Asura Quotes

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The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Some of the drops of water fell onto my skin and by impulse was to smell the water. It stank. My neighbour whispered in my ear, “It’s cow’s urine and gobar. They use it for purification.” We, the untouchables, were purified with bullshit.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I had lived as Ravana and I would die as Ravana. I did not intend to become Rama, the perfect man and God. There was no dearth of gods in my country. It only lacked men.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Not specifically. "Demons have been on Earth as long as we have. They're all over the world, in their different forms – Greek daemons, Persian daevas, Hindu asuras, Japanese oni. Most belief systems have some method of incorporating both their existence and the fight against them. Shadowhunters cleave to no single religion, and in turn all religions assist us in our battle. I could as easily have gone for help to a Jewish synagogue or a Shinto temple, or – Ah. Here it is.
Cassandra Clare (City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments, #1))
Most humble men are either hypocrites or have much to be humble about. Success breeds pride and vanity. And pride is the only reward of success.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
a life without ambition was a life worth living.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Intelligence is just a tool to serve our emotions and I want to live as God intended man to live.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
They had to stir the churn of the ocean, until the soma floated up, as butter floats from milk. And this task could not be undertaken in opposition to the Asuras, but only with their help. The pronouncement ran contrary to everything the Devas had previously thought. But in the end, what did they have to lose, given that their lives were so futile? Now they thought: Anything, so long as there be a trial, a risk, a task.
Roberto Calasso (Ka: Stories of the Mind and Gods of India)
Anger is the lowest emotion. It clouds the intellect and can make you do foolish things. You become blind to reason and react only with your body, without thinking. This leads to failure in every sphere. Uproot this evil from your system.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Love makes you weak. Love has unseen bondages that take you into the abyss of failure at that crucial moment when victory and failure get balanced. Beware of love.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Asuras are not bad people; they just have an understanding of dharma that is not valid for today’s world. Sometimes, the followers are good but the leaders let them down.
Amish Tripathi (Scion of Ikshvaku (Ram Chandra, #1))
देवर्षिगणसंघातस्तूयमानात्मवैभवा भण्डासुरवधोद्युक्तशक्तिसेनासमन्विता ॥२४ Devarshi-gana-sanghaatha-sthooya-maana-aathma-vaibhavaa Bhanda-asura-vadha-udyukta-shakti-saena-sam-anwithaa 24. She revered by knowledgeable with divinity, She source of all, through Her everything be, She has strength to destroy evil heart fully, And enlighten devotee with knowledge truly. - 34 -
Munindra Misra (Lalita Sahasranama)
I am turmeric who rose out of the ocean of milk when the devas and asuras churned for the treasures of the universe. I am turmeric who came after the nectar and before the poison and thus lie in between.
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (The Mistress of Spices)
worldly-wise people have said so, to get along in the world you had to be practical and satisfied with what your measly life offers. But I was a dreamer. And I did not want to just get along in this world. I wanted to own it.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Krishna explains. “When enemies become too numerous and powerful, they should be slain by deceit and stratagems. This was the path formerly trodden by the devas to slay the asuras; and a path trodden by the virtuous may be trodden by all.
Karen Armstrong (Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence)
Fear is not an emotion, it is a disease. It spreads from the leader to his followers and vice–versa. Nothing has killed more men in war than fear. What should a warrior fear? Death? But death is what everyone achieves ultimately. Is it wounds that you fear? What is more important? A pint of your blood or the nectar of victory? Think. Thinking will clear such doubts.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Happiness and sadness are just two eternal truths like day and night. A man of superior intellect is never affected by these emotions. They are not base emotions at all but a reflection of our thoughts, a reaction to our perspective on things we see, hear and do. Equanimity is not only desirable in a warrior, but a must. Without it, you are as good as dead in the battlefield.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I am no atheist. I strongly believe in God and am always willing to pray for my material and spiritual progress. But for me, God is a very personal thing and prayer needs to be spoken silently in my heart.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
An Aryan civilization is a civilization advanced in spiritual knowledge – (SB 7.2.60, Purport) The difference between the Aryan and non-Aryan, the sura and asura, is in their standards of spiritual advancement – (SB 3.29.18, Purport) Aryans do not kill even a small plant unnecessarily, not to speak of cutting trees for sense gratification…Aryans do not distinguish between lower and higher grades of life. All life should be protected. All living beings have a right to live, even the trees and plants. This is the basic principle of an Aryan civilization – (SB 6.16.43, Purport)
Michael Tsarion (The Irish Origins of Civilization, Volume One: The Servants of Truth: Druidic Traditions & Influence Explored)
Our dharma was based on simple things: a man should be true to his word; he should speak from his heart and shouldn’t do anything he considered wrong. One should not cheat even if one was sure to fail. One should honour women and not insult anyone. If there was injustice, we had to fight it at all costs.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Indeed I now think that the Indian and Chinese description of the afterlife, the system of the six lokas or realms of reality – the devas, asuras, humans, beasts, pretas, and inhabitants of hell – is in fact a metaphorical but precise description of this world and the inequalities that exist in it, with the devas sitting in luxury and judgment on the rest, the asuras fighting to keep the devas in their high position, the humans getting by as humans do, the beasts laboring as beasts do, the homeless preta suffering in fear at the edge of bell, and the inhabitants of hell enslaved to pure immiseration. My feeling is that until the number of whole lives is greater than the number of shattered lives, we remain stuck in some kind of prehistory, unworthy of humanity's great spirit. History as a story worth telling will only begin when the whole lives outnumber the wasted ones. That means we have many generation s to go before history begins. All the inequalities must end; all the surplus wealth must be equitably distributed. Until then we are still only some kind of gibbering monkey, and humanity, as we usually like to think of it, does not yet exist. To put it in religious terms, we are still indeed in the bardo, waiting to be born.
