Canto 7 - Chapter 5: Hiranyakasipu attempts the life of Prahrada

Discourse V

Hiranyakaśipu attempts the life of Prahrāda

Nārada began again : We are told that the glorious sage Kāvya (Śukrācārya) was chosen by the demons to (fill) the office of their priest. (Hence) his two sons, Śaṇḍa and Amarka, lived close to the palace of Hiranyakaśipu (the ruler of the Daityas). (1)
They taught (all) subjects that were worth teaching to Prahrāda—who had been sent (to their house) by the king (Hiranyakaśipu) and, though (yet) a child, was skilled in reasoning—as well as to other children of the Asuras. (2)
He listened to and immediately reproduced what was taught to him by his teacher there; but at heart he did not approve of it, based as it was on the false notion distinguishing a friend from a foe. (3)
Placing his son (Prahrāda) on his lap, one day, Hiranyakaśipu (the ruler of the Asuras), O Yudhiṣṭhira (son of Pāṇḍu), addressed him :— "Tell me, my child, what you regard as good (for you)." (4)

Prahrāda replied : For (all) embodied souls whose mind is ever disturbed with the false ideas of 'I' and 'mine', I hold this to be good, O chief of demons, that having abandoned one's home, which degrades one's soul, and is just like a well whose mouth is hidden, one should go to the woods and take refuge in Śrī Hari. (5)

Nārada continued : On hearing the words of his son (Prahrāda), full of faith in Lord Viṣṇu (who belonged to the hostile party), the demon (Hiranyakaśipu) laughed and said :—"The intellect of youngsters is perverted by the machinations of others. (6)
Let the child be properly guarded, so that his intellect may not be perverted by Brāhmaṇas devoted to Viṣṇu and living incognito at the preceptor's residence." (7)

Summoning Prahrāda, who had (now) been brought back (from the royal palace) to their residence, the (family) priests of the Daityas praised him (by way of encouraging him and winning his confidence) and duly questioned him in a soft language and in coaxing words (as follows):—(8)
Child Prahrāda, may good betide you: speak the truth and do not tell a lie. Whence this perversion of your intellect, which is not to be found in other boys (your companions)? (9)
(Please) tell (us) your teachers, anxious as we are to hear (the truth), O delight of your race, whether the aberration of your mind has been brought about by others or it has come about by itself. (10)

Prahrāda replied : Hail to that almighty Lord, by whose Māyā (delusive potency) has been brought about the false notion that he is one's own and he is another, which is observed (only) in men whose mind is deluded (by that Māyā). (11)
When He is propitious, (it is then alone that) the false notion in men, embracing the distinction that "another is he and another am I", which is generally found in beasts, is dispelled. (12)
That (supreme) Spirit Itself is described (by the wise) as one whose ways cannot be easily comprehended by those that are labouring under the misapprehension that "he is my own and he is another", and in whose quest even (great) exponents of the Veda such as Brahmā (the creator) get bewildered. Indeed it is He who is responsible for (changing my outlook and making it universal). (13)
(Just) as iron, O holy one, moves of itself (without any ostensible cause or purpose) in the vicinity of a magnet, so is my mind unaccountably drawn towards Lord Viṣṇu (who holds the discus, Sudarśana, in one of His four hands). (14)

Nārada went on : Having said this much to the Brāhmaṇa (his preceptor), Prahrāda (who was possessed of a lofty mind) stopped speaking. Reprimanding him, that poor Brāhmaṇa (who was a servant of the king) then angrily said :— (15)
"O bring (me) a cane! The boy is bringing us into disrepute. The fourth expedient of punishment (alone) has been prescribed (in the Śāstras) for this silly chap, who is proving to be the (very) ruin of his race. (16)
He is born a veritable thorny bush in the forest of Diti's sons, who are like so many sandal trees. (Nay,) the urchin has served as a handle to the axe, in the form of Viṣṇu, cutting at the root of that forest." (17)
Thus intimidating him with threats and various other expedients, the preceptor taught Prahrāda only texts dealing with the first three objects of human pursuit (viz., earthly possessions, gratification of the senses and religious merit). (18)
Thinking that the boy had mastered the four expedients worth knowing (viz., expostulation, gift, coercion and sowing seeds of dissension), the preceptor later on ushered the boy, when he had been washed and adorned by the mother, into the presence of Hiranyakaśipu (the ruler of the Daityas). (19)
Greeting with benedictions the child fallen at his feet, the demon kept him folded in his arms for a long time and derived supreme gratification (thereby). (20)
(Then) placing the infant on his lap and smelling its head (out of affection) and bathing it with tears (of joy), he spoke as follows to the boy, whose face was beaming (with delight), O Yudhiṣṭhira. (21)

