So Vyāsadeva is submitting himself to his spiritual master, Nārada Muni that, "Yes, what you say is right, that I have tried to understand the Absolute Truth through your grace, and I have tried to explain also the Absolute Truth in so many books—Vedas, Purāṇas, Upaniṣads, Vedānta-sūtra—but still I am not happy. So what is the defect in me?"
So nārada uvāca, Nārada replied:
- bhavatānudita-prāyaṁ
- yaśo bhagavato 'malam
- yenaivāsau na tuṣyeta
- manye tad darśanaṁ khilam
- (SB 1.5.8)
The whole scheme should be to satisfy the Lord. This is the secret of success. Tasmin tuṣṭe jagat tuṣṭam. If God, or Kṛṣṇa, is satisfied, then whole world is satisfied. The modern civilization is lacking this knowledge. Asuric civilization, demonic civilization, what to speak of satisfying God, they are denying the existence of God. And they want peace and happiness.
I remember there was a speech by Archbishop of Canterbury. He said that, "You people, you want kingdom of God without God." That is our policy—Rāvaṇa's policy. Rāvaṇa's policy was kingdom of God without God. Kingdom of God means everyone is prosperous, happy in every respect. That is considered as kingdom of God so far materially considered. So Rāvaṇa wanted. He was materialistic. His capital was almost gold.
Every house was, I mean to say, wrapped with gold. Svarṇa-laṅkā. Svarṇa-laṅkā means at that time Rāvaṇa's kingdom, the Ceylon, modern Ceylon, was covered with gold everywhere. Very rich. Very, very rich. It is said that in Rāvaṇa's room, moon was rising. That means there was electricity at that time also, or similar lights. So the descriptions are very nice. It was very prosperous and rich country. And the policy was without God. Material civilization means like that, without God.
So the result was . . . what was the result? That everything became vanquished. Whole Rāvaṇa's kingdom with his family, with his everything, finished. Māre kṛṣṇa rākhe ke rākhe kṛṣṇa māre ke. If Kṛṣṇa protects, nobody can kill him, and if Kṛṣṇa kills, nobody can protect him. So Rāmacandra, Lord Rāmacandra, killed him. He was a great devotee of Lord Śiva, Rāvaṇa.
Generally, the demons are devotees of Brahmā, Śiva. Generally. They don't like Viṣṇu, because there is restriction. Viṣṇu worship does not mean unrestricted sense gratification. No. In other worship there is allowed. "All right. You . . . whatever you do."
Therefore, generally, people do not take to Viṣṇu worship. Vaiṣṇava, you'll find very small number of men, they are really pure Vaiṣṇava. So Rāvaṇa was a great devotee of Lord Śiva, but when Rāmacandra, Lord Viṣṇu—Rāmacandra is also Viṣṇu—He wanted to kill him, Lord Śiva could not save him.