Kim Stanley Robinson (The Years of Rice and Salt)
A defeated race often uses its cultural supremacy to cover the shame of defeat.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Success breeds pride and vanity. And pride is the only reward of success.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
In fact the English word ‘demon’ is full of a value judgement that is wrongly attributed to the words rakshasa and asura.
Devdutt Pattanaik (Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana)
One should honour women and not insult anyone. If there was
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
It is always when everything appears dream-like and life seems to possess a never-ending charm, that foolish thoughts and dangerous aspirations take birth in the minds of humans.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I think it was the size of the dream and the willingness to act on it. Ravana dreamt big and strove ruthlessly to achieve it.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
It could have been due to my inborn leadership qualities that this stealing of a subordinate’s idea and claiming credit for it, came easily to me.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I think it was the size of the dream and the willingness to act on it.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Kings imagine they are powerful because they command armies. But in their truest moments, they finally learn who they are. Warriors fight wars, Asura. While kings die weak men.
John Arcudi (Rumble, Vol. 3: Immortal Coil)
Conan looked about him curiously. He had never before visited the temple of Asura, had not certainly known that there was such a temple in Tarantia. The priests of the religion had a habit of hiding their temples in a remarkable fashion. The worship of Mitra was overwhelmingly predominant in the Hyborian nations, but the cult of Asura persisted, in spite of official ban and popular antagonism. Conan had been told dark tales of hidden temples where intense smoke drifted up incessantly from black altars where kidnaped humans were sacrificed before a great coiled serpent, whose fearsome head swayed for ever in the haunted shadows.
Robert E. Howard (Conan: The Definitive Collection)
With all of us nursing you— Must you still prolong the agony of life? While I, having lost my hold on the tremendous Faith, Having divested myself of purity and suchlike humble items, Now walk in the sombre bluish world of the Asura. --- Silent Wail
Kenji Miyazawa
was shocked to learn that many common Asuras had also begun to believe in Rama’s divinity. Making your wife suffer exile in the forest, killing a friendly king through deceit, sending terrorist to cities and annihilating innocent men, women and children…were these the marks of divinity?
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
The masculine way needs to be revived. The way of the Asuras is a possible answer to India’s current problems. But the Asura way cannot and should not be replicated. Some improvements and adjustments are necessary. Questioning must be encouraged. And, it has to be tailored to suit our current circumstances.
Amish Tripathi (Scion of Ikshvaku (Ram Chandra, #1))
gods, the Dánavas and the Yakshas have born (sic) all, (his oppression); this lord of Rákshas therefore distresses the universe; and, inflated by this promise unjustly vexes the divine sages, the Yakshas, and Gandharvas, the Asuras, and men: where Rávaṇa remains there the sun loses his force, the winds through fear of him do not blow; the fire
Vālmīki (The Rámáyan of Válmíki)
While Devas,Asuras, Nagas,Yaskhas and Devatas satisfied mundane, everyday needs, they did not answer more primal issues:Why does the world exist? Do we exist? Who are we? There was a need for God who was greater than the gods. There was need for Ishwara, the supreme lord, Mahadeva, the great god who is God, and Bhagavan, the container of all things.
Devdutt Pattanaik (Myth = Mithya: A Handbook of Hindu Mythology)
But I was a dreamer. And I did not want to just get along in this world. I wanted to own it. Why were our people so meek and humble? That was something I always wondered about. Why were only a few able to control the power and wealth while the rest obliged them, and even laid down their lives to help this small selfish gang oppress them and their children?
