here is a constant flux of power between the gods and demons. They are always in conflict with each other similar to the cycle of day and night. It is actually a natural phenomenon which cannot, nor should not be stopped. This conflict between good and evil causes the revolution of time and events and the churning of history.
The current war however is somewhat different than any in history and the demons plan to make a lasting effect with the current scheme.
Since time immemorial the key has been the earth realm. The demons suffered a great deal as a result because the earth realm happens to be inhabited by humans.
Humans are descendants of the gods themselves and as a result are inclined to worship them.
When yajna (sacrifice/worship) is performed on the earth planet the Devas are empowered and able to keep the delicate balance of nature intact.
When that is not allowed and Dharma is not followed then the demons gain more and more sway.
Cows and priests are always the target because those two things are vital. The cow gives dung and ghee which are both used as fuel in sacred fire.
Therefore demons endorse cow slaughter as a means to put an end to this. They also try their best to corrupt and disrupt the works of devotees.
Hiranyakashipu and other demons have always thought that Vishnu was like the other Devas and if they could kill all the Vaishnavas they could weaken him to the point of killing Him.
This is why he killed many Vaishnavas and would disturb sacrifice.
Whatever force in this world which has an aim to destroy temples and the worship of Vishnu ultimately has its agenda being directed by demons.
Other more vague concepts of "God" make no explicit attack, rather they attack by trying to corrupt the truth of Personalism.
Here are some examples from Srimad Bhagavatam from the lips of Hiranyakasipu himself, spelling it out in black and white:
SB 7.2.10
While I am engaged in the business of killing Lord Vishnu, go down to the planet earth, which is flourishing due to brahminical culture and a kshatriya government. These people engage in austerity, sacrifice, Vedic study, regulative vows, and charity. Destroy all the people thus engaged!
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:
Hiranyakasipu's main purpose was to disturb the demigods. He planned first to kill Lord Vishnu so that with Lord Vishnu's death the demigods would automatically weaken and die.
Another of his plans was to disturb the residents of the planet earth. The peace and prosperity of the residents of earth, and all the other planets, were maintained by the brahmanas and kshatriyas.
The Lord says in Bhagavad-gita (4.13),
catur-varnyam maya srishtam guna-karma-vibhagasah:
"According to the three modes of material nature and the work ascribed to them, the four divisions of human society were created by Me."
On all the planets there are different types of residents, but the Lord recommends, referring especially to the planet earth, which is inhabited by human beings, that society be divided into four varnas -- brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and sudra.
Before the advent of Lord Krishna on this earth, it is understood that the earth was managed by the brahmanas and kshatriyas.
The duty of the brahmanas is to cultivate samah (peacefulness), damah (self-control), titiksha (tolerance), satyam (truthfulness), saucam (cleanliness) and arjavam (simplicity), and then to advise the kshatriya kings how to rule the country or planet.
Following the instructions of the brahmanas, the kshatriyas should engage the populace in austerity, sacrifices, Vedic study and adherence to the rules and regulations established by Vedic principles.
They should also arrange for charity to be given to the brahmanas, sannyasis and temples. This is the godly arrangement of brahminical culture.
People are inclined to offer yajna because unless sacrifices are offered there will be insufficient rain (yajnad bhavati parjanyah [Bg. 3.14]), which will hamper agricultural activities (parjanyad anna-sambhavah).
By introducing brahminical culture, therefore, a kshatriya government should engage people in performing yajna, studying the Vedas and giving charity.
Thus the people will receive their necessities for life very easily, and there will be no disturbances in society.
In this regard, Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gita (3.12):
ishtan bhogan hi vo deva
dasyante yajna-bhavitah
tair dattan apradayaibhyo
yo bhunkte stena eva sah
"In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief."
The demigods are authorized supplying agents who act on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vishnu. Therefore, they must be satisfied by the performance of prescribed yajnas.
In the Vedas, there are different kinds of yajnas prescribed for different kinds of demigods, but all are ultimately offered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
For one who cannot understand what the Personality of Godhead is, sacrifice to the demigods is recommended. According to the different material qualities of the persons concerned, different types of yajnas are recommended in the Vedas.