Hiranyakaśipu said : Prahrāda dear, repeat (to me) something excellent that you have learnt from your teacher all this time, O long-lived one, and which you have fully mastered.(22)

Prahrāda replied : (1)
To hear the names, praises and stories of Lord Viṣṇu and (2)
chant them, (3)
to remember Him (as well as His names and stories), (4)
to wait upon Him, (5)
to offer worship and (6)
salutation to Him, (7)
to dedicate one's actions to Him, (8)
to cultivate friendship with Him and (9)
to offer one's own body as well as one's dependants and belongings to Him—if Devotion marked by these nine features is practised by a man as something already offered direct to Lord Viṣṇu, I reckon that (such Devotion) to be the highest (form of) learning. (23-24)
Hearing this observation of his son (Prahrāda), Hiranyakaśipu then spoke to the son of his preceptor (Śukrācārya) as follows, his lips quivering through rage:— (25)
"O vile Brāhmaṇa, having espoused the enemy's cause and disregarding me what is this nonsense that the child has been taught by your wicked self, O fool ? (26)
Indeed there are in this world impious souls who have assumed a deceptive garb and whose friendship is of a vicious (most unreliable) type. Like the malady* of the sinful, their mischief comes to light (only) at the proper time." (27)

• We find the following Smṛti-text quoted in the commentary of Śrīdhara Swāmi :-

"The murderer of a Brāhmaṇa suffers (in a future incarnation) from the fell disease of consumption; a (habitual) drunkard comes to have discoloured teeth; he who has (ever) stolen gold comes to have diseased nails and he who has violated the bed of his own teacher is afflicted with leprosy (after he has suffered tortures in hell and is born again as a human being)."

The preceptor's son replied : This son of yours, O enemy of Indra, is saying something which has neither been taught by me nor by anyone else. This view is natural with him, O king! (Pray,) curb your anger and do not lay the blame at our door. (28)

Nārada resumed : Thus replied to by the preceptor, the demon addressed his son (Prahrāda) again: "If this vicious idea of your's has not been imbibed from the mouth of your preceptor, whence has it come, O inauspicious one?" (29)

Prahrāda submitted : The mind of those who are devoted to their home (worldly activity), (nay,) who (repeatedly) fall into the hell-like whirlpool of transmigration because of their unsubdued senses and are engaged in enjoying over and over again the pleasures they have already enjoyed (in this as well as in previous lives), does not get attached to Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa either by itself or through (the exhortation of) others or (even) through mutual efforts. (30)
Indeed they whose mind is impure (attached to the pleasures of sense) and who, like the blind led by another blind man, esteem (only) those regarding the external (worldly) objects as their (only) aim (in life) are unable to realize Lord Viṣṇu, the goal of those who recognize Him as the supreme object. (On the other hand,) through actions (done from interested motives) they remain bound (like so many oxen) to the rope of the Lord, in the shape of His Word (the Veda), with numerous (individual) strings in the shape of different denominations (Brāhmaṇa and so on). (31)
The mind of these (people) fails to approach the feet of Lord Viṣṇu (possessed of infinite strength)—the object of approaching which is to get rid of evil (in the form of transmigration)—so long as it does not seek a bath in the dust of feet of exalted souls who claim nothing as their own. (32)

Hiraṇyakaśipu, whose intellect had been blinded by wrath, threw his son (Prahrāda) from his lap to the ground as soon as the latter stopped after uttering the aforesaid words. (33)
Possessed by indignation and anger, and with bloods-shot eyes he exclaimed, "Let this boy be killed at once, deserving of death as he is ! Turn him out, O Rākṣasas ! (34)
(Surely) he is responsible for the death of my brother (Hiraṇyākṣa); (for) it is this vile fellow who, abandoning his own kith and kin, worships like a servant the feet of Viṣṇu, the slayer of his uncle. (35)
Indeed, what good turn will this wicked boy do to Viṣṇu either—the boy who yet an infant of five years has spurned the love of his parents, (so) hard to renounce ? (36)
Even an enemy (who is) beneficent as a medicine is a (veritable) son; while an inimical son, though begotten by one's own body, should be shunned as a disease. (Nay,) one should amputate even that limb which is injurious to one's body (as a whole) and by removing which the rest of the body may survive in good health. (37)
He should (therefore) be got rid of by all (possible) means—through (poisoned) food or (by disposing of him) when he is lying asleep or sitting (unguarded). (For) like the corrupt mind of a hermit he is our enemy, though masquerading as a friend." (38)

