प्रह्लादस्तुतिः

The most celebrated and oft repeated story from Srimad Bhagavatam is the story of Prahlada.

The vile Hiranyakashipu, wanting to ask for death-less-ness, considering himself very smart, instead, asked for death, neither at day or at night, neither by man or beast, neither up nor down, so on and so forth. Hiranyakashipu was a great enemy of Vishnu and he had got this boon to avenge himself the death of his brother Hiranyaksha at the hands of Vishnu. It was indeed difficult to find a loophole in his boon and kill him by any creation of Lord Brahma. Having got his boon he went on to torture sages, people and divine and semi-divine beings for many yugas. Under his reign the world it seemed had forgotten Lord Vishnu. This however, as rightly pointed out by Prahlada himself (मन्ये धनाभिजनरूपतपःश्रुतौजस्तेजःप्रभावबलपौरुषबुद्धियोगाः । नाराधनाय हि भवन्ति परस्य पुंसो) did not seem to bother the Lord.

Ironically Prahlada, Hiranyakashipu’s own young son was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu and refused to acknowledge the greatness of his father as Supreme Being. This irritated Hiranyakashipu and he was even ready to kill his own son to prove his superiority. Such was his hatred which had won over his पुत्रवात्सल्य. Hence he threw Prahlada in fire, out of which he came without even a singed hair; he fed him poison which did not even make him drowsy; he pushed him from the mountain-top and Prahlada did not even have a scratch! Even after witnessing these miracles, Hiranyakashipu did not even have an inkling of the greatness of the Supreme being which was supporting his son. Then came the instance when he drew out his sword and asked Prahlada, “Show me that power which is supporting you!” Prahlada replied, “the very question you ask is by that Power.” “Alright then, where is it?” “Everywhere” “Everywhere! If it is everywhere, how come I don’t see it in this pillar? Let it come and save you” So saying he struck the pillar and out came Nrsimha in all his glory. Lord Vishnu incarnated as Nrsimha exclusively for Prahlada.

The little boy Prahlada was not afraid of the Lord, even though He looked gruesome and He had just killed his father. He went on to praise the Lord and thank him for his mercies.

मन्ये धनाभिजनरूपतपःश्रुतौजस्तेजःप्रभावबलपौरुषबुद्धियोगाः ।

नाराधनाय हि भवन्ति परस्य पुंसो भक्त्या तुतोष भगवान् गजयूथपाय ॥7.9.9

मन्ये — I think

धन— riches

अभिजन— aristocratic family

रूप— personal beauty

तपः— austerity

श्रुत— knowledge from studying the Vedas

ओज: — sensory prowess

तेजः— bodily effulgence

प्रभाव— influence

बल— bodily strength

पौरुष— diligence

बुद्धि— intelligence

योगाः — mystic power

नाराधनाय भवन्ति — are not for satisfying

परस्य पुंसो — Supreme Personality of Godhead

हि — indeed

भगवान् — the Supreme Personality of Godhead

तुतोष — was satisfied

भक्त्या — simply by devotional service

गजयूथपाय— unto the King of elephants (Gajendra).

Indeed, one's education, beauty and other superficial 'qualifications' would not please the Supreme Being.  Is not the Lord endowed with all glory, so  would He be stunned by the presence of but a fraction of these?  Only when arrogance on possessing beauty, strength etc take a back seat and  sincere devotion and love surface, does he/she become endearing to the Lord.

नैवात्मनः प्रभुरयं निजलाभपूर्णो मानं जनादविदुषः करुणो वृणीते ।

यद्यद् जनो भगवते विदधीत मानं तच्चात्मने प्रतिमुखस्य यथा मुखश्रीः ॥7.9.11

अयं प्रभुः — this Lord

निजलाभपूर्णः — is always satisfied in Himself

करुणः —Who is so kind to the foolish, ignorant person

वृणीते — accepts

मानम् — respect

जनात् — from a person

अविदुषः — who does not know ( that the aim of life is to please the Supreme Lord)

नैव आत्मनः — not for His personal benefit

यत् यत् — whatever

जनः— a person

भगवते — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead

विदधीत — may offer

मानं — worship

तत् च — that indeed

आत्मने —is for his own benefit

यथा — just as

मुखश्रीः— the decoration of the face.

