The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran

Two Paths ╯
not only fail to reach life’s final goal, but will not achieve any
measure of lasting happiness and prosperity.
In Sanskrit this chapter is called the “Way of Divine and
Demonic Destinies.” The words deva, god, and asura, demon,
are not to be taken too literally here. The Hindu scriptures
often tell stories of the battles between the gods and the
demons; thus they dramatize the struggle between good and
evil in the world. No divine character from Hindu myth
escapes a challenge from some demon. Usually the god or
goddess is victorious; but often the demon will win a battle or
two, though not the final victory. Krishna has a long battle
record, celebrated by epithets like Madhusudana, “slayer of
the demon Madhu.” Rama, another incarnation of Vishnu,
had to confront and kill Ravana. The stories go on. The gods
never seem to rest for long: there is always a new challenge
to their authority, a new source of malignant evil to be
destroyed.
The Mahabharata and the Gita do not dwell on these mythical
battles. Here the interest is more frankly human, and
when Krishna discusses the “divine” and “demonic” qualities,
he speaks not of gods and demons but of human good and
evil.
– d.m.
237 ╯