THE FEARLESS DEVOTEE PRAHALAD MAHARAJ

By practicing bhagavad-bhakti–yoga, one becomes fearless and joyful. Unless one becomes fearless and joyful, he cannot understand the science of God. 

Bhagavat–tattva–vijānaṁ mukta–saṅgasya jāyate.

 This verse refers to those who are completely liberated from the fearfulness of this material world. When one is so liberated, he can really understand the transcendental features of the form of the Lord. Lord Śiva therefore advises everyone to practice bhagavad-bhakti–yoga. As will be clear in the following verses, by doing so one can become really liberated and enjoy spiritual bliss.  

When one surrenders unto the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna, he/she gets freed from all kinds of anxieties, miseries and sorrow for Shri Krishna personally takes charge of the devotee and protects him with his divine merciful protection. Ksema refers to the merciful protection of the Lord. The Lord helps the devotee to achieve Krsna Consciousness by yoga, and when he becomes fully Krsna conscious the Lord protects him from falling down to a miserable condition of life.

ananyāśh chintayanto māṁ ye janāḥ paryupāsate
teṣhāṁ nityābhiyuktānāṁ yoga-kṣhemaṁ vahāmyaham

BG 9.22: There are those who always think of Me and engage in exclusive devotion to Me. To them, whose minds are always absorbed in Me, I provide what they lack and preserve what they already possess.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam we come across many such stories of the Devotees of the Lord who had unflinching faith in Shri Hari continued their devotional service even in the midst of so many difficulties and challenges because they knew that Lord Shri Krishna has taken charge.

One such story that we read from the most ripened vedic wisdom, Srimad Bhagavatam is of “the fearless devotee Prahalad Maharaj”

The two associates of the Lord — Jaya and Vijaya  descended to the material world were cursed by the sages , taking birth as the two sons of Diti, Hiraṇyakaśipu being the elder and Hiraṇyākṣa the younger one. They were very much respected by the Daityas and Dānavas [demoniac species].

Prahalad Maharaj was the saintly son of Hiranyakashipu and his mother’s name was Kayadhu. He was always engaged in worshipping and singing the glories of Lord Vishnu and had a natural predilection for spiritual life, which his demoniac father Hiranyakashipu did not like at all because he was envious of Lord Vishnu and to his misfortune his son turned out to be a great devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Hiraṇyakaśipu’s spiritual master, Śukrācārya, had two sons named Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, to whom Prahlāda Mahārāja was entrusted for education. Although the teachers tried to educate the boy Prahlāda in politics, economics and other material activities, he did not care for their instructions. Instead, he continued to be a pure devotee. Prahlāda Mahārāja never liked the idea of discriminating between one’s friends and enemies. Because he was spiritually inclined, he was equal toward everyone.

Once upon a time, Hiraṇyakaśipu inquired from his son what the best thing was that he had learned from his teachers. Prahlāda Mahārāja replied that a man engrossed in the material consciousness of duality, thinking, “This is mine, and that belongs to my enemy,” should give up his householder life and go to the forest to worship the Supreme Lord.

When Hiraṇyakaśipu heard from his son about devotional service, he decided that this small boy had been polluted by some friend in school. Thus he advised the teachers to take care of the boy so that he would not become a Kṛṣṇa conscious devotee. However, when the teachers inquired from Prahlāda Mahārāja why he was going against their teachings, Prahlāda Mahārāja taught the teachers that the mentality of ownership is false and that he was therefore trying to become an unalloyed devotee of Lord Viṣṇu. The teachers, being very angry at this answer, chastised and threatened the boy with many fearful conditions. They taught him to the best of their ability and then brought him before his father.

