Futility of Demons' Desires to Compete with the Supreme Lord
The history of the material world is a saga of the conflict between the divine and the demoniac. While the divine nature seeks to serve, the demoniac nature seeks to usurp. The Demons' Desires are rooted in the impossible ambition to compete with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As Śrīla Prabhupāda elucidates, this mentality is not only sinful but inherently futile, as the finite living entity can never measure or conquer the Infinite. The following sections explore the psychology of this ambition and its inevitable frustration.
Ambition to Kill or Compete with God
The primary symptom of the demoniac nature is an intense aversion to the supremacy of Kṛṣṇa. Demons like Kaṁsa and Hiraṇyakaśipu were obsessed with the idea of annihilating the Supreme Lord to secure their own unhindered enjoyment. They view God as a rival to be eliminated rather than a master to be served.
- Demon is thinking how to wipe out, how to banish Krsna, how to kill Krsna. They don't want Krsna. That is demonic. So therefore they do not know that a demonic person is always suffering. That is due to his forgetfulness of Krsna.
- They (Demons) want to see there is no God. Or to kill God. Kamsa, always thinking, "As soon as Krsna will take His birth, I'll take the baby and kill." But God is always God.
- Independently we want to enjoy without Krsna, without God. That is called material life. So such persons are called demons.
Trap of Insatiable Lust (Duṣpūram)
A defining feature of the demoniac mentality is the inability to find satisfaction. Driven by kāma (lust), their desires are described as duṣpūram—never to be fulfilled. This leads to a cycle of increasing greed where the demoniac person accumulates more and more, yet remains perpetually dissatisfied and agitated.
- The demoniac mentality is described here (in BG 16.10). The demons' lust is never satiated. They will go on increasing and increasing their insatiable desires for material enjoyment.
- These lusty desires, unless you live a very regulated life, it will be duspuram, it will never be fulfilled - always desire, always desire. So these demons, they accept the shelter of lusty desire which will never be fulfilled, will never be satiated.
- The demoniac man knows no limit to his desire to acquire money. That is unlimited.
Transactional Worship and False Austerity
Demons are often capable of severe austerities, but their motivation is flawed. Unlike devotees who approach the Lord with love, demons approach demigods or the Supreme Lord with a business mentality—demanding benedictions for immortality or power. They essentially want to cheat the universal authorities to further their own sinful aims.
- A pure devotee is always free from any kind of material desires. In the material world, one's material desires are all most demonic.
- Although Lord Siva sometimes very liberally gives such benedictions to his devotees, the difficulty is that the demons, being very cunning, sometimes want to experiment improperly with such benedictions.
- Self-interested persons, by demoniac austerity, want to kill even their benedictors, whereas the Vaisnava wants to remain an ever-existing servant of the Lord and never to occupy the post of the Lord.
The Inevitable Defeat
Despite their intricate plans, immense power, and terrifying austerities, the desires of the demons are always thwarted by the Supreme Lord. Whether it is Rāvaṇa seeking Sītā or Hiraṇyakaśipu seeking immortality, their attempts to bypass the laws of God lead only to their own destruction.
- The celebrated demon Ravana wanted to deprive Ramacandra of Laksmi, Sita, and thus be victorious, but the result was just the opposite.
- The material world cannot be enjoyed by any living entity. If one so desires to enjoy it, he immediately becomes a demon like Ravana, Hiranyakasipu or Kamsa.
- The master of the senses is Hrsikesa, Lord Krsna. Therefore, the senses should always be engaged in His service. As for material reputation, there were many demons like Ravana who wanted to go against the laws of material nature, but they all failed.
Conclusion
The Futility of Demons' Desires to Compete with the Supreme Lord serves as a stern warning to all conditioned souls. The desire to dominate, exploit, and enjoy independently is the root cause of suffering. By understanding the failure of the demoniac mentality, one is encouraged to abandon the path of competition with God and instead embrace the path of cooperation and service, which leads to true satisfaction and eternal life.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Demons' Desires. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.