Ravana was so devotee of Lord Siva that he was cutting his head and offering to the deity. So why he is called raksasa, not a saintly person? What is the reason? In Delhi have seen Rama-lila, the effigy of Ravana is beaten with shoes sometimes. But actually he was a great devotee of Lord Siva. Everyone knows. And he was so big devotee that Lord Siva gave him all benedictions: “Whatever you wanted.” So why this Ravana is described in the sastra as raksasa? Why he is not described as a saintly person? He was a brahmana by birth. He was born of a brahmana father, and he was great student of Vedas.

Materially he was very opulent so that he could control even the demigods. He was so powerful. Still, with all this qualification, why he is described as raksasa?

He is not a devotee of the Lord [Krsna]. That is our criterion. Anyone who is not a devotee, whatever he may be… He may be very, very big or so-called saintly, but according to the description of the sastras, na mam duskrtino mudhah prapadyante naradhamah [Bg. 7.15].

Srila Prabhupada, Morning Walk — April 10, 1974, Bombay