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
if the doings of the victor could not be justified by the prevailing moral codes of society, he would be elevated to godhood, for who could question a God?
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Ten kings met once a year to decide about water sharing, fixing customs, excise, and toll rates, port levies, and to exchange musicians and artisans. An
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Nothing is more condemnable than selfishness. A man who thinks of himself alone is the most unlucky person of all.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
That is a good piece of propaganda, I must admit. Claim that God is with you, or better, you are God, then anything you do, any adharma you commit, becomes divine play.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I believe there is a world out there to conquer. A better world awaiting us.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Every death is a temporary pause in the symphony called life.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Sometimes, I wish you were on a diet. Not because you need it, but because I want to eat your food.
Asura
Jealousy is the driving force of progress, envy is the motivating force of life.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
In the early hymns of India the appellation asuras is given to the gods. Asura means a spirit. But in the process of time asura, like dæmon, came to have a sinister meaning: the gods were called suras, the demons asuras, and these were said to contend together. But in Persia the asuras—demonised in India—retained their divinity, and gave the name ahura to the supreme deity, Ormuzd (Ahura-mazda). On
Moncure Daniel Conway (Demonology and Devil-lore)
I wanted to start again. I wanted to make the same mistakes, love the same people, fight the same enemies, befriend the same friends, marry the same wives and sire the same sons. I wanted to live the same life again. 13I didn’t want the seat Rama has reserved for me in his heaven. I only wanted my beautiful earth. I knew such things were not going to happen. I was sixty, not sixteen. If I lived, I would be a one-eyed, dirty, old beggar in some wayside temple, with stinking, tattered clothes. A long way from what I once was. I wanted to die now. I wanted this to end. I wanted to go away. Let the burning cities take care of themselves. Let the Asuras fight their own wars and be damned along with the Devas. I only wanted to return to my childhood and start over again, every single damn thing, again and again and again…
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished, The Story of Ravana and His People)
Our dharma was based on simple things: a man should be true to his word; he should speak from his heart and shouldn’t do anything he considered wrong. One should not cheat even if one was sure to fail. One should honour women and not insult anyone. If there was injustice, we had to fight it at all costs. We never knew any of the great teachings of the ancient Asura or Deva saints. We followed no tradition. We were almost bastards.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Fíjate en el tablero, el campo de batalla; la alternancia continua entre casillas blancas y negras representa la esencia dual del mundo. El ajedrez tuvo su origen en la India y simboliza la lucha entre el bien y el mal, la batalla mítica de los devas con los asuras, la lucha de las fuerzas de la luz contra las fuerzas de las tinieblas. Sin embargo, aunque a menudo las piezas oscuras son completamente negras, como en este juego, las claras raramente son totalmente blancas.
Marcos Chicot (La Hermandad (El asesinato de Pitágoras #2))
For all its idyllic charm, and in the joy of companionship of Sita, Rama never lost sight of his main purpose in settling down in this region—he had come here to encounter and destroy the asuras, the fiends who infested this area, causing suffering and hardship to all the good souls who only wanted to be left alone to pursue their spiritual aims in peace. Rama’s whole purpose of incarnation was ultimately to destroy Ravana, the chief of the asuras, abolish fear from the hearts of men and gods, and establish peace, gentleness, and justice in the world.
R.K. Narayan (The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic)
is the “waters” of the celestial “ocean” which come to mind, in which Noah’s Ark now swims as a constellation. In the Indian version of this story the ark is a boat on which the Seven Rishis (better known to us as the Big Dipper, or Ursa Major), and the Vedic culture that they represent, are ferried to safety by a giant Fish (the constellation Pisces). Gazing on myth from this angle we can find in the skies many of the cast of characters of “The Greatness of Saturn.” Aditi [* FOOTNOTE: A well-thought-out cosmology which catalogues such extensions of ‘Earth’ into ‘Space’ is presented by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend in Namlet’s Mill, and the interested reader will find a wealth of detail worth pondering in that book.] (‘The Unbroken, Unbounded One’; by extension, eternity) is the mother of the devas, the ‘shining celestials,’ and Diti (‘The Bound, Divided, Cut One’) is the mother of the asuras, the enemies of the devas. There is good reason to believe that Aditi represents the northern celestial hemisphere and the zodiac, which being the part of the heavens that is visible throughout the year
Robert E. Svoboda (The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth)