Worship of different demigods is also on the same basis -- namely, according to different qualities. For example, the meat-eaters are recommended to worship the goddess Kali, the ghastly form of material nature, and before the goddess the sacrifice of animals is recommended.
But for those in the mode of goodness, the transcendental worship of Vishnu is recommended. Ultimately, all yajnas are meant for gradual promotion to the transcendental position. For ordinary men, at least five yajnas, known as panca-mahayajna, are necessary.
One should know, however, that all the necessities of life that human society requires are supplied by the demigod agents of the Lord. No one can manufacture anything.
Consider, for example, all the eatables of human society. These eatables include grains, fruits, vegetables, milk and sugar for persons in the mode of goodness, and also eatables for the nonvegetarians, such as meats, none of which can be manufactured by men.
Then again, take for example, heat, light, water and air, which are also necessities of life -- none of them can be manufactured by human society. Without the Supreme Lord, there can be no profuse sunlight, moonlight, rainfall or breeze, without which no one can live.
Obviously, our life is dependent on supplies from the Lord. Even for our manufacturing enterprises, we require so many raw materials like metal, sulphur, mercury, manganese and so many essentials -- all of which are supplied by the agents of the Lord, with the purpose that we should make proper use of them to keep ourselves fit and healthy for the purpose of self-realization, leading to the ultimate goal of life, namely, liberation from the material struggle for existence.
This aim of life is attained by performance of yajnas. If we forget the purpose of human life and simply take supplies from the agents of the Lord for sense gratification and become more and more entangled in material existence, which is not the purpose of creation, certainly we become thieves, and therefore we are punished by the laws of material nature.
A society of thieves can never be happy, for they have no aim in life. The gross materialist thieves have no ultimate goal of life. They are simply directed to sense gratification; nor do they have knowledge of how to perform yajnas.
Lord Caitanya, however, inaugurated the easiest performance of yajna, namely the sankirtana-yajna, which can be performed by anyone in the world who accepts the principles of Krishna consciousness.
Hiranyakasipu planned to kill the inhabitants of earth so that yajna would stop and the demigods, being disturbed, would die automatically when Lord Vishnu, the yajnesvara, was killed. These were the demoniac plans of Hiranyakasipu, who was expert in such activities.
SB 7.2.11 (Hiranyakasipu speaking)
The basic principle of brahminical culture is to satisfy Lord Vishnu, the personification of sacrificial and ritualistic ceremonies. Lord Vishnu is the personified reservoir of all religious principles, and He is the shelter of all the demigods, the great pitas, and the people in general. When the brahmanas are killed, no one will exist to encourage the kshatriyas to perform yajnas, and thus the demigods, not being appeased by yajna, will automatically die.
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada:
Since Vishnu is the central point of brahminical culture, Hiranyakasipu's plan was to kill Vishnu, for if Vishnu were killed, naturally the brahminical culture would also be lost.
With brahminical culture lost, yajna would no longer be performed, and for want of yajna the regular distribution of rainfall would cease (yajnad bhavati parjanyah [Bg. 3.14]). Thus there would be disturbances all over the world, and naturally the demigods would be defeated.
From this verse we get a clear indication of how human society is disturbed when the Vedic Aryan civilization is killed and the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies performed by the brahmanas are stopped.
Kalau sudra-sambhavah: because the population of the modern world consists mostly of sudras, the brahminical culture is now lost and is extremely difficult to reestablish in a proper way.
Therefore Lord Caitanya has recommended the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, which will revive brahminical culture very easily.
harer nama harer nama
harer namaiva kevalam
kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha
[CC Adi 17.21]
Because of the increment in demoniac population, people have lost brahminical culture. Nor is there a kshatriya government. Instead, the government is a democracy in which any sudra can be voted into taking up the governmental reigns and capture the power to rule.
