[Advaita-l] Asuras and Dharma

[Santosh Rao]

This is very interesting, I didn't take the varying proximity based on yuga
into account. This would explain how "asuras" were able to take up dharma
in Kali yuga -  by people letting their base desires give rise to things
such as excessive animal sacrifice.

Namaskara,

Santosh Rao
On Nov 21, 2015 1:32 AM, "H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l" <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Sri Durga Ji,
>
> What you have said may be applicable to Kaliyuga. The Pauraniks mention
> that Devas and Asuras lived in entirely different Lokas during Kritayuga
> and used to come into conflict now and then with the Asuras moving into
> Devaloka for war. In Tretayuga, they lived in the same Loka, but in
> different regions. In Dwaparayuga, they lived in the same family . But in
> Kaliyuga, they live in the same body ( that is , they coexist in each
> individual, in the form of natural tendencies ).
>
> With so many Puranas and Itihasas speaking of them so exhaustively, it is
> only to be concluded that the Shastras have not presented them purely in an
> allegorical manner, but that they all existed in reality , to the same
> extent as we are all alive today.
>
> Regards
>
> Chandramouli
>
> On Sat, Nov 21, 2015 at 1:32 AM, Durga Janaswamy via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > Hari Om,
> > Pranams.
> >
> > One way of looking at Asuras is:  Asuras are not a distinct category of
> > persons separate from us. Both Deva and Asura are with in an individual
> > being.
> >
> > Bhagawan Shankaracharya's bhashya gives clarity on the topic.
> >
> > Chandogya Upanishad - Chapter 1 (Udgitha Vidya)
> > mantra 1.2.1 देवासुरा ह वै यत्र संयेतिरे उभये प्राजापत्यास्तद्ध देवा
> > उद्गीथमाजह्रुरनेनैनानभिभविष्याम इति
> >
> > devAsurA ha vai yatra saMyetire ubhaye prAjApatyAstaddha devA
> > udgIthamAjahruranenainAnabhibhaviShyAma iti
> >
> > When the gods and demons, who were both progeny of Prajapati, fought
> > against each other ........................
> >
> > Bhashya:
> > The word deva is derived from the root div in the sense of shining. So it
> > means functions of the organs, which are illumined by the scriptures.
> >
> > The asuras are verily the normal, unillumined (ignorant) activities of
> the
> > organs; opposed to them (devas) because they remain engrossed in the
> > enjoyment of their own respective lives, i.e. in (their respective)
> diverse
> > objects and vital functions.
> >
> > The demons, the natural, unillumined functions of the organs, became
> > engaged in war for undermining those functions of the organs which are
> > illumined (regulated) by scriptures.
> >
> > So also the gods, who are opposed to them and are possessed of
> > characteristics of light emerging from the understanding of subjects
> > presented by the scriptures, became engaged in defeating the demons
> > possessed of the natural characteristics of darkness.
> >
> > Thus the whole idea is this: From time immemorial a war, as it were, is
> > continuing in the bodies of all individual beings, between the gods and
> > demons, for the sake of defeating or winning over one another.
> >
> > That is being related here by the Upanishad in the form of a story, by
> way
> > of enjoining knowledge of the purification of the vital force for
> > (arousing) discriminative knowledge about the rise of virtue and vice.
> >
> > Thus, ubhaye, both the gods and demons; are prajapatyah, progeny of
> > Prajapati, of a person competent for rites and meditation.
> >
> > The opposing functions of the organs of that very person, those which
> > follow the scriptures and those which follow their natural tendencies,
> are
> > his progeny as it were because they arise from him.
> >
> > (By Swami Gambhirananda, I did not type full, please look into the book
> for
> > full details)
> >
> > Regards
> >
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 20, 2015 at 9:09 AM, Santosh Rao via Advaita-l <
> > advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
> >
> > > Namaskara,
> > >
> > > In the shastras we read about how some asuras were given knowledge by
> > > certain preceptors, for example, shukra is known to have been the guru
> of
> > > the asuras, while brighu was the preceptor of the devas.
> > >
> > > My question is, what exactly were these asuras learning? Was it the
> > Vedas,
> > > or some other type of knowledge? If it was the Vedas, doesn't that mean
> > > there was adhikara for that to take place to begin with? How was that
> > > defined? If there was adhikara, then why would the lord have to
> incarnate
> > > to mislead them with a false doctrine (buddha), instead of correcting
> > them
> > > in their errors?
> > >
> > > I also read somewhere that the carvaka atheistic philosophy has it's
> > > origins with rishi brhispathi....is this true? If so, was it's purpose
> to
> > > mislead a certain group of people similar to what we are taught about
> > > buddhism? Sorry if this is offtopic, I've been curious about it for a
> > > while.
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > >
> > > Santosh Rao
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