The following is a transcription of a discourse delivered by Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja in Malaysia on March 11, 2002 (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology Volume 83)

 

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Prahlāda Mahārāja instructed the sons of the demons, “From the beginning of our life, when we first have some sense, some knowledge, at the age of even five years old, we should try to chant and perform devotional service to the Supreme Lord.”

They told Prahlāda, “We are very little boys. When we become old, we may engage in devotional service. But now we should play and be experts, and afterwards we should engage in bhakti. When we are young, we want to taste the world. After that, when we are over sixty years old, we can engage in bhajana.”

Prahlāda Mahārāja told them, “It is uncertain when one will die. Someone can die at any time. Someone may die in the womb or right after birth. Someone may die within five years of being born. Someone may die at ten, at twenty, at twenty-five, or at any time. The duration of one’s life is uncertain. That is why one should engage in bhakti from the beginning of one’s life.”

You know, nobody wants to suffer. No one wants to become old. But yet, they are bound to become old and bound to suffer. Automatically, these things come. Therefore, we should not be worried about these things, thinking, “We should do something for our maintenance.” Our maintenance of life will easily and automatically be arranged. As suffering comes automatically, happiness will also come automatically, so don’t be worried about this.

Engage in bhakti from the beginning. Suppose you don’t do so from the start, and marry and have some very beautiful children, and your father and mother grow old — how will you give up your old father and mother then? How will you give up your very beautiful and newly married young wife? How will you give up your children, those who are saying, “O daddy, daddy,” in half-broken language? How will you give up all these things? No one can do this. It is very, very difficult.

Though it is an illusion and full of suffering, even brahmacārīs with saffron cloth and sannyāsīs carrying daṇḍas think, “Oh, how beautiful and tasteful this world is!” They give up all these things and again enter family life. Then they think, “Oh, there is nothing here.” So many problems come, and they are never happy, never.

From the beginning of life, we should try to chant, remember, and follow what Prahlāda Mahārāja said. Then the boys asked him, “But where did you learn all these things? We have never seen a Vaiṣṇava or anyone come to you, nor have we seen you in his association. From where has this transcendental knowledge come?”

Prahlāda Mahārāja said, “While my father was doing austerities, my mother was pregnant at that time.” Indra thought, “If this baby is born, then it will be bigger and stronger than Hiraṇyakaśipu.” So he wanted to kill the baby. Indra wanted to take Kayādhu to the heavenly planets and wait for the birth of the child. Then, once he was born, he would kill the child. But when Indra was taking Kayādhu in the sky, Nārada Ṛṣi came there and he told Indra, “Why are you taking Kayādhu? You cannot kill this child. I know. You should let Kayādhu go. A very high-class mahā-bhāgavata is in the womb of Kayādhu, so let her go.”

Then Indra did parikramā of Nārada and left Kayādhu. Nārada Ṛṣi took her to his āśrama and gave her a place there. For how many years was Hiraṇyakaśipu doing austerities? For sixty thousand years. During that time, Nārada Ṛṣi delivered discourses on the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, śāstras, and the auspicious path of hari-bhakti. Thus, Prahlāda Mahārāja in the womb became a perfect mahā-bhāgavata. Prahlāda Mahārāja said, “By the grace and mercy of Nārada Ṛṣi, I am like this. I have heard all these things from him.” Then all the boys clapped together and performed kīrtana, “Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare.”

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Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Prahlāda Mahārāja told Hiraṇyakaśipu, “I get my power from the same source you get yours. My power is from the Supreme Lord, who is also the source of your power. But you don’t know this.”

“Have you seen Him?”

“Yes, I have seen Him. He is everywhere, in all atoms. He is here, there, in trees, creepers, grasses, even in the pillars.”

“Oh, He is in the pillars? I want to see Him, and I want to see how He saves you.” Hiraṇyakaśipu took his sword and club and said, “First, I will see whether or not He is in this pillar.” He struck the pillar with his club. At once, the pillar broke open, and a tremendous sound came. Everyone was fearing. Hiraṇyakaśipu thought, “Where is this sound coming from?”

(A devotee describes how Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared from the pillar and appeared very angry. Hiraṇyakaśipu and Nṛsiṁhadeva fought, and at last Nṛsiṁhadeva took Hiraṇyakaśipu onto His lap, tore open his stomach, and pulled out his intestines, killing Hiraṇyakaśipu. Prahlāda Mahārāja then went to pacify Nṛsiṁhadeva. Now, Nṛsiṁhadeva cried and wanted to give a boon to Prahlāda Mahārāja, but Prahlāda wanted nothing in return.)

