Demons' Plight

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Two
Evening class, 24 March 2021, part 5
Translated from Bengali

I have read to you today [during the parikrama] about Bali Maharaj, how Vamanadev came, and how Hiranyaksa was defeated by Varahadev. The Lord was so angry! The Lord can never tolerate when His devotee is abused or given austerity. He becomes so furious and hard—it will freeze your blood to hear it!

There are many people even among devotees who do not understand this and think, "How come the Lord becomes so angry and kills so cruelly when He is said to be extremely merciful?" People think in this way and leave the path of devotion going in a wrong direction. Hiranyakasipu himself tried to win everyone's support by saying, "Look, look! He has killed my younger brother! If God was so merciful, then what was the need to kill him?" This is a wrong conception.

When Jay and Vijay were cursed, they became Hiranyakasipu and Hiranyaksa, then in Treta-yuga they became Ravan and Kumbhakarna, and in Dvapar-yuga they were born as Dandavakra and Sisupal (I was reading how they were slain today too). These are the three births that Jay and Vijay got as demons.

So, when Hiranyaksa was slain by Varahadev, Hiranyakasipu lost his mind. He became so hot-headed that he left for the forest to practice austerities with a view to get a boon from Brahma. He practised austerities for many thousands of years praying to Lord Brahma. What kind of austerities did he practise? His austerities were so severe that there was no flesh left on his body—only bones. He ate only air. Eventually, Brahma came to him and asked, "What boon do you want?" Hiranyakasipu said, "Make so that nobody in this world can kill me. I want to match Vishnu because He has killed my brother!" What a fool! He wanted to kill the Lord! He thought, "The Lord came as Varahadev (as a boar) and killed my brother! I will revenge!" Brahma listened to him and said, "You cannot get this from me. It is beyond my power to give this kind of boon to you. Yes, I create everything in this world by the will of the Lord, and Lord Vishnu maintains everything, so I cannot make anyone immortal. Only the Supreme Lord is immortal in this world—He created this world, He exists and will exist after the destruction of this world when everything within this world is going to be destroyed. Even I myself will not stay in this world forever. I have a very long lifespan, but even I also have to die one day—somebody else will come and replace me in this post after me. And I too hope to practise Krishna consciousness—then, when I leave this body, I can go to the domain of the Lord. So, I cannot give you what you want." Then, Hiranyakasipu said, "All right, then I want this boon. Make so that I will not die indoors." Brahma said, "So be it." Hiranyakasipu continued, "I will not die outdoors." "So be it." "I will not die during the day, I will not die during the night." "All right, so be it." "I will not be killed by any weapon created by the Lord." Brahma agreed and gave the boon Hiranyakasipu asked for.

We see that demons always keep on trying to defeat the Lord and they always think about the Lord—they always think, "How will I kill Him? How will I kill Him?" Thinking and thinking in this way, they get liberation! This is sayujya-mukti—although they are antagonistic towards the Lord, they get liberation and later become destroyed (they do not get devotion, they get liberation instead, i.e. merge with the impersonal form of the Lord). Maybe they think bad about the Lord (they want to kill the Lord!), but they think about the Lord, and as a result of that they get liberation. For example, Dantavakra always thought how to kill Krishna and fought against Krishna, but even he got liberation!

Anyhow, Hiranyakasipu got this kind of boon from Lord Brahma, and this also happens by the will of the Lord. The boon that Brahma gave to Hiranyakasipu was given by the will of the Lord. Even demons get boons. You can see that so many things in this world are destroyed by the influence of demoniac energy. So, when Hiranyakasipu got that boon from Brahma, he started to create so many atrocities in the world. He tried to become even more powerful...

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