प्रतिमुखस्य — (shows up as )the reflection of the face in the mirror

Indeed, the Supreme benevolent God accepts the worship of his devotee for the devotee's own benefit as He does not require any thing from anybody.  Just as a beautiful decorated face in turn shows up a beautiful decorated reflection so also, devotion unto the Lord reflects itself as His manifold blessings.   

बालस्य नेह शरणं पितरौ नृसिंह नार्तस्य चागदमुदन्वति मज्जतो नौः ।

तप्तस्य तत्प्रतिविधिर्य इहाञ्जसेष्ठस्तावद् विभो तनुभृतां त्वदुपेक्षितानाम् ॥7.9.19

नृसिंह — O my Lord Nṛsiḿha

न इह शरणं पितरौ — the father and mother are not shelter (protection) in this world

बालस्य — of a little child

न — nor

अगदं — medicine

उदन्वति — in the water of the ocean

आर्तस्य च — of a person suffering from some disease

नौः — the boat

मज्जतः — of a person who is drowning

तप्तस्य— of a person suffering from a condition of material misery

तत्प्रतिविधिः— the counteraction (invented for stopping the suffering of material existence)

यः इष्टः — that which is accepted (as a remedy)

इह — in this material world

अञ्जसा — very easily

तावत् — similarly

विभो — O my Lord, O Supreme

तनुभृताम् — of the living entities who have accepted material bodies

त्वत्-उपेक्षितानाम् — who are neglected by You and not accepted by You.

For those who are neglected by the Lord, there is indeed no refuge.  Their remedy may be temporarily beneficial but certainly of an impermanent nature.  For the parents cannot protect the child, a doctor or medicine cannot save the sick nor can a boat save the drowning man.   

नैषा परावरमतिर्भवतो ननु स्याज्जन्तोर्यथात्मसुहृदो जगतस्तथापि ।
संसेवया सुरतरोरिव ते प्रसादः सेवानुरूपमुदयो न परावरत्वम् ॥7.9.27

नैषा —not this
परावरमति: —discrimination of higher or lower
भवतो — of Your Lordship
ननु — indeed
स्यात् — there can be
जन्तोः— of ordinary living entities
यथा— as
आत्मसुहृदो — of one who is the friend
जगत:— of the whole material world
तथापि — but still (there is such a demonstration of intimacy or difference)
संसेवया — according to the degree of service rendered by the devotee
सुरतरोरिव — like that of the wish-yielding tree
ते प्रसादः —Your blessing
सेवानुरूपम् — according to the category of service one renders to the Lord
उदयः— manifestation
न परावरत्वम् — not discrimination due to higher or lower levels.

Prahlada says:  O Lord, You do not have discrimination as superior and inferior, of those who seek your refuge.  You consider one and all as the same, You are everyone's friend.   Indeed You are like the wish yielding tree which just grants the wishes of the one who asks of it, without judging them.

The Prahlada stuti is truly magnificent. Each and every sloka in this stuti (43 slokas ) is a gem. The verses here are some of my favourite.

How grateful Prahlada must have been to have his torture and death-threats removed by the Lord! But to start with he never did have a doubt in his mind about being saved. He was always unperturbed just as a true ज्ञानी.

The Hindu : Columns / Nirmal Shekar : Let us accept the truth

The Hindu : Columns / Nirmal Shekar : Let us accept the truth


This article has hit the 'bull's eye'.  "why this cricket-veri?"  We have to ask ourselves.  The players are glorified beyond bounds.   All other sports(men) are side tracked/ignored.

