Anuttama Prabhu spoke today on Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 7, Chapter 8, Text 1. This also includes the introduction to the chapter which is a nice short summary of the story of Prahlad Maharaj and the appearance of Lord Nrsimhadev.
Click below for the summary and full verse translation and purport.
This is audio only, no video. Sorry.
Dallas, TX
2008-01-26
As described in this chapter, Hiranyakasipu was ready to kill his own son Prahlada Maharaja, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared in front of the demon as Sri Nrikesari, half lion and half man, and killed him.
Following the instructions of Prahlada Maharaja, all the sons of the demons became attached to Lord Vishnu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When this attachment became pronounced, their teachers, Shanda and Amarka, were very much afraid that the boys would become more and more devoted to the Lord. In a helpless condition, they approached Hiranyakasipu and described in detail the effect of Prahlada’s preaching. After hearing of this, Hiranyakasipu decided to kill his son Prahlada. Hiranyakasipu was so angry that Prahlada Maharaja fell down at his feet and said many things just to pacify him, but he was unsuccessful in satisfying his demoniac father. Hiranyakasipu, as a typical demon, began to advertise himself as being greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Prahlada Maharaja challenged him, saying that Hiranyakasipu was not God, and began to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, declaring that the Lord is all-pervading, that everything is under Him, and that no one is equal to or greater than Him. Thus he requested his father to be submissive to the omnipotent Supreme Lord.
The more Prahlada Maharaja glorified the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the more angry and agitated the demon became. Hiranyakasipu asked his Vaishnava son whether his God existed within the columns of the palace, and Prahlada Maharaja immediately accepted that since the Lord is present everywhere, He was also present within the columns. When Hiranyakasipu 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 Hiranyakasipu struck the column, there issued forth a tumultuous sound. At first Hiranyakasipu, the King of the demons, could not see anything but the pillar, but to substantiate Prahlada’s statements, the Lord came out of the pillar in His wonderful incarnation as Narasimha, half lion and half man. Hiranyakasipu could immediately understand that the extraordinarily wonderful form of the Lord was surely meant for his death, and thus he prepared to fight with the form of half lion and half man. The Lord performed His pastimes by fighting with the demon for some time, and in the evening, on the border between day and night, the Lord captured the demon, threw him on His lap, and killed him by piercing his abdomen with His nails. The Lord not only killed Hiranyakasipu, the King of the demons, but also killed many of his followers. When there was no one else to fight, the Lord, roaring with anger, sat down on Hiranyakasipu’s throne.
The entire universe was thus relieved of the rule of Hiranyakasipu, and everyone was jubilant in transcendental bliss. Then all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahma, approached the Lord. These included the great saintly persons, the Pitas, the Siddhas, the Vidyadharas, the Nagas, the Manus, the prajapatis, the Gandharvas, the Caranas, the Yakshas, the Kimpurushas, the Vaitalikas, the Kinnaras and also many other varieties of beings in human form. All of them stood not far from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and began offering their prayers unto the Lord, whose spiritual effulgence was brilliant as He sat on the throne.
atha daitya-sutah sarve
srutva tad-anuvarnitam
jagrihur niravadyatvan
naiva gurv-anusikshitam
TRANSLATION
Narada Muni continued: All the sons of the demons appreciated the transcendental instructions of Prahlada Maharaja and took them very seriously. They rejected the materialistic instructions given by their teachers, Shanda and Amarka.
PURPORT
This is the effect of the preaching of a pure devotee like Prahlada Maharaja. If a devotee is qualified, sincere and serious about Krishna consciousness and if he follows the instructions of a bona fide spiritual master, as Prahlada Maharaja did when preaching the instructions he had received from Narada Muni, his preaching is effective. As it is said in the Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.25.25):
satam prasangan mama virya-samvido
bhavanti hrit-karna-rasayanah kathah
If one tries to understand the discourses given by the sat, or pure devotees, those instructions will be very pleasing to the ear and appealing to the heart. Thus if one is inspired to take to Krishna consciousness and if one practices the process in his life, he is surely successful in returning home, back to Godhead. By the grace of Prahlada Maharaja, all his class friends, the sons of the demons, became Vaishnavas. They did not like hearing from their so-called teachers Shanda and Amarka, who were interested only in teaching them about diplomacy, politics, economic development and similar topics meant exclusively for sense gratification.