|
by Jayaram V
Knowledge of demonic qualities helps us to guard ourselves against
them and cleanse ourselves from them if they exist in us to some
degree. It helps us to know what ought to be done and what ought not
to be done in the performance of our respective duties.
Knowing thus, we are told, and acting according to the scriptures,
one can remain free from the influence of desires and attain spiritual
success and happiness. The demonic qualities bring into the lives of
men darkness and intense suffering and lead them towards the lower
worlds.
Taking birth repeatedly in the demonic wombs, these deluded souls
sink into the abysmal worlds (16.20). The following are the demonic
qualities described in the Bhagavad-Gita (Chapter 16.7-20)
-
The asuric persons do not know when to act properly and when
not to act.
-
They do not know what is cleanliness and proper conduct.
-
The quality of truthfulness is not there in them.
-
They say that the world is false, without foundation and
without God, that it is born without any cause other than lust.
-
With this vision in their minds, the degenerated souls, with
little intelligence, engage in hostile activities, for the
destruction of the world against its interests.
-
Resorting to insatiable lust, with conceited minds, possessed
by insane energy, residing in untruthful words, under illusion,
they exist, worshipping the unclean and the impure.
-
With endless anxieties tormenting them till the end, they live
absorbed in sense gratification, concluding it as the
transcendental pleasure.
-
"Bound by innumerable strings of desire, minds filled with
the vibrations of anger and lust, they accumulate wealth by unjust
means, desiring sense gratification.
-
Their thinking is also lopsided. They think, "Today I have
gained this, this inner wish I shall fulfill, this property is
mine and in future I will have more wealth. That enemy is slain by
me, I shall harm others also, I am the lord and I am the enjoyer,
I am perfected being, powerful and happy. I am wealthy and from a
rich family, who else can there be like me ! I perform sacrifices,
give charity and also enjoy." Thinking thus by ignorance they
become deluded.
-
"Perplexed by numerous states of thinking, caught in the
net of illusion, attached to the gratification of desires, the
unclean degenerate into hell.
-
Egoistic, impudent, possessed with insane energy of wealth and
pride, they perform sacrifices for name sake only out of conceit
and against established procedures.
-
Having taken shelter in egoism, strength, showiness, lust and
anger, the envious discredit God in their own bodies and in
others.
-
These haters, the cruel and the lowest men in the world of
materialistic existence, are cast by the Supreme Self again and
again into the inauspicious demonic wombs.
-
Acquiring demonic wombs, these deluded souls, birth after
birth, without reaching God, go to the lowest hell.
-
Three types are the gates to this hell which are destructive to
the soul - desire, anger and greed. The demonic beings perish
through these.
Suggested Further Reading
|