Act I

Characters:  Four squirrels, I and God as Judge
Scene: A garden.  Judge is seated in the shade of a huge tree.  Other plaintiffs and lawyers are seen in the vicinity.  It is now the hearing for my case.

Squirrel I comes forward.  Bows down to the august Judge and clasps his hand in his characteristic 'नमस्ते'.  God acknowledges his presence by a nod of His head.  He goes on to present his case:

O lord Almighty, it is with your blessings that we have lived in the slope garden near route 40 many years for many generations.  Abounding in trees this place gives us ample shelter and food.  As you know, we search for food in the surrounding few yards.  There is enough for us to thrive.  Recently we came across a bird feeder in one of the patios on the ground floor, but this lady, right here (he looks at me scornfully at this time) does not let us eat from there.  And when I observe from tree tops, nor does she eat from there.  My Lord, I think she is being very mean by depriving us of our food.

God:  I see.  (He asks me) Now what do you have to say?

I step forward, bow down to Him and clear my throat.

I : My Lord, it was last year that we came to live in this beautiful place and since then have been getting multiple bird feeders and suets so that many different types of birds come to our backyard.  But I notice that these four squirrels, because of their presence near the feeders frighten away many of the birds.  Not only that; sometimes they behave like rowdies, they fight with each other, they push down the pole on which are the feeders and dig the flowerpots.  These things irritate me to the core.  I say, if they cannot eat without disturbing other things, they don't have to eat at all.

God gives a smile.  He turns to the squirrel and says:  She was a teacher.  This was what she was doing in the school where she was, before coming here - bullying the students and expecting 'discipline' from them.

I interrupt:  God!! How can you say this about me.  Haven't you yourself said. आचार्यदेवो भव! How can you talk this way about my noble profession!

God: That's true.  Teaching is indeed a very noble profession, but how many teachers are 'noble'?  For that matter why do you have to show your greatness on these poor animals!  Don't you know that they are just going by their instinct, given by Me.  To dig and bury seeds is their nature, and by that how many trees have grown, what a great help that is to the plant kingdom.  This is their way of giving back to प्रकृति .  Tell me another thing, why do you have to keep feeders in your patio if you do not like these unwelcome visitors.

I:  Exactly, these are indeed unwelcome visitors.  Moreover it was his idea and not mine to keep these bird feeders.  How can I remain a mute spectator when these little rascals wreak havoc in our patio?  (I sulk and put my head down, not having the courage to look into His powerful eyes)

Seeing me silent, God turns to the squirrels

God:  Now you heard her side of the story.  Tell me, why you creatures have to fight there itself?  Are there not many beautiful shrubberies where you can play to your hearts content without any interference.

All squirrels put their head down in shame.  Squirrel III comes forward.

Squirrel III:  lord our Master, I have a complaint, not about this lady but about one of us.  These two squirrels right here I and II are very dominating.  They don't let me and my wife to eat anything from the feeders.  Actually these people have scattered grains all over their patio and also on the grass, but these two fatsos don't let us even come near any of them.  They want to monopolize all the places.  And that's not fair!  If they are in any one place, we respectfully avoid that place and go to the adjacent area, but these greedy guys ensure we are out.  That's why we end up running all around the place and at times pushing down a pot or two.  

He says this in a small voice and looks at me through the corner of the eye.
With a look of  'See I told you these are not angels' I turn to God to see what his reaction would be.

God:  Alright.  Pushing down pots is definitely a 'No'.  How can you displace baby plants in their pots.  You all have to be careful about that in future.  You wish to benefit from the feeders so you have to make sure that at no time do you disturb the plants in the patio.  Also you all have to be united and make sure everyone eats to their fill.  And make sure you don't  monopolize the feeders the whole time.  Have some sort of time-share.

All squirrels in chorus:  Yes my Lord.

God raises his hand in अभय.  All salute Him and leave the room.