Hiranyakashipu wants to hear from Prahalada,  that he is the supreme power behind all the worlds.  Prahalada replies that the highest lessons that he has learnt are all dedicated to the Paramathma. 

Seeking an explanation from the teachers of Prahalada, about his errant behaviour,  Hiranyakshipu gets the explanation that the devotion to the Paramathma is inherent in Prahalada and appeared to be a natural endowment in him.

After extensive inquiry and also observation of the dedication of Prahalada,  Hiranyakashipu,  decides to kill his son Prahalada.  Such is the level of intolerance of the demonic nature within Hiranyakashipu. 

The demonic quality is universal.  It resides in all of us. The nature of the demonic quality is that it does not tolerate a difference of opinion. Demonic oriented people expect only agreement with them and service that will benefit them.  The vast majority of us have this quality ingrained in us. However, unlike Hiranyakashipu we are not empowered to enforce our beliefs by destruction of the “non-believers”.  Otherwise, there will be complete chaos in this world.

In establishing himself as the ruler, Hiranyakshipu has physically destroyed all of his opponents.  Now he wants to do the same to his son. So he starts the process of evolving the methods to kill the little boy.  Hiranyakshipu has a feeling of guilt lurking within him that his opponent is an unprotected little boy, and also his son.  So he does not want to kill him directly, which he would not have hesitated to do with unrelated grown ups.

The devices that he comes up with are elaborate orchestrations to help make it appear like a contest or challenge  in which Prahalada is killed. 

Once Parahalada is killed, Hiranyakashipu thinks that he will be rid of all opposition.  This is the resolution of every conlict in todays political world as well.  It has lead to major wars,  resulting in the death of millions of people,plundering,  and destruction of property and ravaging of earth. 

The demonic quality of the need to dominate and over power others into submission,  is actually a reflection of the extent of our own inner insecurity and fallibility. If we know that our standpoint represents the truth,  we wont try to destroy the person holding the opposite view. We will only resort to violence and destruction, only when we have to enforce an untruth on others that hold a different view. 

The knowledge of the Paramathma is never enforced at the point of a sword or the barrel of a gun. On the contrary,  the Paramathma hides away from even those that are seeking him.  A chest of treasure never has to be passed on by force.  There will be people waiting for generations, in line, to take their share. The knowledge of the Paramathma is the amrutham that the asuras and devas had to churn the ocean of milk, to obtain, using Vasuki and the Kurma avatar of the Paramathma. 

Once the amrutam is extracted,  the Paramathma is very particular that it should be consumed only by the Devas and not be shared with the asuras. The reason for this is that if the asuras partake the amrutam,  the devas would be completely annihilated, simply because the devas will be pressured to convert completely to the ways of the asuras. Dharma would be completely destroyed.  The Paramathma’s guidance for sustenance of and evolution of life would be completely sidelined.  Point to be noted is that it takes both the asuras and the devas to generate the amrutam of life.  However,  the asuras are denied their share.   The asuras want to grab their share while the devas generally wait to be offered their share.   Keeping in mind that both the asuras and Devas,  reside within us,  it is a message to us that the asura within us needs  to be kept in check.  The devas within us have to be nourished and strengthened. 

Another point to note here, is that if the Paramathma were to adopt the route of the asura and decides to destroy all adharma, He can annihilate the asuras in no time.  If the Paramathma can bring the world of seven billion people to a grinding halt with a virus,  in a few weeks,  He can surely destroy all demonic nature and activity in the blink of an eye?  He does not do so.  There are many reasons for this. 

The factors that we have observed are;

§  This is a world built out of opposing forces.  Duality is its very nature.  Sellessness does not reside in vacuum.  Neither does selfishness.  Both are relative measures of each other.  It is a constant struggle for dominance of one over the other.

§  Dharma and Adharma, both have periods when one or the other prevails over humanity.  It is when adharma grows out of proportion,  that the Paramathma intervenes directly to even out the balance.

§  Demonic forces are required to transform the physical world. Their consciousness is oriented entirely outwards.   The devas are spiritually oriented they believe the external world is an illusion that is a reflection of the inner self. The devas are inward looking.  

§  The asuras are tasked to provide the transformation required on earth to meet the needs of an ever growing population. 

§  The devas are tasked to maintain the dharma in society so that order is maintained, laws are abided by, and the fruits of the organized effort is distributed justly to the deserving.

So asuras and devas have to co-exist to make the human species survive,  develop, grow and evolve. This is the significance of the asuras and devas churning the ocean of milk using Vasuki as the rope and the Paramathma, in the form of Kurma, the giant tortoise, supporting the Mandakini mountain that is used as the churning  stone. 

Although all of us possess both qualities,  the extent of dominance of one force over the other is different in different people.  So some of us can be called asuras like Hiranyakashipu,  and some of us are closer to Prahalada. 

We need both attributes to survive.  In fact the dominance of the asuric nature and the deva attribute change within each of us based on the circumstances situations that life puts us into.

We cannot survive with both these attributes within us.

This is why the Paramathma does not annihilate the apparently undesirable demonic attribute.  He wants us to keep them in check and channel this characteristic appropriately.  This is the self control that we learn to develop over many lifetimes.  Our liberation from this conflict results from attainment of self realization,  a state in which we will be in complete control of ourselves. 

May we be aware of the conflict within us and accept the guidance of the Paramathma in attaining self realization.