Why is Vritrasura portrayed as a demon in the Rig-Veda and as a devotee in the Bhagavatam?

Transcript

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Thank you Hare Krishna Question Why is Pritrasura depicted as A demon In the Rigveda And As a devotee In the Bhagavatam Answer The Bhagavatam also doesn’t Hide the fact that Pritrasura is a demon His formidable fearsome form Is described graphically in the Bhagavatam And how just Seeing him terrorizes many Of the soldiers in the demigod Side and how they flee in horror On seeing him that is also depicted So the Fact that he is a demon Is consistent Across the scriptures However every scripture Has a particular focus Has a particular Emphasis and according To that emphasis the Narrative Is shaped So the Rigveda and the Vedas in general Focus on Karmakanda Krishna says In 2.44 So The Vedas talk about Karmakanda that means How by doing Dharma One can get Arthakama And Moksha is not talked about directly in the Vedas They talk about primarily in the Upanishads So So now in that Narrative the point is if one lives A life of Dharma then one will Attain success One will attain victory So Indra is Portrayed as a Deva and The Deva follows Dharma And the demons are generally Adharmic So how the How the Dharmic Deva Conquers over the Adharmic Asura Is described in the Rigveda so the essential Narrative the specific forms can vary In the sense that how Rutra looks like or specifically how They fight or what they Dial or what is their conversation If they have any that can vary Because these pastimes can happen Across various Kalpas And different pastimes Will be recorded in different Different scriptures but the important Point is that what is the Carry home message so in the Rigveda it is that if you do Dharma Then you will be victorious And Indra is depicted as Practically the The quintessential Model Of the Successful Fruity worker And he has power He has position he has Wealth and he has enjoyment So the depiction Of Indra Defeating and killing Rutra is Consistent with the purpose of the Rigveda Of glorifying the Devatas And encouraging people at least To the level of practicing Karma Kanda So that they are not Even if they want to be materialistic They will be religiously materialistic and not Irreligiously materialistic That means they will at least follow Dharma To get Artha and Kama and not Seek Adharma In seeking Artha and Kama Now if you move forward In the Mahabharata itself the story of Rutrasura comes along again And there are more nuances In that story so Rutrasura When that story comes in the Mahabharata He is depicted as a wise demon Now he is a demon still but he is a wise Demon and he gives instructions To Indra And now the Bhagavatam Continues that and he gives Not just instructions On the Temporariness of material existence which is What he Focuses what is the thrust of the instructions In the Mahabharata The Bhagavatam Is focusing essentially On Bhakti and while Focusing on Bhakti The Bhagavatam Actually Demonstrates the Way in which Bhakti trumps All normal Hierarchies So whether Normal hierarchy means say There are upper caste people And there are lower caste people so the Sanyasi is higher than a Or a Brahmana is higher than a Kshatriya But the Bhagavatam trumps this By showing how Durvasa Muni who is a Kshatriya He is Revealed as far greater than Durvasa Muni who is a Sanyasi and a Brahmana So similarly normally a Devata is considered to be higher than a Asura But in the Bhagavatam narrative The Asura becomes Higher than Devata because the Devata Is attached although both are In one sense Bhaktas But Indira is more of an attached Devotee, he does Bhakti But his Bhakti is largely Sakaam Bhakti Whereas Vitrasura He has a demoniac body And he acts according to the demoniac body as is impelled By the lord from within but eventually He surrenders To the lord and he And he When he is faced with death Although such a fearsome demon That just the sight of him Will strike terror in the hearts Of observers but that Demon has such a tender Heart that when he is in his final Stages of his life He gives such a vivid Poetic and Moving metaphors He says He says just as He talks about how Just as a small bird Was not yet developed its way It longs for its mother to come back And feed it just as a Calf longs for the Cow to come so that he can drink milk And just as a Lover longs for her beloved To return so like that my dear lord I long for you So His tender heart Amidst his fear Within his fearsome exterior Is also revealed so the Bhagavatam Focus is Not just on What happens at the material level Who wins and who loses so essentially At the material level the narrative remains the same At least the short term that That Indra Indra wins and Vithrasur loses but in terms of Consciousness Indra is an attached devotee And that’s why when he finds that I can’t I may not win Vithrasur is so powerful And although he has a weapon Which is got not just from Dandaji’s bones The power of that weapon But also that weapon has been given The arrangement for that weapon Has been revealed by the lord himself So it is as per the lord’s plan But when he sees that his plan Is not being successful he doesn’t even have faith in the lord’s plan And he starts thinking what is the use of Fighting if I can’t win when he sees the power of Vithrasur But although Vithrasur’s plan Is going to fail he is fighting and he is going to lose And he is going to be killed but still because He has surrendered to the lord So he is not only Facing death gracefully But he encourages Indra And he gives him good advice And good instruction and thus he elevates Indra’s consciousness And then the Bhagavatam’s further Depiction is of course Vithra dies long before Indra cuts off his neck Because Vithrasur has gone in trance And his soul has left his body And attained Vaikuntha The Bhagavatam further describes how Indra then has to suffer The consequences of Brahmahatya Because earlier he has killed Vishwaroopa who was the son of a Brahmana And now he has killed Vithrasur Who is also in one sense Created like a son of a Brahmana Because he had been created by a Brahmana Through a fire sacrifice Now The Bhagavatam’s stress Is not even on this Actually the Bhagavatam’s stress is that Even an offence as grievous as Brahmahatya Even a sin as grievous as that Can be countered If one engages in hearing chanting Of course this is not a Encouragement that we That somebody does Brahmahatya Somebody do Brahmahatya And then do hearing chanting And plan it out in such a way that Actually as long as I do hearing chanting Brahmahatya won’t matter. No.
That is not the point That will become the seventh offence and the Bhagavatam Definitely does not encourage that But seventh offence is to Commit sinful activities on the strength of the holy name To think that because I am chanting I can do sinful activities and I will get away with it That mentality is not approved But if one commits sinful activities No matter how grievous they may be If one absorbs Oneself in bhakti, shranakirtan of the supreme lord One will transcend Transcend the Reactions because the lord will Protect such a person. That is the stress Of what the Bhagavatam is teaching And in every narrative we should focus On what is stressed And so the Bhagavatam Because its focus is on Teaching the Transcendence of bhakti How bhakti enables a person to go Beyond the Normal hierarchies In terms of Who is higher and who is pious and impious And further how bhakti can Enable one to Come To transcend even grievous sinful reactions So in the Bhagavatam That is the stress and that is why Dhritarashtra is depicted not just as a demon Which is there but within the Demon’s body is depicted as a Mahabhagavata Vaishnava Thank you Question