Some questions on Asuras

[Bhadraiah Mallampalli]

>Visnu Purana talks of the fact that the Asuras declared that the
> >"slaughter (of animals in sacrifice) is not conducive to religious
>merit...

Asuras, like Satan, talk a hundred things to mislead gods. So you shouldn't
be getting into the asurAs' trap. :-) Veda permits animals to be slain as
per its prescription. Remember gods like aditi have to commit their part of
violence before they establish themselves, like a US President or a
university professor has to fight his way up to top before he can deliver
his/her goods. Every Vedic symbol is an eater while it is trying to
establish itself; but it becomes food when it caters to others. These
concepts are very elaborately explained in Br.U.  Eater/food model is just a
two element model at the highest level; but at lower level it expands into a
whole food chain starting form viSNu, aditi, varuNa and so on ending with
agni or soma.

>--> In the Maitrayani Upanisad is mentioned: " Verily, Brahaspati (the
>teacher of the gods) became Sukra

Good one!  A counter strategy by gods or cold war tactics?

>--> Consider also now the cosmogony of the asuras as given in the >Bhagawad
>Gita--"aparaspara sambhutam kim anyat kama haitukam"

gIta is right in its own way when it says kAma, krodha, mada, lobha, moha
and mAtsaryAs must be eliminated.   But gIta's kAma is not same as vedic
kAma. gIta's kAma is a dirty word. Vedic kAma is a sacred principle as
defined by Br.U 1.4.17 "Let me have a wife so that I may have children, let
me have wealth so that I may perform rites, this much indeed is desire
(kAma)". Veda implies that kAma is asking for wife, children, wealth needed
for performing rites and aspiring for divine wealth of Vedic knowledge;
looking for anything more is a theft. I dare say gIta's definition of kAma
has to be ignored in view of Br.U 1.4.17.

>--> Above is the view of the Tantriks as is well known.

Even if kAma means sex, IMO, originaly tantra had a much wider meaning than
sex. Tantras are either conjectures/techniques which were invented before
there was a proof of why they work, or they were pieces of forgotten Vedic
knowledge, or they were pre-Vedic experiments. Legend says vizvAmitra
invented gAyatri but didn't know its meaning till he became brahmarSi, so
gAyatri mantra is quoted by some people as tantra. Tantras may be pre-vedic
experiments like kuNDalini or vedic concepts like nigaDAs or praiSAs whose
meaning is forgotten. It is also possible that even in the Vedic days, many
people who did not have enough intelligence practiced some Vedic ideas as
tantras.

Best regards
Bhadraiah
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