After the class, as Srila Prabhupada sat for a few minutes in his room waiting for breakfast, I asked him about Duryodhana’s relationship with Lord Balarama. I was puzzled how an apparent demon like Duryodhana could be favored by the Supreme Lord Baladeva, and even taught how to fight with a club by Him. “Was Duryodhana actually a devotee playing the part of a demon?” I asked. “Yes,” Prabhupada told me. “Otherwise Balarama could not have been favorable to him.”

From Hari Sauri Prabhu’s Transcendental Diary