Because of the poisonous effects of Kali-yuga, the sastra (Bhag. 12.2.13) says, dasyu-prayeshu rajasu: the government will adopt the policies of dasyus, or plunderers. Thus there will be no instructions from the brahmanas, and even if there are brahminical instructions, there will be no kshatriya rulers who can follow them.
Aside from Satya-yuga, even formerly, in the days when demons were flourishing, Hiranyakasipu planned to destroy the brahminical culture and the kshatriya government and thus create chaos all over the world.
Although in Satya-yuga this plan was very difficult to execute, in Kali-yuga, which is full of sudras and demons, the brahminical culture is lost and can be revived only by the chanting of the maha-mantra.
Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement, or the Hare Krishna movement, has been inaugurated to revive brahminical culture very easily so that people may become happy and peaceful in this life and prepare for elevation in the next.
In this regard, Srila Madhvacarya quotes this verse from the Brahmanda Purana:
vipra-yajnadi-mulam tu
harir ity asuram matam
harir eva hi sarvasya
mulam samyan mato nripa
"O King, the demons think that Hari, Lord Vishnu, exists because of the brahmanas and yajna, but factually Hari is the cause of everything including the brahmanas and yajna."
Therefore, through the popularizing of hari-kirtana, or the sankirtana movement, the brahminical culture and kshatriya government will automatically come back, and people will be extremely happy
SB 7.2.12
TRANSLATION (Hiranyakasipu speaking)
Immediately go wherever there is good protection for the cows and brahmanas and wherever the Vedas are studied in terms of the varnasrama principles. Set fire to those places and cut from the roots the trees there, which are the source of life.
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada
The picture of a proper human civilization is indirectly described here.
In a perfect human civilization there must be a class of men fully trained as perfect brahmanas. Similarly, there must be kshatriyas to rule the country very nicely according to the injunctions of the sastras, and there must be vaisyas who can protect the cows.
The word gavah indicates that cows should be given protection. Because the Vedic civilization is lost, cows are not protected, but instead indiscriminately killed in slaughterhouses. Such are the acts of demons. Therefore this is a demoniac civilization.
The varnasrama-dharma mentioned here is essential for human civilization. Unless there is a brahmana to guide, a kshatriya to rule perfectly, and a perfect vaisya to produce food and protect the cows, how will people live peacefully? It is impossible.
Another point is that trees also should be given protection. During its lifetime, a tree should not be cut for industrial enterprises.
In Kali-yuga, trees are indiscriminately and unnecessarily cut for industry, in particular for paper mills that manufacture a profuse quantity of paper for the publication of demoniac propaganda, nonsensical literature, huge quantities of newspapers and many other paper products. This is a sign of a demoniac civilization.
The cutting of trees is prohibited unless necessary for the service of Lord Vishnu. Yajnarthat karmano'nyatra loko'yam karma-bandhanah: [Bg. 3.9]) "work done as a sacrifice for Lord Vishnu must be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world."
But if the paper mills stop producing paper, one may argue, how can our ISKCON literature be published? The answer is that the paper mills should manufacture paper only for the publication of ISKCON literature because ISKCON literature is published for the service of Lord Vishnu.
This literature clarifies our relationship with Lord Vishnu, and therefore the publication of ISKCON literature is the performance of yajna.
Yajnarthat karmano 'nyatra loko 'yam karma-bandhanah [Bg. 3.9]). Yajna must be performed, as indicated by the superior authorities. The cutting of trees simply to manufacture paper for the publication of unwanted literature is the greatest sinful act.
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The demons have tried various schemes which I shall now outlay so you get some concept of the war which has happened so far.
Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu were two brothers. The plan of Hiranyaksha was to adjust the position of the Earth itself to cause it to become influenced by negative energy in the lower regions of the universe and completely change the inhabitants of the Earth. To this end he was successful in moving the Earth but lord Vishnu killed him and put it back where it belonged.
Hiranyakashipu reasoned that if he could defeat the gods in battle he could receive the worship of mankind. He did heavy Tapasya and got the benediction of Lord Brahma. With this benediction the gods were unable to defeat him and he openly ruled the universe. He caused the human population of earth worship him as God. With this act he opened the door for his own demise. He was eventually killed by Vishnu.