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Prahlāda told Nṛsiṁhadeva, “If I have any devotion for You and if it is pure, then please distribute all these things to all human beings who are forgetting You, and I will suffer for them for thousands and millions of lives. I want this.”

What did Nṛsiṁhadeva reply? “If anyone will hear your pastimes with Me, they will easily be liberated, very easily. I will inspire them in their hearts, and quickly they will have bhakti and thus they will be liberated, and they will go to Vaikuṇṭha.” Upon saying this, He disappeared at once. Nṛsiṁhadeva Bhagavān kī jaya! Bhakta Prahlāda Mahārāja kī jaya! Bhakta-vatsala Nṛsiṁhadeva kī jaya! But what are the teachings of Prahlāda Mahārāja?

Devotee: What is the reason Nṛsiṁhadeva put the intestines around His neck?

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: To show all the demons, “This is the destination of those who will be against devotees. I will kill them in this way. No one in this world can be saved from that. I came to save My dear bhakta, Prahlāda Mahārāja. If you do like Hiraṇyakaśipu did, I will take out your intestines and put them around My neck.” He did this so that all would be very fearful and not do as Hiraṇyakaśipu did. Thus, everyone became afraid and accepted bhakti. All the demons became devotees.

What are the teachings of Prahlāda Mahārāja? First, Hiraṇyākṣa, the brother of Hiraṇyakaśipu, was killed by Varāhadeva. A large condolence meeting was held. Everyone was weeping, and Hiraṇyakaśipu was consoling them, “This is natural, that those who have taken birth will have to die. Why are you weeping? Our forefathers died; we will have to die, and others who have taken birth must die as well. Don’t weep. And if a person is killed on the battlefield, what happens? He will go to the heavenly planets. So why are you lamenting? He went to the heavenly planets, especially having been killed by Viṣṇu. Don’t weep.”

He told them, “Why are you all weeping? He is sleeping here.” He took the dead body of his brother and covered it with a white cloth. “He is here. Whom you served, whom you called father, whom you called grandfather or whom you called husband, son or anything, he is lying down here. You can speak with him.”

“No, no, no. He has left.”

“Where has he gone? Where? I see you are telling a lie.”

“He is sleeping here.”

“No, his soul is not there.”

“Have you seen that soul? How tall was he? How strong was he? How beautiful was he? Have you seen him?”

“Oh, we have never seen him.”

“If you have never seen that soul, then why are you weeping? Why? And you know that in this world, millions and millions of people die daily, but why don’t you weep for them? You have never seen the soul, yet you are weeping for it? This is madness, nothing else. You should not weep.” He told two stories as well. I am not telling them now, but he told them. He tried to console others, but he did not follow all these things himself. He had no belief in God — that He can save Prahlāda Mahārāja, and that He is everything for the devotees.

He had no faith, and he even wanted to kill Viṣṇu. He didn’t believe that this world had come from Him, and that it would go into Him at the time of destruction. He never had that idea. We should not be like Hiraṇyakaśipu. We should know that death is inevitable. We will have to die. And at that time, you cannot take anything with you from this world — your body and everything that you have collected will stay here in this world. So why are you doing all these things? Why do you not remember and render devotional service to Kṛṣṇa? You must do so.

One more thing: Prahlāda Mahārāja was very bold. Why? Because he had totally surrendered himself to the Supreme Lord. If anyone surrenders, the Supreme Lord will manage everything. The Lord saves him. If you surrender to Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa is always bound to save you, like He did with Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, Prahlāda Mahārāja, and others. So first, you should fully surrender like Prahlāda Mahārāja and be bold like him.

Also, Prahlāda Mahārāja was very calm and peaceful. He never feared his father. He also never disrespected his father — never, never. We should try to follow this. Prahlāda Mahārāja went to his asad-gurus (inauthentic gurus), Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, but he never followed them. Don’t go to any asad-guru, never. He is blind, and you are blind in transcendental things, so you will both go to hell, without fail. Otherwise, it is like a blind man leading another blind man, and both fall into a ditch, and they both die. This will happen if one goes to an asad-guru.

If anyone takes shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, he is always bold. He has no enemies. Anyone else can think of him as an enemy, but really, he has no enemies, like Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja. All the demon boys became saintly persons in the association of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Anyone can be like that if he is purely taking shelter of sādhu-saṅga. First, śraddhā will come in bhakti. After that, sādhana-bhakti, bhāva-bhakti, and then prema-bhakti will come through that association.

