We Do Not Accept Your Theory – Survival of the Fittest

We are talking about the Vakratunda avatara of Lord Ganesha, which he took to destroy Matsarasura.

Matsarasura was Indra’s son. He did intense tapas and obtained a boon from Lord Shiva that he would become the emperor of the universe. Then he attacked all the worlds, conquering them, including Kailasa. He defeated everyone, including Lord Shiva. He told Lord Shiva, 'You haven’t done anything out of the way for me. I earned all this by my own merit and hard work.'

This thanklessness is part of the aasuri buddhi. Matsarasura appointed his son Sundara Priya as the chief of Kailasa, his son Vishaya Priya as the chief of Vaikuntha. He appointed Prahlada as the chief of Satyaloka. Satyaloka is Brahma’s world. Virochan was made the chief of Mahendraloka.

Then Matsarasura came back to earth and built a city for himself. This was called मत्सरावासकम्. There he called all the devas in front of him. By then, he had become the emperor. The devas were at his beck and call. But this time, he was diplomatic. He told Lord Shiva, 'You are free to go now. You are free to go and do whatever you want.'

Accordingly, all the devas—Shiva, Sri Hari, Brahma, Indra—they all went back to Kailasa and started living there. But they were very worried because, on earth, Matsarasura had ordered that all dharmic activities should be stopped immediately. Puja, japa, homa, dana—all should be stopped because, through these, the power of the devas increases.

This is logical, you see. You take an ordinary person—he is just an ordinary person. When he gets 10 or 20 followers, he becomes a little powerful. When he gets 100 followers, he gets more powerful. When he gets ten thousand followers, he becomes very powerful. When he gets lakhs of followers, he gets super powerful. But when people stop following him, he loses all his power.

How do people follow God? By doing his puja, doing havan, chanting mantras, singing his glory. Matsarasura was cutting from the roots. He ordered that all these should be stopped. We should understand this—it is a strategy. When puja, japa, homa, dana—when all the dharmic activities come down, we should understand that the aasuri shakti is at work. It is trying to weaken the world order. Aasuri shakti runs everything by mere force—brutal force.

They believe in the theory: if you are good, you survive, or you perish. There is no place for kindness, compassion, sharing, sympathy when asuri shakti runs the world. According to the theory of survival of the fittest, if a child is born with certain deficiencies—physical or mental deficiencies—it should perish. It is not fit to live. It doesn’t deserve to live. This is the belief of the asuri shakti.

This is not the divine order. This is not dharma for which devas stand. Devas stand for the principle that life is all about sharing, helping others. If the trees refuse to give fruits, if the plants refuse to give grains, if the cows refuse to give milk, we will all perish. What are they getting in return? They consume natural resources, produce these, and give them to us. Devas have put this system in place—that is the divine order. What if all these were poisonous? That’s not the way the world runs.

Survival of the strongest or mightiest is not the way the world runs. Has the world been running this way for millions of years? Do you really think so? The world runs by sharing—by giving, consciously and unconsciously. You take the example of some animal which became extinct and say stuff in some incoherent language—do you think any intelligent being would accept this stupidity that only the fit or the best would survive? What if a mother thinks, after giving birth to a child, 'If it is fit, it will survive'? Does the mother think so? Have you given place for the sentiment called motherhood in your stupid theory called 'survival of the fittest'?

You can only fool your own kind. Not us. Not the inhabitants of Bharata Varsha. You cannot impress us with these stupid theories.

Anyway, coming back to Matsarasura’s atrocities. He ordered that idols of all devas be demolished and replaced with his own idols. Idols of devas were broken and thrown into water. If this reminds you of incidents in our history, then it is not coincidental. This is what was done then—temples demolished, dharmic activities stopped.

Just try to connect. Matsarasura ordered the priests that hereafter yajnas would be done with his mantras. 'Change Gayatri mantra, insert my name into Gayatri mantra. I am the God hereafter. You are living because of my mercy. See the asuras, how happy they are because they worship me. You all start worshiping my feet. You will also become happy, or else I will destroy you all.'

Some rishis, very keen on protecting dharma, ran away to forests and started living there. Most of the people started obeying Matsarasura’s orders. They had no other option. They were all scared. This way, Matsarasura converted everyone into a system where he was the God.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi