Who or what are these “malevolent ones?”
There are traditional names for them, but modern man is prejudiced against these names so I will not (for the moment) use them. I will (try to) explain in a different way.
Consider that you are playing a computer "role-playing" game, an RPG. You are so fond of playing it, that every time you die you cannot resist the urge to go back and play another round, probablyy with a slightly different character (a "build" as RPG fanatics call it). This addiction in itself is not harmful. Why not play a hundred, or a thousand, or a billion characters ("builds")? As long as you're not fed up with the game, why not keep on playing it? And if you ever
do get fed up with it, then
that will be the time to stop playing, right? Right.
Now here's the problem.
Some of the top programmers of the Game, with supremely expert knowledge of the programming code (of which normal players are entirely unaware), have
entered the game world. They have done so
not with the purpose of informing players that "Hey, these are the rules of the Game, just so you know how to play, and just so you know it's just a Game, and just so you know you can quit playing if you're fed up."
Such programmers have existed too, but they were benign: they just "came down" to give the players the Rules and a Way Out. Let's call them the "Old Ones".
But the programmers I am speaking of now, have an entirely different agenda, and it is a particularly nefarious one. They have entered the game world to trick players into habitually exploiting knowledge of the programming code (which they give them) in order to
avoid being subject to the Rules of the Game. What these programmers tell players is: "Hey, this is how it works, why don't you make maximum use of this knowledge in order to establish and maintain your 'happiness'?" The players (humans) eagerly accept, not knowing that by growing accustomed to living by
exploits they are excluding themselves from the beneficial influence of the Game Rules; and furthermore, that by getting from under the Game Rules, they are buildig their own eternal prison. Because there is one thing that these malevolent programmers don't tell humans, and that is that they are
stuck in the Game World not for a single lifetime, but for millions or billions of lifetimes until they suffer (i.e. gracefully accept) the consequences of their karma. (Or until the Game Server shuts down, but it is going to be a very, very,
veeery long time before that happens.)
In effect, these malevolent programmers are teaching humans to live by exploits, and thus not play the Game according to its (Samsaric) Rules at all. Their
modus operandi is: encourage humans to maximize their lust for life, and teach them to use exploits to avoid (or minimize) their exposure to the karmic consequences of any intentional (i.e. karma-generating) actions. The result? Spiritual creatures who are accumulating more and more karma, with no way of getting rid of it anymore, and who are therefore stuck
forever in the Game World.
You might ask: Why are these programmers doing this? Well, to them it's simply a rebellious experiment through which they live out their sadistic tendencies. It is no different from what makes young kids torture animals. It is for "fun".
P.S. I'd happily elaborate on precisely
how these malevolent programmers trick humans, but I feel I should go for a walk now. I'll be back shortly.