It is they—the "Seven Hosts"—who, having "considered in their Father (divine Thought) the plan of the operator," as says Pyrnander, desired to operate (or build the world with its creatures) likewise; for, having been born "within the sphere of operation"—the manifesting Universe -- such is the Manvantaric LAW. And now comes the second portion of the passage, or rather of two passages merged into one to conceal the full meaning. Those who were born within the sphere of operation were "the brothers who loved him well." The latter—the "him"—were the primordial angels: the Asuras, the Ahriman, the Elohim—or "Sons of God," of whom Satan was one—all those spiritual beings who were called the "Angels of Darkness," because that darkness is absolute light, a fact now neglected if not entirely forgotten in theology. Nevertheless, the spirituality of those much abused "Sons of Light" which is Darkness, must be evidently as great in comparison with that of the Angels next in order, as the ethereality of the latter would be, when contrasted with the density of the human body. The former are the "First-born"; therefore so near to the confines of pure quiescent Spirit as to be merely the "PRIVATIONS" -- in the Aristotelian sense—the ferouers or the ideal types of those who followed. They could not create material, corporeal things; and, therefore, were said in process of time to have refused to create, as commanded by "God" -- otherwise, TO HAVE REBELLED. Perchance, this is justified on that principle of the Scientific theory which teaches us about light and sound and the effect of two waves of equal length meeting. "If the two sounds be of the same intensity, their coincidence produces a sound four times the intensity of either, while their interference produces absolute silence." Explaining some of the "heresies" of his day,
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine - Volume II, Anthropogenesis)
It is they—the "Seven Hosts"—who, having "considered in their Father (divine Thought) the plan of the operator," as says Pyrnander, desired to operate (or build the world with its creatures) likewise; for, having been born "within the sphere of operation"—the manifesting Universe -- such is the Manvantaric LAW. And now comes the second portion of the passage, or rather of two passages merged into one to conceal the full meaning. Those who were born within the sphere of operation were "the brothers who loved him well." The latter—the "him"—were the primordial angels: the Asuras, the Ahriman, the Elohim—or "Sons of God," of whom Satan was one—all those spiritual beings who were called the "Angels of Darkness," because that darkness is absolute light, a fact now neglected if not entirely forgotten in theology. Nevertheless, the spirituality of those much abused "Sons of Light" which is Darkness, must be evidently as great in comparison with that of the Angels next in order, as the ethereality of the latter would be, when contrasted with the density of the human body. The former are the "First-born"; therefore so near to the confines of pure quiescent Spirit as to be merely the "PRIVATIONS" -- in the Aristotelian sense—the ferouers or the ideal types of those who followed. They could not create material, corporeal things; and, therefore, were said in process of time to have refused to create, as commanded by "God" -- otherwise, TO HAVE REBELLED. Perchance, this is justified on that principle
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine - Volume II, Anthropogenesis)
Readiness for action is the root of all kingly duties. Listen to the verse sung by Vrihaspati: By exertion the amrita was obtained, by exertion the asuras were slain and by exertion Indra obtained sovereignity in heaven and on earth. The heroes of exertion are superior to the heroes of speech. The heroes of speech gratify the heroes of exertion.
Meera Uberoi (Leadership Secrets From The Mahabharata)
There were a million stars. Were they the gods? They seemed so far away, cold, indifferent and irrelevant – silent witnesses to the drama unfolding on a tiny rock called earth. There
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Jealousy is the biggest force that motivates humankind. Why do empires compete with each other? Why do kings try to outsmart each other in what they do, if not motivated by the jealousy they feel? Jealousy is the driving force of progress, envy is the motivating force of life. The need for importance is the most important of urges after the basic physical urges of food, shelter and sex. Even these basic urges have their root in jealousy. To deny jealousy is to deny the basic instincts of man.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
The next base emotion is Pride. Arrogance stems from pride and kills clear thinking and vision. Pride makes you underestimate your foes and overestimate yourself. Jealousy is a vile emotion, and mastering it is one of the most challenging tasks a human being has. Jealousy makes you pine for other man’s kingdom, wealth, wife and fame. This emotion has lead to many wars, bloodshed and tears since time immemorial.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
I am not afraid of death. I have been
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
The rich did not care who ruled, as long as they were allowed to be rich. The poor could not afford to care and nobody asked their opinion in any case. Only the middle class mattered and any half-witted ruler knows how to pamper them. One
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Love makes you weak. Love has unseen bondages that take you into the abyss of failure at that crucial moment when victory and failure get balanced. Beware of love. Finally,
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
But each year, Bali is allowed to rise up above the ground. His arrival is marked by many festivals such as Diwali in north India and Onam in Kerala. It is a time of bounty and prosperity. To get the harvest to the granary, Bali has to be killed, like all Asuras. Only when shoved underground, will he return the following year, nourished by Sanjivani Vidya, with yet another bountiful harvest.
