Hare Krsna,
In BG 7.15, Krsna mentions who the demons are before elaborating more on their characteristics and nature in Chapter 16 of BG. The Lord says, “Four kinds of people do not surrender unto Me—those ignorant of knowledge, those who lazily follow their lower nature though capable of knowing Me, those with deluded intellect, and those with a demoniac nature.”
In the purport, Srila Prabhupada explains that demoniac people are those “who are aware of God and His purpose for the world but still work against Him. It is because of their demonic nature; they do not like God and His glories. They themselves are far from devotion and try to disturb others who are on the path of spirituality. Surrender to God is not at all expected from them.”
In SB 1.11.34 Purport, Srila Prabhupada further explains the demoniac nature: “Unfortunately persons who are engaged in destructive work are unable to surrender to the Personality of Godhead. They are all fools of the first order; they are the lowest of the human species of life; they are robbed of their knowledge, although apparently they seem to be academically educated. They are all of the demoniac mentality, always challenging the supreme power of the Lord. Those who are very materialistic, always hankering after material power and strength, are undoubtedly fools of the first order because they have no information of the living energy, and being ignorant of that supreme spiritual science, they are absorbed in material science, which ends with the end of the material body. They are the lowest of human beings because the human life is especially meant for reestablishing the lost relation with the Lord, and they miss this opportunity by being engaged in material activities. They are robbed of their knowledge because even after prolonged speculation they cannot reach to the stage of knowing the Personality of Godhead, the summum bonum of everything. And all of them are men of demoniac principle, and they suffer the consequences, as did such materialistic heroes as Rāvaṇa, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Kaṁsa and others.”
A key quality of demoniac nature is the propensity to exploit the Lord’s resources for their own selfish ends. They forget the isavasyam principle – that everything within the universe is controlled and owned by the Supreme Lord.
“The demoniac spirit is to train all family members to exploit the resources of this universe for personal sense gratification, whereas the godly spirit is to engage everything in the service of the Lord. Hiraṇyakaśipu was himself very powerful, and he made his younger brother, Hiraṇyākṣa, powerful to assist him in fighting with everyone and lording it over material nature as long as possible. If possible, he wanted to rule the universe eternally. These are demonstrations of the spirit of the demoniac living entity.” (SB 3.17.20)
I do not have to elaborate further on the demoniac nature because we live in an age where demons are dominating almost every aspect of our lives. We see demoniac tendencies everywhere. Politics, business, education system, and, to a large extent, religion institutions are controlled by people with demoniac nature. What to speak of others, even conditioned souls like me have demoniac natures. The fact that I wanted to enjoy separately from the Lord is a demoniac symptom. The fact that I misused my free-will to turn away from Krsna is demoniac thinking. They fact that I am often driven my intense desire for sense gratification is demoniac desire. The fact that I am still unable to remember Him 24 hours a day is also demoniac. Each anartha in my heart is a manifestation of a specific demoniac quality. Because I had demoniac tendencies, I fell into this miserable material world. So yes, there is a demon in me as well.
Fortunately by the mercy of Krsna, gurus and Vaisnavas, I am trying to kill that demon through the process of bhakti-yoga.
Bhaktivinoda Thakura says: “The devotee who worships the holy name should first petition the Lord for the strength to cast out all these unfavorable tendencies and should pray thus before Lord Hari on a daily basis. By doing this regularly, the devotee’s heart will eventually become purified. Sri Krishna has killed a number of demons which may arise in the kingdom of the heart, so in order to destroy these problems, a devotee must cry very humbly before the Lord and admit defeat then the Lord will nullify all contaminations.”
Therefore, we have to chant the Holy Name attentively and hear from pure and advanced devotees to kill the demons in our hearts. Inattention is another demoniac quality that I have realized while meditating on this forum post. Only the Holy Name can uproot all the demoniac tendencies from our hearts.
harer nāma harer nāma
” ‘In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy, the only means of deliverence is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.‘ ” (CC Madhya 6.242)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 