Asura

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Asuras (Sanskrit: m., असुर asura "demon, evil spirit") are the "demons" in [[Hinduism, the "opposites of the gods" (devas or suras) and are regarded as children of the night goddess Diti. Rudolf Steiner has occasionally called them Spirits of Darkness or Spirits of Egoism. Specifically, they are retarded Spirits of Personality who have already gone through their stage of humanity, i.e. their I-development, on Old Saturn. They work in the consciousness soul, which arises through the unconscious transformation of the physical body, and thus also attack the human I (Lit.:GA 107, p. 248).

„Everything that lives in us as a principle, as a being of egoism, that is of this spiritual kingdom, the kingdom of the spirits of egoism or personality. The spirits of egoism have always been at work. First the physical body is worked upon by the spirits of egoism, then the etheric body and then the astral body. Therefore, man as a kama-manasic being is egoist. What he thinks is the selfish and also the self-seeking. What these beings are, you can only recognise when you are at the stage that you can crawl into the being, into the ego of the beings. There you get to know the spirits of the personality.“ (Lit.:GA 90b, p. 232f)

According to the Hindu view, the Asuras were created together with all other gods, humans and animals from Asu, the breath or life force of Prajapati and were under the direct rule of Varuna, the deity of water and sky. When the Asuras were created, they were given the gifts of truth and lies, but later they discarded truth and became adversary powers. Sura (from "Surya", the Hindu sun god, who roughly corresponds to the Greek Apollo) means "light being" in Sanskrit. The prefix a- expresses the negation or the designation of the opposite. Asuras are thus "opponents of the light beings". The word asura is related to the ancient Persian word Ahura. In Zoroastrianism, however, the Ahuras are the "good gods", while the Daevas are evil.

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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