The process by which material miseries arise.

[bhaktajan 0]

Çréla Madhväcärya has given an elaborate description of:

 

 

 

The process by which material miseries arise.

 

 

1—When a conditioned soul [of demoniac mentality] identifies himself with the gross material body:

He undergoes miseries of constant drowsiness and unquenchable sexual desires

that burn all mental peace and serenity to ashes.

2—When [a demoniac] person identifies himself with präëa, the life air:

He suffers from hunger.

3—When identifying himself with the mind:

He suffers panic, fear, and hankering that ends in disappointment.

4—When he identifies himself with intelligence:

He suffers profound existential bitterness and frustration deep within his heart.

5—When he identifies himself with the false ego:

He feels inferiority, thinking, “I am so low.”

6—When he identifies himself with the process of consciousness:

He is haunted by memories of the past.

7—When a demon tries to impose himself as the ruler of all living beings:

All of these miseries expand simultaneously.

According to Çréla Madhväcärya there are three classes of intelligent living beings within this world:

1—the demigods,

2—ordinary human beings, and

3—demons.

A living being endowed with all auspicious qualities—in other words,

a highly advanced devotee of the Lord—either on the earth or in

the higher planetary systems is called a deva, or demigod.

Ordinary human beings generally have good and bad qualities, and

according to this mixture they enjoy and suffer on the earth.

But those who are distinguished by their absence of good qualities and

who are always inimical to pious life and the devotional service of the Lord (and pursue a course culminating in Chaos) are called asuras, or demons.

Of these three classes, the ordinary human beings and

demons are terribly afflicted by birth, death and hunger,

whereas the godly persons, the demigods, are aloof from such bodily distress.

The demigods remain aloof from such distress because

they are enjoying the results of their pious activities;

by the laws of karma, they are unaware of the gross suffering of the material world. [ref SB 11.2.49]