Even in this world most of the believers in God lament and pray to God when they are in trouble and they forget to worship Him when they are living comfortably. The mentality is the same among the demigods. The level of enjoyment is so high in the heavenly planets that the demigods forget to worship God. They realize their precarious position when the demons attack them and take over the heavenly planets. At that time they run to Lord Vishnu for help. When they offer heartfelt prayers to Lord Vishnu and beg Him, the Lord would finally say a few words of encouragement. A similar situation emerged when Hiranyakashipu overtook heavens. He was on the throne of Indra, the king of heavens. All the demigods including the sage Narada were praising Hiranyakashipu.



One may ask why he was praised. The reason is that when there is low resistance, the enemy calms down. That was the technique they used to pacify Hiranyakashipu. The oppression went on until Lord Narasimha appeared and killed the demon.

The demigods can also be devious sometimes, especially Indra. Whenever someone on earth would engage in staunch austerities the demigods would start to panic. They fear that they might lose their position due to the power of the austerity. In this way they devise plans to disturb the meditation of the aspirant.

The demigods have unbelievable opulence. They have women known as the apsaras who dance and entertain them in different ways. They drink a kind of intoxicant called the soma rasa and in this way they get drunk. But there are also higher demigods who stay away from these. Lord Shiva cannot be considered a demigod. His position is between the marginal and spiritual potency of Krishna. In the Brahma Samhita Lord Shiva is referred to as no different from Krishna, just like milk and yogurt. Krishna is compared to milk from which Lord Shiva, yogurt, came. There is also Lord Brahma. He is known as the great grandfather for he is the first living entity in this universe.

Lord Shiva is very austere. He lives on mount Kailash. He has no house or any such shelter. He has got animal skins as clothes, skulls and bones around his neck and on his chest. He has got serpents wrapped around the neck and ghosts and spirits as followers. The amazing thing is that his wife, goddess Durga, is the personification of material nature and she can provide any type of comfort to her husband. But still, as a pure vaishnava, Lord Shiva lives a simple existence. After all, he is "vaishnavanam yata sambhu". He is the greatest vaishnava. As such he sets the example that real happiness doesn't lie in material enjoyment but in devotional service to Lord Krishna. Lord Shiva uses his time to meditate on his Lord, Sri Krishna.