Actually commanded by the master (Hiraṇyakaśipu), those demons, who had sharp teeth, fearful faces and coppery beards and hair and had spikes in their hands, struck Prahrāda, who was sitting (still), with spears in all (his) vital parts, emitting hideous yells and shouting "Cut him down ! Rend him asunder !!" (39-40)
Like the commendable acts of an unlucky fellow, their blows proved of no avail against Prahrāda, whose mind was en rapport with the immutable and indefinable Supreme Deity, the Soul of the universe. (41)
On that effort having been foiled, Hiraṇyakaśipu (the ruler of the demons) felt greatly alarmed and resorted with pertinacity to (various) devices of despatching the boy, O Yudhiṣṭhira ! (42)
When (however) the demon failed to get rid of his sinless boy by means of the elephants guarding the (four) quarters, serpents and destructive spells, by hurling him down (from great heights), employing conjuring tricks, confining him (in caves etc.) and administering poison, (nay,) by starving him, exposing him to frost, winds, fire and floods and even crushing him under rocks, and could not lay his hands on any (other) means to dispose of him, he was plunged in the deepest anxiety. (43-44)
(He said to himself,) "The boy was reproached by me in a number of ways and devices were (also) employed to kill him. But (lo !) he escaped (unhurt) from all those mischiefs and destructive spells by virtue of his own glory. (45)
Though standing close to me and a child yet, the fellow is really undaunted in mind and powerful (too). Like Śunaḥśepa* he will not forget my wrongs (and is sure to retaliate sooner or later). (46)
Possessed of infinite glory and fearing none, he is immortal (to all appearance). My death will surely follow as a result of hostility to him. Or else it may not occur (at all). (47)

*Śunaḥśepa was the second son of a sage, Aṅgarta by name. Having been sold by his parents in favour of the famous king Hariścandra, the boy joined his father's enemy, the celebrated Viśvāmitra, and adopted the latter's line as his parentage.

To him, who sat with his face downward, his splendour having been blasted to some extent by his anxious thought as aforementioned, Śaṇḍa and Amarka, the sons of the sage Uśanā (Śukrācārya, the preceptor of the demon race), as the tradition goes, spoke thus in private:—(48)
"You have conquered single-handed all the three worlds, whose guardians are frightened by the (mere) play of your eyebrows. Such as you are, we see nothing for you to be anxious about, O lord! Indeed the behaviour of children is no topic for judgment as good or bad. (49)
Until, however, your preceptor (and our father), Śukrācārya (son of Bhrgu), comes back, (please) keep the boy bound with the cords of Varuṇa (the god of water) so that he may not abscond through fear. A man's reason returns with (advanced) age as well as through the service of exalted souls." (50)

Having accepted the advice of the sons of his preceptor (Śukrācārya), saying "Let it be so," Hiraṇyakaśipu spoke as follows : "As a matter of fact, such duties (alone) should be taught to him as are proper to kings leading the life of a householder." (51)
To Prahrāda, who was not only modest but meek as well, O king (Yudhiṣṭhira), they always taught in the proper order only Dharma (the code of right conduct), Artha (the ways and means of producing and enhancing wealth), and Kāma (the correct way of enjoying the pleasures of sense). (52)
Prahrāda, (however,) did not approve of the (aforesaid) three objects of human pursuit even when properly taught to him by his teachers, much less the teaching imparted by those who feasted their mind upon the objects of sense through feelings of attachment and aversion etc.(53)
(One day,) when the preceptor was away (from the school) in connection with his household duties, he (Prahrāda) was called there (for play) by the boys of his own age, who had (now) found time to make merry. (54)
Answering their call in sweet words, Prahrāda (who was very wise and) who was aware of their devotion (to himself), then kindly addressed them as though smiling. (55)
Laying aside (their) playthings out of respect for him, however, all those boys, whose judgment had not (yet) been vitiated by the precepts and actions of those who delighted in sense-enjoyments through feelings of attachment and aversion etc., sat round him, O king of kings, with their heart and eyes fixed on him; and the Asura (Prahrāda), who was an eminent votary of the Lord and who was (most) compassionate and friendly (towards them), spoke to them (as follows). (56-57)

Thus ends the fifth discourse, forming part of the narrative of Prahrāda, in Book Seven of the great and glorious Bhāgavata-Puraṇa, otherwise known as the Paramahārhsa-Sarhītā.