Emperor Parikshit continued, “How could the Lord, who is filled with equal-mindedness, enact as if He is partial towards Indra? Through this apparently partiality He actually destroyed traits of passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas). It was as if He supported Indra solely because He had decided to destroy the traits of ignorance and inertia (tamas) in others. How did he kill the demons?”

Otherwise the Lord, who considers every living entity as equal, would never kill a living entity while supporting another. Here it should be clearly understood that the Lord always supports the traits of goodness and purity (sattva) while destroying traits of passion and ignorance. Indra was replete with the traits of purity (sattva).

The Lord, who is an embodiment of bliss, always destroys grief and unhappiness so as to spread bliss. He tried hard to reform the wicked, but then, when they were beyond reformation, He had to kill them. In order to eliminate the wicked qualities and to fill in good traits, in order to ensure protection to the traits of goodness, He had to kill the demons. “Is there anything that the Supreme Lord, who inherently is devoid of traits and who is Pure Consciousness, had to gain from supporting Indra? There is nothing”.

It is He who energized them in the first place. What can He gain by supporting them? Likewise what can He gain by destroying the demons? Hence it is to be understood that He does not stand to gain by helping Devatas or by destroying demons.

There are people who say – Swamiji likes that particular person; He dislikes this person. It is wrong. They are applying human logic to their Guru. Guru should be treated at par with God. Remember that He has drawn that person close to him to help him complete his karmic balance. He has kept the second person at a distance so that he will continue to accumulate his karmic balance. When it increases significantly He will destroy it.

All this is his illusion. Trapped in His illusion we believe that Guru has differences such as likes, dislikes, enemy, friend etc. “Guru loves the halwa prepared by person A but if person B were to prepare it He will not eat it.” Why does Guru refuse the halwa sweet prepared by B? It is because this dish prepared by B was filled with traits of ignorance (tamas) or passion (rajas). It was prepared with feelings of arrogance and pride. “Swamiji loves only when I prepare it”- these are feelings of pride. This is haughtiness. When food is prepared with such feelings Swamiji will not even glance towards it. Whereas any dish prepared with feelings of devotion He will taste. Did Rama not eat the fruits already tasted by Shabari? He accepts only that food which is offered with absolute feelings of surrender. Without understanding this logic, people debate- “He accepts only when A prepares it; He rejects the food prepared by B”.

Understand that the food is filled with tamas. His entire incarnation is only to destroy these very traits. Why will He accept withered flowers when fresh flowers are easily available? You should not be egoistic- “He accepted my flowers”. You should not develop haughtiness that “He only accepts the flowers I give”.

At the same time the person whose flowers He did not accept should not think- “He did not accept my flowers.” He should neither grieve nor develop aversion towards Guru due to this.

Swami is balancing both of them. It is better to think, “He also likes my work” instead of thinking, “He likes only my work”. Remember that everyone in the world is equally dear to Him. He does not believe in favoritism. Whatever is pure and sattvik, He will accept. Wherever He sees traits of ignorance (tamas) He will destroy them. He will correct them. That’s all.

Similarly Lord Srihari does not have any favorites. He is uninfluenced by either Devatas or demons. He does not fear the demons either. Nor does He benefit from the goodness of the Devatas.

Emperor Parikshit continued, “O Gurudeva! You alone are capable of dispelling these doubts which I have about the Lord. O revered saint, you are fortunate to be filled with supreme devotion towards the Lord. With compassion please dispel my doubts”.

Maharishi Śuka replied,

Sādhu pṛṣṭaṁ mahārāja hareś caritam adbhutam Yad bhāgavata-māhātmyaṁ bhagavad-bhakti-vardhanam

O Emperor! Your question is truly laudable. You have enquired about the stories of Lord Srihari which always cause astonishment to one and all”.

Pradyumnāya namah