[Advaita-l] Asuras and Dharma

[Ravi Chandrasekhara]

Pranam,

I too have these similar questions. What Shri Chandramouli posted, I think one of the Sringeri Acharyas had mentioned.

Ravi Chandrasekhara 

Sent from my iPhone

> On Nov 21, 2015, at 00:31, 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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