Hiraṇyakaśipu affectionately took his son Prahlāda on his lap and then inquired from him what the best thing was that he had learned from his teachers. As usual, Prahlāda Mahārāja began praising the nine processes of devotional service, such as śravaṇam and kīrtanam. Thus the King of the demons, Hiraṇyakaśipu, being extremely angry, chastised the teachers, Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, for having wrongly trained Prahlāda Mahārāja. The so-called teachers informed the King that Prahlāda Mahārāja was automatically a devotee and did not listen to their instructions. When they proved themselves innocent, Hiraṇyakaśipu inquired from Prahlāda where he had learned viṣṇu-bhakti. Prahlāda Mahārāja replied that those who are attached to family life do not develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness, either personally or collectively. Instead, they suffer repeated birth and death in this material world and continue simply chewing the chewed. Prahlāda explained that the duty of every man is to take shelter of a pure devotee and thus become eligible to understand Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Enraged at this answer, Hiraṇyakaśipu threw Prahlāda Mahārāja from his lap. Since Prahlāda was so treacherous that he had become a devotee of Viṣṇu, who had killed his uncle Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his assistants to kill him. The assistants of Hiraṇyakaśipu struck Prahalāda with sharp weapons, threw him under the feet of elephants, subjected him to hellish conditions, threw him from the peak of a mountain and tried to kill him in thousands of other ways, but they were unsuccessful. Hiraṇyakaśipu therefore became increasingly afraid of his son Prahlāda Mahārāja and arrested him. The sons of Hiraṇyakaśipu’s spiritual master, Śukrācārya, began teaching Prahlāda in their own way, but Prahlāda Mahārāja did not accept their instructions. While the teachers were absent from the classroom, Prahlāda Mahārāja began to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness in the school, and by his instructions all his class friends, the sons of the demons, became devotees like him.

Hiranyakashipu became really furious and ordered his servants to teach his son Prahalad a lesson.The demons (Rākṣasas) the servants of Hiraṇyakaśipu, thus began striking the tender parts of Prahlāda Mahārāja’s body with their tridents. The demons all had fearful faces, sharp teeth and reddish, coppery beards and hair, and they appeared extremely threatening. Making a tumultuous sound, shouting, “Chop him up! Pierce him!” they began striking Prahlāda Mahārāja, who sat silently, meditating upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

 When all the attempts of the demons to kill Prahlāda Mahārāja were futile, the King of the demons, Hiraṇyakaśipu, being most fearful, began contriving other means to kill him.

 Hiraṇyakaśipu could not kill his son by throwing him beneath the feet of big elephants, throwing him among huge, fearful snakes, employing destructive spells, hurling him from the top of a hill, conjuring up illusory tricks, administering poison, starving him, exposing him to severe cold, winds, fire and water, or throwing heavy stones to crush him. When Hiraṇyakaśipu found that he could not in any way harm Prahlāda, who was completely sinless, he was in great anxiety about what to do next.

The more Prahlāda Mahārāja glorified the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the more angry and agitated the demon became. Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his Vaiṣṇava son whether his God existed within the columns of the palace, and Prahlāda Mahārāja immediately accepted that since the Lord is present everywhere, He was also present within the columns. When Hiraṇyakaśipu heard this philosophy from his young son, he derided the boy’s statement as just the talk of a child and forcefully struck the pillar with his fist.

As soon as Hiraṇyakaśipu struck the column, there issued forth a tumultuous sound. At first Hiraṇyakaśipu, the King of the demons, could not see anything but the pillar, but to substantiate Prahlāda’s statements, the Lord came out of the pillar in His wonderful incarnation as Narasiṁha, half lion and half man.

Hiraṇyakaśipu studied the form of the Lord, trying to decide who the form of Nṛsiṁhadeva standing before him was. The Lord’s form was extremely fearsome because of His angry eyes, which resembled molten gold; His shining mane, which expanded the dimensions of His fearful face; His deadly teeth; and His razor-sharp tongue, which moved about like a dueling sword. His ears were erect and motionless, and His nostrils and gaping mouth appeared like caves of a mountain. His jaws parted fearfully, and His entire body touched the sky. His neck was very short and thick, His chest broad, His waist thin, and the hairs on His body as white as the rays of the moon. His arms, which resembled flanks of soldiers, spread in all directions as He killed the demons, rogues and atheists with His conchshell, disc, club, lotus and other natural weapons.

Nrsimhadeva fell upon Hiranyakashipu, who struck back with all anger. But he was nothing against the boundless might of God. Lord Nrsimhadeva quickly caught him up with His nails and stretched the angry, incredulous demon across his lap, and then tore him apart.

 In this way Prahlad worshiped the lotus feet of the fierce half-man half-lion appearance of Sri Krishna, from whom everyone emanates. As Nrsimhadeva, He appears as the source of all ferocity, just as in the original form of Radha Krishna He is the source of all Love. To Prahlad, the long hard nails of Lord Nrsimhadeva and His fierce aspect created no terror.

After killing the demon Hiranyakashipu, the Lord was pacified by Prahalad Maharaj, who offered prayers to him. Although his father tried to kill him several times and tortured him Prahalad Maharaj still begged pardon for his father Hiranyakashipu. This is the attitude of a Vaishnava who always thinks of the welfare of the entire universe.