Devdutt Pattanaik (Seven secrets of Vishnu)
There was no dearth of gods in my country. It only lacked men.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
The real meaning of the sacred texts gave me greater determination to attack evils like caste, animal sacrifices and other rituals being propagated by the priestly class. I was determined to curb meaningless rituals and sacrifices and put an end to the curse of caste. We
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Fear is not an emotion, it is a disease. It spreads from the leader to his followers and vice–versa. Nothing has killed more men in war than fear.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
The Asuras are not bad people; they just have an understanding of dharma that is not valid for today's world. Sometimes the followers are good but the leaders let them down
Amish Tripathi (Scion of Ikshvaku (Ram Chandra, #1))
You can't get your prayers answered by tossing them into some fictional universe.
Otaro Maijo (Asura Girl)
So it gave us great pleasure to slay the men and take the women. Sometimes I felt we were no different from the rampaging Deva army which had trampled my village. But then, peer pressure is something which even great men find hard to resist. It was easier to succumb to temptation than raise oneself to the chivalrous act usually heard about only in legends and fairy tales. After all, they were just Devas and deserved to be hated, irrespective of their social standing. Like any other Asura, I too was quite sure of that.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
In the Aitareya Brahmana, the breath (asu) of Brahma-Prajapati became alive, and from that breath he created the Asuras. Later on, after the war, the Asuras are called the enemies of the gods, hence—"A-suras," the initial "A" being a negative prefix—or "no-gods" -- the "gods" being referred to as "Suras." This then connects the Asuras and their "Hosts," enumerated further on, with the "Fallen Angels" of the Christian Churches, a hierarchy of spiritual Beings to be found in every Pantheon of ancient and even modern nations—from the Zoroastrian down to that of the Chinaman. They are the sons of the primeval Creative Breath at the beginning of every new Maha Kalpa, or Manvantara; in the same rank as the Angels who had remained "faithful." These were the allies of Soma (the parent of the Esoteric Wisdom) as against Brihaspati (representing ritualistic or ceremonial worship). Evidently they have been degraded in Space and Time into opposing powers or demons by the ceremonialists, on account of their rebellion against hypocrisy, sham-worship, and the dead-letter form.
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine - Volume II, Anthropogenesis)
Later, much later, I became a real leader, and then I was sure that all good ideas emanated from me and the bad and foolish ideas had some other father.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
தண்ணி கொஞ்ச வேண்டிய ஊருல தண்ணிக்கு கெஞ்சிகிட்டு நிக்கறோம்.
Indra Soundar Rajan (Asura Jathagam (Tamil))
The words asura and rakshasa are often used interchangeably but they refer to two different groups of beings. Asuras are children of Kashyapa; they live under the ground and fight the devas. Rakshasas are children of Pulastya; they live in forests and fight humans. Kashyapa and Pulastya are Brahma’s mind-born sons.
Devdutt Pattanaik (Sita: An Illustrated Retelling of the Ramayana)
Listen to me attentively! I will tell you about my hidden core and supernatural powers. The gods, men and asuras in the world think that I, Śākyamuni Buddha, left the palace of the Śākyas, sat at the place of enlightenment not far from the City of Gayā, and attained Anuttara-samyak-saṃbodhi [forty and odd years ago]. To tell the truth, good men, it is many hundreds of thousands of billions of nayutas of kalpas since I became the Buddha.
Shinkyo Warner (The Lotus Sutra: The Sutra of the Lotus Flower of the Wonderful Dharma)
In like manner our universe appears to us human beings as the phenomenal world or presentation. It might appear to other creatures of a different mental constitution as something else. We cannot ascertain how it might seem to Devas, to Asuras, to angels, and to the Almighty, if there be such beings. However different it might seem to these beings, it does not imply that the phenomenal world is unreal, nor that the realm of reality is unknowable. 'Water,
Kaiten Nukariya (The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan)
It is quite reasonable that Zenists distinguish supernatural powers from spiritual uplifting, the former an acquirement of Devas, or of Asuras, or of Arhats, or of even animals, and the latter as a nobler accomplishment attained only by the practisers of Mahayanism. Moreover, they use the term supernatural power in a meaning entirely different from the original one. Lin Tsi (Rin-zai) says, for instance: "There are six supernatural powers of Buddha: He is free from the temptation of form, living in the world of form; He is free from the temptation of sound, living in the world of sound; He is free from the temptation of smell, living in the world of smell; He is free from the temptation of taste, living in the world of taste; He is free from the temptation of Dharma,[FN#254] living in the world of Dharma. These are six supernatural powers."[FN#255]
Kaiten Nukariya (The Religion of the Samurai A Study of Zen Philosophy and Discipline in China and Japan)
Even a moment of jesting with an asura is likely to lead to incalculable evil consequences.
