॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Sunday, 22 January 2023 VII.10 Part 1 - The story of Prahlada and Lord Narasimha concludes.
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Prahlada passes the test posed by Bhagavan with the offer of worldly boons. He seeks only devotion and grace. I reproduce the shlokas here for chanting. Bhagavan Himself concludes saying that anyone who faithfully listens to this story is emancipated.
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Lord Narasimha wanted to bestow benedictions upon Prahlada,
one after another, but Prahlada, thinking of them to be impediments on the path of
spiritual progress, did not accept any of them. Instead, he fully surrendered
at the Lord’s lotus feet. He said: “If anyone engaged in devotional service
of the Lord prays for personal sense gratification, he cannot be called a pure
devotee or even a devotee. He may be called only a merchant engaged in the
business of give and take. Similarly, a master who wants to please his
servant after taking service from him is also not a real master.” Prahlada,
therefore, did not ask anything from Bhagavan. Rather, he said that if the Lord
wanted to give him a benediction, he wanted the Lord to assure him that he
would never be induced to take any benedictions for the sake of material
desires. Exchanges of devotional service for fulfilling lusty desires are always very
prominent. As soon as lusty desires awaken, one’s senses, mind, life, soul,
religious principles, patience, intelligence, shyness, beauty, strength, memory
and truthfulness are all vanquished. One can render unalloyed devotional
service only when there are no material desires in one’s mind.
Bhagavan was greatly pleased with Prahlada for his unalloyed devotion, yet the Lord provided him one material benediction — that he would be perfectly happy in this world and live his next life in Vaikuntha. The Lord gave him the benediction that he would be the king of this material world until the end of the manvantara millennium and that although in this material world, he would have the facility to hear the glories of the Lord and depend fully on the Lord, performing service to Him in uncontaminated Bhakti-yoga. The Lord advised Prahlada to perform sacrifices through Bhakti-yoga, for this is the duty of a king.
Prahlada accepted whatever the Lord had offered him, and he prayed for the Lord to deliver his father. In response to this prayer, the Lord assured him that in the family of such a pure devotee as Prahlada, not only the devotee’s father but his forefathers for twenty-one generations are liberated. The Lord also asked Prahlada to perform the ritualistic ceremonies appropriate after his father’s death.
Then Lord Brahma, who was also present, offered many prayers to the Lord, expressing his obligation to the Lord for having offered benedictions to Prahlada.
श्रीभगवानुवाच
मैवं विभोऽसुराणां ते प्रदेय: पद्मसम्भव ।
वर: क्रूरनिसर्गाणामहीनाममृतं यथा ॥
T:The Lord advised Lord Brahma not to offer benedictions to Asuras as he had to Hiranyakashipu, for such benedictions indulge them. It would be like feeding Amrita (ambrosia of immortality) to snakes!
Then Lord Narasimha disappeared. On that day, Prahlada was installed on the throne of the world by Lord Brahma and Sage Shukracharya.
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This concludes Bhagavan's Narsimha Avatara. I have great pleasure in embedding here a link to the wonderful series of talks by Swami Tejomayananda-ji on Prahlada Stuti. This is a must-listen as it gives the many-layered spiritual meanings of the prayer we have just now read.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
