Agony of the soul (?) etc

[Swami Vishvarupananda]

> 4. Shri Nageswara Rao, one of the List members, wants me to put the
> following question to the Group, as presently his computer is
> unavailable.
>
> We all know the ithihaasic story of Jaya and Vijaya, the gatekeepers at
> Vaikuntha, Lord Vishnu's abode. Once, they were cursed by the sages
> Sanaka and Sananda to live their lives on the Earth. Lord Vishnu took
> pity on the gatekeepers and gave them a choice "Do you want to be my
> enemies and come back to Vaikuntha after three lives or do you want to
> be my devotees and come back to Vaikuntha after ten lives ?" Of course,
> they chose to be enemies for three lives and returned back to Vaikuntha.
>
> Now, Shri Nageswara rao's question is "Why does it take shorter time to
> reach God by being an enemy than by being a devotee ? Is there any inner
> meaning in this ? "

We become what we think, whether in love or in hate.
Therefore one argument is, that by becoming Vishnu's enemies
and developing an all consuming hatred towards Him, Jaya and Vijaya
actually became obsessed by the thought of Him. Our mind is usually less
continually and less intensely occupied with the object of its love and
adoration, than with the object of obsessive hatred. In Hiranyakashipu's
case his son Prahalada brought this hatred to its boiling point, so that
the demon was not able to think of anything but Vishnu with an intensity
that would have been very difficult to attain for Jaya or Vijaya as
devotees. Prahalada had this intensity as a devotee.

Greetings and Om,
Swami Vishvarupananda