R.K. Narayan (The Ramayana: A Shortened Modern Prose Version of the Indian Epic)
The Parable of the Six Kinds of Beings There's a Buddhist parable that describes the generative, fictional function of awareness quite well. Here's how the 17th century Tibetan monk Ngawang Kunga Tenzin explained the parable: Ultimately there is nothing other than mind alone; nevertheless, because of delusion and karma it manifests as all kinds of things. This is similar to the different perceptions of water by the six kinds of beings. Water is indeed only one thing, but if the six kinds of beings were together at a river bank, when looking at it they would see it in different ways. A being of a hot hell would see a river of fire, while one from a cold hell would see it as snow and ice. For the hungry ghosts known as pretas it would be pus and blood. Animals who live underwater would see it as their abode, while those scattered on land would see it as drink. Humans would also see it as drink, and accordingly they would classify it into drinking or non-drinking water. The demigods called asuras would perceive it as weaponry. Gods would see it as nectar (amrita). So beings would see what we perceive as water in different ways according to their particular karmic perception and thus water becomes manifold. This is known as the karmic perception of one's mind. Ultimately things do not exist outside—they are only projections of the mind. —from The Royal Seal of Mahamudra, Volume One, A Guidebook for the Realization of Co-emergence
Carolyn Elliott (Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power (A method for getting what you want by getting off on what you don't))
An Indirect quote - Some visitors came to a planet to see its resources and available benefits for them. They knew the universal secrets, but when they visited this planet, only primitive humans were living and there were dark in nature. So they tried to utilize them and to rule them, but as days and minutes passed these visitors started loving those dark people, and then they started teaching them about morality, perseverance, how to talk, how to walk and everything about utopian or high life style but some of these dark people misused it and some love stories became harassing stories and these visitors got tensed as they were teachers, they wanted to be respectful. But their main motive was to use the resources on this planet, because their planet already dead. And guy from those dark people asked a serious question after getting taught from them, you people came to utilize us and now you guys are enslaving us, just like you people we are also organisms of universe, and that sentence was a damn shocking for them then there was rain, a heavy rain or Indra. These dark people prayed a lot to preserve their culture with the knowledge they got from these visitors which in turn gave births of visitors souls to their children. Some of these dark people were used to build a plan against enemies as it was their psychology against thrests, and then there was manu smiriti or psychology given by visitors to not to give high positions to to these dark skinned people as they build a plan to destroy threats, they may turn violent people against universe. And then there was a girl in these dark people who said that, destruction is also another creation , and she was shakthi. Finally these visitors lost with their intention because these dark people started speaking truths, and still they had bad motives to kill these visitors those were called asuras, and this indra made his clans to protect humanity from these asuras. And people those who were interested in love and too much love to utilize these situations were given business opportunities on daily needs, people that were interested in extreme love I e - harassing people from these visitors were given protection duties. souls turned into another sex called trans, other than man and women to find out divergent i e mixed people. languages evolves, teaching evolved, business evolved, education evolved, there was silent guy who seems to be creator of these visitors, were given no duties at all other than science. But he himself was not a creator because for creating something new , he needs destruction or shiv and for protecting he needed another visitor called krishna, but what he forgot was this creator himself was a visitor from another planet were diamonds harvested and so called fairy tales and beautiful life was there but that planet was destroyed because of greediness. Because these visitors destroyed lots of planets already and with greedy, too much sex there were completely tired on this beautiful planet. and so finally they had no other planets to visit and whomever been sent did not return. So they finally found this is the final planet to survive. The unmentioned people are from west, and completely north and they were given important tasks to protect the planet which is the only available right now. These manu smiriti or visitors psychology did not enclose the details of creator but only said about who designed it - Bram. The god was born on west, north, south and down earth to find out what is the actual problem and when to end it for recreation. He found that there is no need of re creation as far as now because he loves all. But the problem is these visitors are from another planet or heaven or hell , and so they were greedy to enough to utilise all they had and sent their clans to search more but they did not return at all. And in between time frame, some visited but couldnt enter properly and those entered were affected much because of completely dynamic atmosphere.
