"Men in this world desire success in fruitive activities, and therefore they worship the demigods. Quickly, of course, men get results from fruitive work in this world." (Bhagavad Gita 4.12)
Many people get confused when it comes to God and the demigods. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and He is param-isvara,
the Supreme Controller and there can never be any other controller
equal to or greater than Krishna. However there are many other isvaras or controllers in the universe who have varying degrees of power over different departments of the universal management.
Actually
Krishna is not directly engaged in managing the affairs of the material
world. Krishna is, of course, all-cognizant, so He is conscious of
everything that is going on, and Krishna is all-powerful so He can do
anything that He wants to at any time. Ultimately therefore Krishna is
in control of everything however He is not directly connected with
managing the affairs of the material world. Krishna has more important
business: dancing with the gopis and playing with His cowherd boyfriends and cows and calves in the forests of Vrindavan. He has no interest in personally managing the affairs of the material world.
So,
to ensure the affairs of the material world go on nicely Krishna has
appointed many managers for all the different departments that need to
be looked after in the material world. Krishna's managers in the
material world are called 'demigods'. The demigods are all devotees of
Krishna but they still have some material attachments therefore they are
still trapped in the material world. However because the demigods are
devotees they get promoted to the higher planets in the universe where
they can live a very long life and enjoy a very high standard of
material sense gratification and they are also given great positions of
power and responsibility over various departments requiring managing in
the material world.
In
this way Krishna delegates the management of the affairs of this and
the many other universes in the material world to His devotees who still
have some material attachments so He can simply enjoy in Vrindavan.
Actually
these demigods are just like us. They are ordinary living entities like
you and me but as a result of their performance of sacrifices and
practice of austerities they have been elevated to the higher planets
and have been given positions of power and responsibility by Krishna. It
is just like if a whole group of young men start working for a
particular company they are all the same in the beginning but some will
become very successful and be promoted in the company and become
managers and get powerful positions and some will not. So the demigods
are like the successful workers in the company who have been promoted to
high management positions. In reality there is no difference between
the managers in the company and the ordinary workers. It is just that
the managers, as a result of there hard work and dedication to the
company, have been promoted to the high management positions.
But
Krishna is not like that. Krishna is always Krishna -- The Supreme
Personality of Godhead. He does not have to work to advance in the
universal management system and fight his way to the top like the
demigods have to. No. Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
eternally. He is always on the top. And Krishna is actually
all-powerful, whatever He desires immediately happens. The demigods are
not like that. Krishna has given them some authority over some
department so in that department they have some power but they have no
power in other departments and they have no power to grant anyone
liberation from the material world.
For
example Lord Indra is the King of Heaven and he is in charge of the
clouds and weather and lightning. So Indra is very wealthy and lives on
his heavenly planet with his associates in a very opulent and
comfortable way and he has power over the weather -- that is the service
Krishna has given him. So if one wants to be blessed with good weather
so his agricultural activities will be a success he may worship Lord
Indra for this purpose and because Indra is the controller of the
weather if Indra is pleased he can send the clouds to that farmers place
and give nice rains so his agricultural activities are successful. Also
if one worships Indra and thinks of him at the time of death he can be
transferred to the heavenly planet that Indra lives on and live a very
comfortable life there.
But
Lord Indra's powers are very limited. Beyond controlling the weather
and ruling over his heavenly planet he does not have any authority
anywhere else. And his authority is given to him by Krishna. So with a
little contemplation one can see that there are many millions of
demigods in charge of the countless departments in the material world
that effect us in our day-to-day lives. So if we want to worship
demigods to satisfy them individually one-by-one that will be a very
difficult task. In India there are people who try to do this. They have a
huge list of demigods and try to worship them all for different boons
or benefits.
The
benedictions of the demigods are strictly limited to material benefits.
They can not give spiritual benefits because they themselves are not
liberated from the material world. Even though the demigods live on
planets with a standard of living far, far higher than the standard of
living we have on earth, still they have material bodies which will also
get old, get sick and die. They may live for fabulously long periods of
time but ultimately their material bodies will also get old, get sick
and die.
In
India there is a great misconception about these gods or demigods of
this material world and men of less intelligence, although passing as
great scholars, take these demigods to be various forms of the Supreme
Lord. They make no distinction between Krishna and the material demigods
considering that worship of any of the 'gods' is equal to the worship
of Krishna.
Actually,
as we have discovered, the demigods are not different forms of God, but
they are all Gods different parts and parcels--just like we are. God is
one and the parts and parcels are many. The Vedas say: nityo nityanam: God is one and isvara parama krsnah:
"The Supreme God is one--Krishna". The demigods are delegated with
powers by Krishna so they can manage this material world. The demigods
are living entities like us with different grades of material power.
They can never be equal to the Supreme God--Narayana, Vishnu or Krishna.
Anyone who thinks that God and the demigods are on the same level is called an atheist, or pasandi.
Even the great demigods like Brahma and Shiva can not be compared to
the Supreme Lord. In fact the Lord is worshiped by the demigods such as
Brahma and Shiva (siva-virinci-nutam).
The demigods are powerful men within this material world in the same
way that the President of the United States is a powerful man in this
world. In our experience we see that many human leaders are worshiped by
foolish men with the idea that through that worship and service they
will get some material benefit from the great leader. People are working
hard in their company worshiping and trying to please their 'boss' so
they will get promoted within the company and earn more money. That is
demigod worship. The 'boss' is a person who has achieved a higher
position in the company by worshiping the company leaders and serving
them and performing austerities like working hard and doing overtime
without pay... As a result he has advanced in the company and has some
power and authority over a small section of the company. Worshiping the
boss at work and worshiping demigods like Brahma, Shiva, Indra, Kali, Durga,
etc. is EXACTLY the same thing. Just like worshiping the boss at work
will not help you at all spiritually, but it may help to increase your
pay packet a little, worshiping the demigods can not help you
spiritually but it may provide some temporary material benefits.
However Narayana, Vishna or
Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, does not belong to this
world. He is above, or transcendental to material creation. Even Sripada Sankacharaya, the leader of the impresonalists, maintains that Narayana or Krishna is beyond this material creation.
Foolish
people worship the demigods because they want immediate results. They
get the results, but they do not know that the results so obtained are
temporary and are meant for less intelligent persons. The intelligent
person is in Krishna consciousness and he has no need to worship the
paltry demigods for some immediate, temporary benefit. The demigods of
this material world, as well as their worshipers, will vanish with the
annihilation of this material world. The boons or benedictions of the
demigods are material and temporary. Both the material worlds and their
inhabitants, including the demigods and their worshipers, are bubbles in
the cosmic ocean.
In
this world human society is mad after temporary things such as the
material opulence of possessing land, family and enjoyable paraphernalia
and to achieve these things they worship demigods or powerful men in
human society. If a man gets some ministership in the government by worshiping a political leader, he considers that he has achieved a great boon.
So
we find everywhere in this world that people are worshiping the
so-called leaders or "big guns" in order to get temporary benefits, and
they actually achieve such things. Such foolish men are not interested
in Krishna consciousness for the permanent solution to the hardships of
material existence. They are all after sense enjoyment and to get a
little facility for sense enjoyment they are attracted to worship
empowered living entities known as demigods.
This
verse indicates that people are rarely interested in Krishna
consciousness. Generally they are mostly interested in material
enjoyment and therefore they worship some powerful living entity in an
attempt to achieve this...
