga
Their main proposal is that there is no creator God. The modern scientists, philosophers, Western people, they don't accept that God is the creator of everything. And their theory of creation is the chemical composition.
One gentleman has written one book, Chemical Evolution. They think that chemical combination is the cause of life.
So the asuras' theory of creation is aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ kim anyat kāma-haitukam. It is a chance theory. But we don't accept. We are preaching against them, writing books against them.
We are challenging this atheistic theory of creation. So this asuric...
The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement is against the asuras. Every time, always, Kṛṣṇa also comes down to kill the asuras. Paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [break] Asuras cannot flourish by their atheistic theory.
Unless one comes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he has to be put into the different types of asuric yoni to suffer in this material world. And if we continue this godless civilization, Kṛṣṇa says here,
BG 16.19तानहं द्विषतः क्रुरान्संसारेषु नराधमान् ।क्षिपाम्यजस्रमशुभानासुरीष्वेव योनिषु ॥१९॥tān ahaṁ dviṣataḥ krūrānsaṁsāreṣu narādhamānkṣipāmy ajasram aśubhānāsurīṣv eva yoniṣuThose who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life.
He keeps them always put into this asuric yoni, everlastingly forgetting the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and suffer in this material world.
So, so long we remain in the asuric tendency, then we cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. That is also described by Kṛṣṇa in the Seventh Chapter, BG 7.15न मां दुष्कृतिनो मूढाः प्रपद्यन्ते नराधमाः ।माययापहृतज्ञाना आसुरं भावमाश्रिताः ॥१५॥na māṁ duṣkṛtino mūḍhāḥprapadyante narādhamāḥmāyayāpahṛta-jñānāāsuraṁ bhāvam āśritāḥThose miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me.
So we should generally conclude that anyone who does not take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, they fall in the groups of duṣkṛtinaḥ, mūḍhāḥ, narādhamāḥ, māyayāpaḥṛta-jñānāḥ. So in the beginning we discussed nāpy ācāraḥ, sadācāra. So even one is short of sadācāra, Kṛṣṇa says, api cet su-durācāro bhajate mām ananya-bhāk, sādhur eva sa mantavyaḥ
Even one is not fully in sadācāra, but if he has taken Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully, he is a sādhu. So to take to this Kṛṣṇa consciousness is made very easy during this Kali-yuga:
CC Adi 17.21হরের্নাম হরের্নাম হরের্নামৈব কেবলম্ ।কলৌ নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব নাস্ত্যেব গতিরন্যথা ॥ ২১ ॥harer nāma harer nāmaharer nāmaiva kevalamkalau nāsty eva nāsty evanāsty eva gatir anyathā“ ‘In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’
Kalau, in this age, if you take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness, simply chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, then you become devatā. This is our program.
So our only request is to you that in whatever position you are—it doesn't require to be changed—simply take to Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, and gradually you'll become devatā. That is the recommendation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sthāne sthitāḥ śruti-gatāṁ tanu-vāṅ-manobhiḥ Remain in your place, but be Kṛṣṇa conscious.
It is not difficult at all. Thank you very much. Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [end]