Suppose Bhagavān (God) is giving a devotee so much temptation —“You should have a boon from Me.” — even if the Lord Himself is asking him, he never becomes upset. He wants no benediction from Him, never and never, like Prahlāda Mahārāja. If he takes any boon, then he becomes like a businessman. So, we should not try to do this. That is why, at last, Prahlāda Mahārāja told them, “You should take shelter and serve a bona fide gurudeva. Through serving, śraddhā, niṣṭha, ruci, āsakti, bhāva, and prema may come. Otherwise, there is no other process to have bhakti.”

As soon as possible, you should be anāsakta, detached from worldly sense gratification. Take shelter of a bona fide guru, then enter the devotional line, and be happy forever. These are the teachings of Prahlāda Mahārāja. Then Parīkṣit Mahārāja asked, “What is devotion, and how should we engage in bhakti?” Then Śrīla Śukadeva Gosvāmī began speaking about Ambarīṣa Mahārāja.

Devotee: When we hear that twenty-one generations or fourteen generations or seven generations of a devotee’s family receive liberation, what kind of liberation do they receive?

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Quickly, they remember that person who is a bona fide Vaiṣṇava, and by this remembrance, his quality gradually comes into them. Then, śraddhā and all these things come very quickly; he is liberated from this world.

Devotee: They will get a chance to be in good association.

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Everything, everything, everything. It may be that there will be no need for sukṛti. They will have sādhu-saṅga and a bona fide gurudeva directly.

(A devotee describes how Ambarīṣa Mahārāja was a great king. He would spend all his time worshipping the deity and engaging in all the limbs of bhakti-yoga. One day, on Ekādaśī, Durvāsā Ṛṣi came to Ambarīṣa Mahārāja and was going to take a bath. Ambarīṣa Mahārāja broke his Ekādaśī with caraṇāmṛta before Durvāsā returned, so Durvāsā summoned a fire demon to kill Ambarīṣa. But Sudarśana cakra killed that fire demon and then chased Durvāsā around the universe for a whole year. Durvāsā went to Brahmā and Śiva, but they could not help him. He then went to Viṣṇu, but He could not help him. Viṣṇu told Durvāsā, “I have given My heart to the devotees. You have to go and ask Ambarīṣa for forgiveness. Then, you can be saved.”)

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: For one whole year, Sudarśana cakra was following Durvāsā Ṛṣi. But for one year, he could not burn Durvāsā. Why? Durvāsā was not like an ordinary man. He was also a devotee. Sudarśana cakra knew Durvāsā was there to glorify Ambarīṣa Mahārāja and to show that we should be like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja. Really, Durvāsā had not come to give a curse or anything. Keeping this mood hidden, he was doing all these things to glorify a high-class devotee like Ambarīṣa Mahārāja.

Sudarśana cakra was also playing a trick or a drama by following Durvāsā. That is why over the course of an entire year, he did not burn him. Durvāsā is a very great ṛṣi-mahārṣi. He gave Rādhikā a boon: “Whatever you will cook, it will be nectar.” Durvāsā also granted many boons to Mahārāṇī Kuntī and other things. He is a pure bhakta. But sometimes he wants to glorify devotees. Sudarśana cakra knew this, and therefore, he could not burn Durvāsā. We should learn from all these things. Gaura-premānande!

Devotee: On one hand, Mahārāja Ambarīṣa worshipped in Mathurā, so it seems that his worshipable deity is Kṛṣṇa. But on the other hand, it was Vaikuṇṭha Nārāyaṇa who was protecting him. Who was his worshipable deity?

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Kṛṣṇa Himself. He used to be in Mathurā only because the heart of Mathurā is Vṛndāvana. He used to do parikramā of the eighty-four krośas of Vraja-maṇḍala. He used to take a bath in the Yamunā. He used to go to Vṛndāvana, Madhuvana, Tālavana, everywhere. He was fasting on Mahā-dvādaśī for Kṛṣṇa, so his worshipable deity was Kṛṣṇa, Vrajendra-nandana Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Why was it Nārāyaṇa who saved him?

Śrīla Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Mahārāja: Nārāyaṇa and all other incarnations are in Kṛṣṇa, so really you should know it was the desire of Kṛṣṇa. But for Durvāsā, it is very hard to go to Goloka Vṛndāvana to Kṛṣṇa, so he only went there. Where? To Hariloka, in this universe. Gaura-premānande!

Source(s): Purebhakti.com, Serve Love – Bhakta Bandhav (Bhakta Bandhav Anthology transcribed and edited by the Bhakta Bandhav Team)

Image(s) made possible by Pixabay.com, Krishnapath.org.in, Keystone Press / Alamy Stock Photo and / or Bhaktiart.net

Unless indicated otherwise, all verse translations and quotes are from the books by Śrīla Prabhupāda (Vedabase.com)