as given in the Vedas:

yasyasti bhaktir bhagavati akinchana
sarvair gunas tatra samaste surah
harav abhaktasya kuto mahad-guna
mano-rathenasati dhavato bahih

"One who has unflinching devotion for the Personality of Godhead has
all the good qualities of the demigods. But one who is not a devotee
of the Lord has only material qualifications that are of little value.
This is because he is hovering on the mental plane and is certain to be
attracted by the glaring material energy." (SB 5.18.12)


And from the Bhagavad-gita:

dambho darpo 'bhimanash cha
krodhah parushyam eva cha
ajnanam chabhijatasya
partha sampadam asurim

"Arrogance, pride, anger, conceit, harshness and ignorance--these
qualities belong to those of demonic nature, O son of Pritha."

Prabhupada elaborates on this verse:

"In this verse, the royal road to hell is described. The demoniac want
to make a show of religion and advancement in spiritual science,
although they do not follow the principles. They are always arrogant
or proud in possessing some type of education or so much wealth. They
desire to be worshiped by others, and demand respectability, although
they do not command respect. Over trifles they become very angry and
speak harshly, not gently. They do not know what should be done and
what should not be done. They do everything whimsically, according to
their own desire, and they do not recognize any authority. These
demoniac qualities are taken on by them from the beginning of their
bodies in the wombs of their mothers, and as they grow they manifest
all these inauspicious qualities."



From: Vaishnava Dasa
Subject: Krishna On demons

"Those who are demoniac do not know what is to be done and what is not
to be done. Neither cleanliness nor proper behavior nor truth is found
in them. They say that this world is unreal, that there is no
foundation and that there is no God in control. It is produced of sex
desire, and has no cause other than lust. Following such conclusions,
the demoniac, who are lost to themselves and who have no intelligence,
engage in unbeneficial, horrible works meant to destroy the world. The
demoniac, taking shelter of insatiable lust, pride and false prestige,
and being thus illusioned, are always sworn to unclean work, attracted
by the impermanent. The believe that to gratify th senses unto the end
of life is the prime necessity of human civilization. Thus there is no
end to their anxiety. Being bound by hundreds and thousands of
desires, by lust and anger, they secure money by illegal means for
sense gratification.

"The demoniac person thinks: 'So much wealth do I have today, and I
will gain more according to my schemes. So much is mine now, and it
will increase in the future, more and more. He is my enemy, and I have
killed him; and my other enemy will also be killed. I am the lord of
everything, I am the enjoyer, I am perfect, powerful and happy. I am
the richest man, surrounded by aristocratic relatives. There is none
so powerful and happy as I am. I shall perform sacrifices, I shall
give some charity, and thus I shall rejoice.' In this way, such
persons are deluded by ignorance.

Thus perplexed by various anxieties and bound by a network of
illusions, one becomes too strongly attached to sense enjoyment and
falls down into hell. Self-complacent and always impudent, deluded by
wealth and false prestige, they sometimes perform sacrifices in name
only without following any rules or regulations. Bewildered by false
ego, strength, pride, lust and anger, the demon becomes envious of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated in his own body and in
the bodies of others, and blasphemes against the real religion. Those
who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among men, are cast
by Me into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac
species of life. Attaining repeated birth amongst the species of
demoniac life, such persons can never approach Me. Gradually they sink
down to the most abominable type of existance. There are three gates
leading to this hell--lust, anger, and greed. Every sane man should
give these up, for they lead to the degradation of the soul. The man
who has escaped these three gates of hell, O son of Kunti [Arjuna],
performs acts conducive to self-realization and thus gradually attains
the supreme destination. But he who discards scriptural injunctions
and acts according to his own whims attains neither perfection, nor
happiness, nor the supreme destination. One should understand what is
duty and what is not duty by the regualtions of the scriptures.
Knowing such rules and regualtions, one should act so that he may
gradually be elevated."

(Bhagavad-gita Ch. 16, "The Divine and Demoniac Natures," Text 7-24)


It says in the BG that:

yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate

"Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his
footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the
world pursues."

PURPORT:

"People in general always require a leader who can teach the public by
practical behavior. A leader cannot teach the public to stop smoking
if he himself smokes. Lord Chaitanya said that a teacher should behave
properly even before he begins teaching. One who teaches in that way
is called acharya, or the ideal teacher. Therefore, a teacher must
follow the principles of shashtra (scripture) to reach the common man.
The teacher cannot manufacture rules against the principles of revealed
scriptures. The revealed scriptures, like Manu-samhita and similar
others, are considered the standard books to be followed by human
society. Thus the leader's teaching should be based on the principles
of the standard rules as they are praticed by the great teachers. The
Shrimad-Bhagavatam also affirms that one should follow in the footsteps
of great devotees, and that is the way of progress on the path of
spiritual realization. The king or the executive head of a state, the
father and the school teacher are all considered to be natural leaders
of the innocent people in general. All such natural leaders have a
great responsibility to their dependents; therefore they must be
conversant with standard books of moral and spiritual codes."


"Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying
material life, AND WHO HAVE THEREFORE ACCEPTED AS THEIR LEADER OR GURU
A SIMILAR BLIND MAN attached to external sense objects, cannot
understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead,
and engage in ther service of Lord Vishnu.  As blind men guided by
another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially
attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the
ropes of frutive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they
continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold
miseries."

  Also Prabhupada further states:

"The pseudoreligionists have neither knowledge nor detachment from
material affairs, for most of them want to live in the golden shackles
of material bondage under the shadow of altruistic and philanthropic
activities and in the guise of religious principles.  By a false
display of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional
service while indulging in all sorts of immoral activities.  In this
way they pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God.  Such
violators of religious principles have no respect for the
authoritative acharyas, the holy teachers in the strict disciplic
succession.  To mislead the people in general, they themselves become
so-called acharyas, but do not even follow the principles of the
acharyas.  These rogues are the MOST DANGEROUS ELEMENTS in human
society.  Because there is no religious government, they escape
punishment by the law of the state.  They cannot, however, escape the
law of the Supreme, who has clearly declared in Bhagavad-gita
(16.19-20) that envious DEMONS in the garb of religious propagandists
shall be thrown into the darkest regions of hell.  Shri Ishopanishad
confirms that these pseudoreligionists are heading toward the most
obnoxious place in the universe after the completion of their
spiritual master business [guru business], which they conduct simply
for sense gratification."


ishwara sarva bhutanam hrideshe arjuna tishtati
brahmayan sarva bhutani yantra rudhani mayaya

'i [krisha] am the Supreme Controller who sits in the heart of all the
living beings.  These living beings themselves are riding inside a
machine as soul, made up of material elements.'


eko 'py asau rachayitum jagadandakotim
yachchaktir asti jagadanda chaya yad antah
andantarastha paramanu chayantarastham
govinda adi-purusham tam aham bhajami

"i worship the Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who by one of his
plenary portions, enters into the existance of every universe and every
particle of the atoms and thus unlimitedly manifests His infinite
energy all over the material creation"