Part 33 (1/2)

The Daityas are opposed to the a-dityas. The root verb _da_ means to cut to pieces, to separate. _Diti_ is that which separates. _Aditi_ is that which does not separate. Jivatma is the same in all beings. One life principle animates all the forms of creation. The idea of separateness did not exist from before. The elementals that began life in this Kalpa from the spiritual plane, have hardly any idea of separate existence.

The Devas and Pitris are described as cla.s.ses (_ganas_), and not as individuals. In the Mineral Kingdom, again, there is no individual existence. Individuality has to be worked out, and the sons of Diti bring about this great work in the evolution of life forms.

When we have the sense of separate existence strong in us, we become capable of further evolution. By our individual experiences, we know what is right and what is wrong, what is pleasurable and what is painful. Things that give joy give pain as well. It is the measure of pleasure or pain that teaches us what to covet and what to shun. Then we have the fact that by our very existence we have duties to perform. The teachings of other ages that are revealed to the Ris.h.i.+s and proclaimed by them, give us a better idea of things, and they tell us more than we can know of by our own experience. The Asuras lead us on and on, till we reach the highest point that, with a sense of individuality, we may attain.

When the individual soul gathers all experience that may be acquired by the idea of separateness, it traces back its way to that spiritual home whence it came. In the return journey, it is helped by the adityas, who gradually efface the idea of separateness, by an ever increasing infusion of Satva: Vishnu himself became aditya and taught men the unity of all souls.

The adityas who guided the early elementals had to be crushed, so that separateness might grow. Pushan and Bhaga were therefore overpowered by the attendants of Siva at the sacrifice of Daksha.

The adityas who guide humanity in their return to spirituality are themselves high spiritual energies, the highest Devas of our Triloki.

Our evolution is thus two-fold - individual and non-individual. When we work as individuals, we are under the influence of Daityas. When we want to cast off separateness, we are under the influence of the adityas.

In both cases, however, it is the bliss element in us that is worked on by the Daityas and A-dityas. This bliss element is our eternal heritage from Ishvara, and it is this element that saves us in our contact with manifold matter. The measure of bliss, (_ananda_), enables us to judge what matter to accept and what not.

Individuality developed under Hiranyakasipu, and all sorts of blissful experiences were acquired. The sons of Hiranyakasipu were all called Bliss (Hrada), but the perfection of Bliss (Pra-Hrada) was in Prahlada, He found out that the worldly joys were unreal, and that the real joy could be had only from Him above, who was joy itself.

But Prahlada did not realise that there was one life underlying all beings, and that all beings were essentially one and the same. He was separate in his devotion, though unselfish to the extreme. He knew that men had separate existences, and while he attained perfection, others did not. It was therefore his duty to raise others to his level. With all unselfishness and devotion, Prahlada was an Asura, because he worked from the stand point of individual life. The foster-father of Sri Krishna was Nanda, the word meaning also bliss. But the bliss of Gopas and Gopis consisted in forgetting self altogether. The bliss that was then evolved will draw humanity to the highest level of spirituality in our Kalpa.

The reign of the Daityas may be divided into three periods: -

I. - The period of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu.

II. - The period of Ravana and k.u.mbhakarna.

III. - The period of s.h.i.+shupala and Dantavakra.

I. _Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu._

Jaya and Vijaya are the outer aspects of Vishnu. Vishnu preserves the universe, and He preserves all beings. Existence, consciousness and bliss all proceed from Vishnu, and it is these essential attributes that bring about the involution and evolution of all beings. In minerals, there is existence, but it is Tamasic. Consciousness and bliss are completely eclipsed by the Tamasic opacity of gross matter.

In the vegetables, there is existence and something more - the bare dawning of perceptive consciousness. There is predominating Tamas in the vegetables also. But Rajas also tries to manifest itself.

In the animals, Rajas a.s.serts itself by increasing activity, and by the action of the senses. The animals exist, they are conscious and they have blissful experiences.

In men, Rajas plays the most important part. Through the ever increasing activities of mind and the development of consciousness, man runs after all sorts of experience, pleasurable and painful, till at last the idea of lasting and real bliss settles down in him, and he knows more of bliss than any other being in the universe. The future evolution of man lies in the permanence of spiritual bliss, which is purely Satvic in its character.

Vishnu preserves all beings in their Tamasic, Rajasic and Satvic stages.

For preservation means the maintenance as well as the improvement of beings. Therefore preservation is Satvic, and Vishnu is the Preserver.

We live and move onwards in all stages of our being. But in Rajasic and Tamasic stages, it is the attendants of Vishnu, the door-keepers, that preserve us, and the Daityas are the lower manifestations of Jaya and Vijaya. One is Tamasic and the other Rajasic.

Hiranyaksha is Tamasic. He represents the original inertia of matter, its primary resistance to the onward process of evolution. There was existence after Pralayic sleep But it was h.o.m.ogeneous existence, with little or no phenomenal change. Varaha got over this h.o.m.ogeneal tenacity by the killing of Hiranyaksha, and he set going the process of planetary and individual life.

Hiranyakasipu came next. He was the favoured son of Brahma. He helped the evolution of individual life. Minerals became vegetables. Vegetables became animals, and animals became men. The intellectual power of men rapidly increased, and there was material and moral progress. The limit of moral progress was reached by Prahlada. But the ideal of Prahlada was based upon the conception of differences and of individualities. It is for this reason that Varna and Ashrama Dharma, or the separate duties of life for separate cla.s.ses of men, is dealt with in the discourses with Prahlada.

But though Prahlada was a son of Hiranyakasipu, he was an exception to the general run of material evolution which was fostered by Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu hated the development of Satvic virtues, he hated Hari, the embodiment of Satva. Nrisinha killed the great Daitya, and Satva made its appearance in men.

Hiranya means gold.

Hiranyaksha is gold-eyed.