“Master Muoga, tell me of demons.” Pita said.

Master Muoga and Pita walked slowly up the hill through the downtown Friday night crowd. The air was hot and humid. Flashing neon chased shadows around the busy street. The crossing beeped and Muoga and Pita quickened their pace to cross the intersection.

“A demon is a madness; a feeling that takes control of your life,” Muoga said. “It overpowers will with a series of waves of emotion, desire, and regret. And people suffer.”

A group of drunken youth bowled towards Muoga and Pita. The young men glared fiercely at one another and catcalled passersby. Their girlfriends clung to them like thug-life accessories.

“How can you be untouched by the suffering of the people?” Pita asked.

“You see demons everywhere.” Muoga said, “They are Maya dancing in Brahman. Their names are legion.”

“Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,” A drumbeat followed the chant down the hill. “Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare, Hare Krishna…” Shoppers, drunks, nightclubbers, and homeless on the sidewalk got out of the way of the Hare Krishna devotees who were dancing towards Muoga and Pita, chanting their names for God, and drumming ecstatically. Muoga and Pita moved to the side of the walk and watched as the troupe passed by.

“I don’t understand,” Pita said. He frowned. “You’re not possessed. You’re a Master. You’re not like anyone else. You don’t need to drink, shop, or chant the names of God.”

Muoga laughed. “I have many demons. They stir restlessly in me. I feel for my fellow human, for I share the demons of sex, drugs, language, and regret. We are all possessed, Legion.”

“Demons are fed by your attention. Starve them of attention, and they wither away.” Muoga said, “This doesn’t mean that they disappear.”

Muoga waved at the Hare Krishna devotees, who were now dancing in a wide circle near the intersection while they waited for the lights to change.

“They’re feeding their addiction to their ecstatic absorption in the names of God. Perhaps some of them believe that God will come to them if they chant mantra.” Muoga said. “People generally feed their demons in the same way. I only let you call me Master, because my demons are dried husks of their former selves. There by grace I have gone and I have returned.”

Muoga and Pita watched the Hare Krishna troupe cross the intersection. Some drunkards were mocking their dancing, but the Hare Krishna devotees just smiled and laughed at them.

“Hare Krishna devotees have renounced the modern world,” Pita said. “But they still remain attached to the mantra, to the lifestyle, to so many things.”

“Our demons teach the value of renunciation. Renunciation is not material, but spiritual.” Muoga said. “If we renounce and surrender our attachment to the fruits of our actions, there is peace.”

“My demons will die if I give up my fears and worries about the outcome of my work?” Pita asked.

Muoga laughed and said, “Give it all to God!”

Pita smiled at Muoga. Two pretty girls saw his smile and as he noticed them, they winked at him and giggled, and Pita blushed.

“We cannot escape desire or attachment, but we can be wise about what we desire and attach to,” Muoga said. “And if we desire to master our demons or attachments, all we need to do is embrace them with compassion and love, and they will fall away on their own.”

Pita laughed, “I’ll embrace my inner demons tonight!”

Williamson Ave, Grey Lynn
November 2, 2011