Ganapathy K
Kali purana or Kalki purana depicts many postulates about women transformation into Maha Kali, But I am not sure if it is right or wrong, Kali or durga loves all including asuras and Kali formation as girls when they rule they love all type of men then when questions are arised bu Shiv to Kali or Vishnu to Kali she has to answer and then she replies as she loves all just like shiv drank poison to protect the world from Paarkadal (i e Spiritual ocean - when devas or children of Indra where producing immortality medicine and poison also produced i e Negative Karmic people) she also had to protect asuras by love but when time to end Kali yuga , Vishnu manifests himself as destroyer rather than shiv as destroyer by engulfing shiv energy. Here the thing is that is ancient paar kadal (Spiritual ocean is present in heaven but the replica is also present still in my hometown Srivilliputhur, Tamilnadu and it is said that Andal(Avtar of lakshmi were doing bath on that pond) but currently it is just a Sewer due to environmental pollution. So I know it is Kali yuga and many girls are showcasing abilities to be Kali to be frank, But make sure one thing only Hindu girls should be Kali, protect Hinduism and Nalanda
Ganapathy K
If women saw the battlefields where foolish men slaughtered each other, there would have been no wars in this world.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
when the body count increased, death lost its novelty and heroism became cheap and commonplace.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Violence alone ruled the world.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
It was later, mush later, when I witnessed the behaviour of another man towards his chosen wife, in circumstances that were much less serious, that I understood why Ravana would never be deified. He was too humane to be a god.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished, The Story of Ravana and His People)
I love because I exist and I exist because I love – I love myself.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
She gave me a message for you!" I lied. "Speak!" "Umm, what was it now...oh yeah!" I smiled wide and lifted my right hand, offering her the middle finger. "She said to tell you your mother was a snowblower!
Jez Cajiao (Age of Steel (Rise of Mankind #4))
Humans had turned out to be selfish, much more than Vyasa had ever imagined. They lived for themselves, loved themselves more than others, and often harboured envy, jealousy, greed and lust. In fact, Vibhishan felt that many asuras of yesteryears were more righteous than some humans of today’s generation. The horrors humans committed on one another was beyond forgiveness.
Gunjan Porwal (Ashwatthama vs Parashuram: The Immortal Force)
Transmigration (saṃsāra) means the repeated cycle of birth and death in this realm of delusion. Literally "flowing together," saṃsāra is an expression of living beings buffeted by waves and at the mercy of water, perhaps a powerful river whose current carries us from place to place. As we have seen, rebirth has five or six destinations. The Abhidharmakośa gives five—the inhabitants of hells, hungry spirits, animals, human beings, and devas. This is the Sarvāstivādin point of view; other schools gave six, the above five plus the asuras. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhism, the version favoring six paths gained popularity, and th expression "transmigration among the six paths" is well known throughout East Asia.
Akira Sadakata (Buddhist Cosmology: Philosophy and Origins)
For the Supreme Lord, both the asuras and the demigods are equal, but the demigods are obedient to the Lord, whereas the asuras are not. Therefore, the example of picking out a thorn by another thorn is quite befitting. One thorn, which causes pinpricks on the leg of the Lord, is certainly disturbing to the Lord, and the other thorn, which takes out the disturbing elements, certainly gives service to the Lord. So although every living being is a part and parcel of the Lord, still one who is a pinprick to the Lord is called an asura, and one who is a voluntary servitor of the Lord is called a devatā, or demigod.
A.C. Prabhupāda (Srimad Bhagavatam: First Canto)
390] It is said by Krishna, the Logos incarnate, in the Bhagavat-gita, "The seven great Rishis, the four preceding Manus, partaking of my nature, were born from my mind: from them sprang (emanated or was born) the human race and the world," (Chap. X. Verse 6.) Here, by the seven great Rishis, the seven great rupa hierarchies or classes of Dhyan Chohans, are meant. Let us bear in mind that the Saptarshi (the seven Rishis) are the regents of the seven stars of the Great Bear, therefore, of the same nature as the angels of the planets, or the seven great Planetary Spirits. They were all reborn, all men on earth in various Kalpas and races. Moreover, "the four preceding Manus" are the four classes of the originally arupa gods—the Kumaras, the Rudras, the Asuras, etc.: who are also said to have incarnated. They are not the Prajapatis, as the first are, but their informing principles—some of which have incarnated in men, while others have made other men simply the vehicles of their reflections. As Krishna truly says --the same words being repeated later by another vehicle of the LOGOS —"I am the same to all beings. . . . those who worship me (the 6th principle or the intellectual divine Soul, Buddhi, made conscious by its union with the higher faculties of Manas) are in me, and I am in them." (Ibid, 29.) The Logos, being no personality but the universal principle, is represented by all the divine Powers born of its mind -- the pure Flames, or, as they are called in Occultism, the "Intellectual Breaths"—those angels who are said to have made themselves independent, i.e., passed from the passive and quiescent, into the active state of Self-Consciousness. When this is recognised, the true meaning of Krishna becomes comprehensible. But see Mr. Subba Row's excellent lecture on the Bhagavatgita, ("Theosophist," April 1887, p. 444.) [391] In a lecture, Professor Pengelly,
