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Does Hinduism believe in the idea of inner demons?
It is said that in the beginning, in Satya-yuga, devotees and demons lived on different planets. Then later, in Treta-yuga they lived in different countries. In Dvapapara-yuga, devotees and demons lived in different bodies, and presently, in Kali-yuga, devotees and demons live in the same body.
Krishna says:
One must deliver himself with the help of his mind, and not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well. (Bg. 6.5)
For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his mind will remain the greatest enemy. (Bg. 6.6)
That’s why we all, at the present moment in time, live with both good and evil inside our own minds. Our own mind, if not checked by superior intelligence, will become a demon.
Evil did not enter the world, when Lucifer was cast out of heaven. Evil entered the world when the soul chose to turn away from God, and as a result was born in a material body, in the material world. Satan is the rejection of God, in our own hearts.
In that sense, every soul in the material world is a fallen angel, except we fell from the spiritual world by misusing our free will to turn away from God. We were not forced out, but we left voluntarily. Hence Jiva Goswami’s statement - no one falls from Vaikuntha.
The material world is called samsara - the ocean of birth and death. Here we are trapped in an endless cycle of birth and death, and we will remain like that, until we re-unite with God.
Dr. Ian Stevenson has conducted scientific research that proves reincarnation as a fact. Besides, karma and reincarnation is described in the Bible, with the words - As you sow, you shall reap. Note, how this statement is meaningless without reincarnation. It's obvious that one reaps from his very birth. One reaps a certain body, nation, gender, family, society, etc. When would you have sown what you reap at birth, unless in a previous life?
Krishna says:
The living entities in this conditioned world are My eternal fragmental parts. Due to conditioned life, they are struggling very hard with the six senses, which include the mind. (Bg. 15.7)
The living entity in the material world carries his different conceptions of life from one body to another as the air carries aromas. Thus he takes one kind of body and again quits it to take another. (Bg 15.8)
The living entity, thus taking another gross body, obtains a certain type of ear, eye, tongue, nose and sense of touch, which are grouped about the mind. He thus enjoys a particular set of sense objects. (Bg 15.9)
The foolish cannot understand how a living entity can quit his body, nor can they understand what sort of body he enjoys under the spell of the modes of nature. But one whose eyes are trained in knowledge can see all this. (Bg. 15.10)
The endeavouring transcendentalists who are situated in self-realization can see all this clearly. But those whose minds are not developed and who are not situated in self-realization cannot see what is taking place, though they may try to. (Bg 15.11)