The next great tyrant was Ravana and he got benedictions from Shiva and Brahma but he didn’t get worshiped as God. He only defeated the gods to become unquestioned ruler. He was a Rakshasha and they are not jealous of the gods worship. He just wanted to make sure they didn’t bother his indulgences. He offended the gods and humans and Vishnu incarnated and killed him.
It is described that Indra killed many demons in a great war and destroyed their planets and kingdoms and so they were without a home. Their subtle bodies however were still intact so they came up with a new plan. Take birth on the Earth in human bodies.
With this new plan they hoped to evade the watchful eyes of the Devas and turn the world into their own kingdom subjugating the human race in a very subtle way. They did however plunder and rape the earth who complained about their presence to Brahma.
The gods were summoned and decided to take birth on the earth and fight them looking like Humans. The history of the war was written down as the great epic Mahabharata, culminating in the battle of Kuruksetra where the Bhagavad-Gita was spoken. Once again Vishnu came and aided the gods in the destruction of the demons.
That last great war happened over 5,100 years ago. No other great war has happened since, that however doesn’t mean it won't happen again. It is said in the Vedas that the next incarnation of Vishnu will happen in over 400,000 years at the end of the current age. But there are records of many conflicts between gods and demons that happened between the incarnations of the Lord.
What happened after the Mahabharata is not known by the majority of people but it has been recorded by the Tattvavadis, the followers of Madhvacharya.
The demons were angry at being defeated once again and they realized that they needed to be extremely subtle. The problem had always been that the gods would declare war on them as soon as they made a move. So they decided they wouldn’t make any open moves again and they would only use humans as pawns in executing their schemes. It would essentially be the humans who did all the wrong and they would only make suggestions and offers to man from now on, not taking any active role in a military sort of way.
They took birth around the world making bogus philosophies which decried the performance of fire sacrifice and the worship of the gods. Men would no longer be content with the system as it had been for hundreds of thousands if not millions of years.
Instead they would become discontent with life in all respects, continually searching and never finding, always asking but never coming to any conclusion.
They took birth as “holy” men and posed as "avatars" propounding "spiritual" philosophies not based on any authoritative source and spread their false doctrines around the globe.
All of a sudden fire sacrifice which had been a staple of all religions around the world disappeared.
Hate, fear and death they preached and spread their foul corruption of truth around the globe.
Millions were slaughtered in the name of that which was holy. This was their revenge upon the holy ones, for in the name of truth, death and hatred were spread which was the most painful insult which could be launched against the masters of goodness.
With this accomplished, men began to turn away from the very concept of that which was holy and began to eat the still more poison fruit of godlessness which had been the plan of the demons all along.
Throughout history however to make their plans come to pass the demons have always had agents. At first they incarnated to preach their godless faith, however afterwards they found many willing humans who would serve them in exchange for earthly powers.
So we have now come to the current situation of modern day secret societies and can understand their real masters and master plan.
The Demons hope to turn this whole world into a godless materialistic paradise.
They would be content if it was a desert with a few hundred thousand greedy people.
They eat fear and pain like food.
Fortunately for us, the gods decided to make a counter strike and many teachers of truth have come over the ages to counteract the demonic influence.
But there is always a constant fight because the demons will stop at nothing to twist their words for their own ends.
This is the current battle of light and dark. It has evolved from open interplanetary war to the minds and hearts of mankind.
I do however get the feeling the gods are not so ignorant about what is going on and I feel if the demons can't hold themselves back and decided to try and destroy the world again, the gods will make war with them.
By covert means the demons have descended upon us and by covert means did lord Krishna himself come as the hidden Avatar Lord Gauranga.
He came to establish the sacrifice for this age, the Yuga Dharma, Harinam Sankirtan.
The demons gain their power by the spread of hate and disunion, even amongst devotees, and the only true means for all people to fight against them is by joining together in Kirtan, free from all concepts of cast and creed in order to glorify and serve the Lord.
Interesting article, food for thought with regards to all that is happening around us in today's world.
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