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine - Volume II, Anthropogenesis)
My neighbour whispered in my ear, “It’s cow’s urine and gobar. They use it for purification.” We, the untouchables, were purified with bullshit.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
the Nahash or "Deprived" —preferred the curse of incarnation and the long cycles of terrestrial existence and rebirths, to seeing the misery (even if unconscious) of the beings (evolved as shadows out of their Brethren) through the semi-passive energy of their too spiritual Creators. If "man's uses of life should be such as neither to animalize nor to spiritualize, but to humanize Self,"[308] before he can do so, he must be born human not angelic. Hence, tradition shows the celestial Yogis offering themselves as voluntary victims in order to redeem Humanity—created god-like and perfect at first—and to endow him with human affections and aspirations. To do this they had to give up their natural status and, descending on our globe, take up their abode on it for the whole cycle of the Mahayuga, thus exchanging their impersonal individualities for individual personalities—the bliss of sidereal existence for the curse of terrestrial life. This voluntary sacrifice of the Fiery Angels, whose nature was Knowledge and Love, was construed by the exoteric theologies into a statement that shows "the rebel angels hurled down from heaven into the darkness of Hell" —our Earth. Hindu philosophy hints at the truth by teaching that the Asuras hurled down by Siva, are only in an intermediate state in which they prepare for higher degrees of purification and redemption from their wretched condition; but
Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (The Secret Doctrine - Volume II, Anthropogenesis)
Asuras
Tapasyananda (Sundara Kandam)
The Devas are of two classes: "unborn" (ajata) – that is, those which have not, and those which have (sadhya) evolved from humanity as in the case of King Nahusha, who became Indra. Opposed to the divine hosts are the Asura, Danava, Daitya, Rakshasa, who, with other spirits, represent the tamasik or demonic element in creation.
Arthur Avalon (Mahanirvana Tantra)
Creation and destruction is a cycle which goes on and on. The beginning could be
Satyam Srivastava (The Wielder of the Trishul (Deva-Asura Katha, #1))
was no dearth of gods in my country. It only lacked men.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
A defeated race often uses its cultural supremacy to cover the shame of defeat. The victorious party was always portrayed as barbarians who defeated and destroyed a highly-cultured and well-developed civilization through deceit and sorcery.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Then who would ever now the passions and ambitions I held close to my heart?
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
They were no fools-these Brahmins. They knew how to project even the mundane tasks of burning twigs as earth-shaking, scientific discoveries and claimed to tame the forces that controlled the world.
Anand Neelakantan (Asura: Tale Of The Vanquished)
Obeisance to Hiranyagarbha, the eternal Purusha, Self-born Lord from whom all kalpas and all beings emanate! Hiranyagarbha created only the waters first. He instilled virility into them. The waters were called Naara, they belonged to Nara; since they were his abode, he was called Naarayana. When Hiranyagarbha blessed them, a golden egg floated on those waters. After a year, Hiranyagarbha clove the egg in two: he made heaven and earth. He created fourteen worlds from the halves of the egg and, from between, he made cosmic space, akasa. He created the earth floating on the waters and the ten quarters in the firmament. Then he created mind, speech, love, anger and sexual delight. Hiranyagarbha made the Saptarishi, the seven sages, from his thought and the seven great families descended from them. He made the lightning, the thunderclouds, the red clouds and the rainbow. He made the devas of light from his mouth, the manes from his breast and the asuras of darkness from his loins. All kinds of creatures then flowed from him, as Apava generated aquatic life. When they were not fruitful, he cleaved himself and made man and woman.
Ramesh Menon (SIVA PURANA)
from that of other Tapasvins. Many Asuras and Devas
Devdutt Pattanaik (Seven secrets of Shiva)
in North India would have remained ‘unbrokenly’ visible to sky-watchers there. Diti was then the visible portion of the southern hemisphere of the heavens, a portion which changes (is ‘bound’ or ‘broken’) day by day as the Earth shifts her position in space. Diti and Aditi are the two wives of the Rishi Kashyapa (‘The Tortoise’), who is the tortoise-shaped firmament. Aditi, whom we met in “The Greatness of Saturn” in the chapter on the Sun, is the ‘mother’ (the home, the womb) of all the deities (stars, constellations, and planets). Prominent among Aditi’s s children are the twelve solar deities known as the Twelve Adityas (‘sons of Aditi’), each of which rules one month of the year (= one constellation of the zodiac). Each Adirya courses through the skies in his chariot drawn by seven green horses (the seven Vedic meters, which with the chariot represent all the Vedas and all there is to know, including infinite space). Aditi’s most famous child was Vamana, the incarnation of Vishnu who took birth that he might beg the universe back from Bali, king of the asuras (who reside in the southern celestial hemisphere). While Bali may represent some particular
Robert E. Svoboda (The Greatness of Saturn: A Therapeutic Myth)