Start With The Gross

By krishnasmercy on April 28, 2025 • ( 0 )

“Others will also ridicule and scorn saying, ‘This child is an asura but prays to the gods. It is like a cat offering prayers to a mouse or a peacock to a snake.’ This is indeed a bad omen, behavior resembling an enemy, as even after obtaining great wealth and power, an unintelligent person can fall down.” (Hiranyakashipu speaking to Prahlada, Narasimha Purana, 41.59-60)

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अन्येपि त्वां हनिष्यन्ति वदिष्यन्ति जनास्त्विदम्
असुरोयं सुरांस्तौति मार्जार इव मूषकान्
द्वेष्यान् शिखीव फणिनो दुर्निमित्तमिदं ध्रुवम्
लब्ध्वापि महदैश्वर्यं लाघवं यान्त्यबुद्धयः

anyepi tvāṃ haniṣyanti vadiṣyanti janāstvidam
asuroyaṃ surāṃstauti mārjāra iva mūṣakān
dveṣyān śikhīva phaṇino durnimittamidaṃ dhruvam
labdhvāpi mahadaiśvaryaṃ lāghavaṃ yāntyabuddhayaḥ

“Is there a mechanical way towards transcendence? Something of the variety where if you reach a certain physical benchmark, you are guaranteed to reach the best destination? For instance, in professional sports they have automatic points of entry based on the metrics. Win a certain number of titles. Run a specific distance under a certain time. Reach a specific milestone in order to be eligible for induction into a hall of fame.

“Is there something similar in spiritual life? I am obviously piggybacking off the tendency today to reach for pills. A pill for every ill, as they like to say. Go to the doctor with your problems. Have them prescribe a solution. If our ailment right now is lack of transcendence, is there some treatment we can apply to fix the issue? Is there a pill to make us realized in the self?”

This was the attempt of the Daitya leader named Hiranyakashipu. He tried to reach the heights of opulence and influence through austerity. He was successful, to a degree. His tapasya bore fruit. He was a believer in the system, at the time. He had nefarious motives at the foundation, but he did not think Lord Brahma was a mythological character. Hiranyakashipu had faith that intense austerities would succeed in grabbing the attention of the creator, who is also known as Vidhata.

Brahma took notice. Brahma was ready to offer boons, in return. The object of worship was not a miser. The object of worship was real. The austerities by the worshiper were recognized. Brahma was prepared to respond, in kind. The problem was that Hiranyakashipu wanted immortality. He wanted to retain the body/spirit combination forever. Stay exactly who he was, where he was, without any vulnerability to old age, defeat, the effects of time, and the like.

Brahma could not offer such immortality since he lacks it for himself. Hiranyakashipu was undeterred. The Daitya leader tried to work around the system. He asked for specific protections in order to assemble the same gift of immortality, but through modular units. We should remember that the initial pretense was austerity. In essence, Hiranyakashipu tried to achieve immortality through physical means.

Everything appeared to be working out. Hiranyakashipu received every boon he asked for. There was protection against all sorts of creatures, situations, weapons, and times of the day. Of course, there is always a small vulnerability to destruction. Even a small vulnerability is enough to nullify the entire proposal, but you have to be thinking straight in order to see it.

स इत्थं निर्जितककुबेकराड् विषयान् प्रियान्
यथोपजोषं भुञ्जानो नातृप्यदजितेन्द्रिय:

sa itthaṁ nirjita-kakub
eka-rāḍ viṣayān priyān
yathopajoṣaṁ bhuñjāno
nātṛpyad ajitendriyaḥ

“In spite of achieving the power to control in all directions and in spite of enjoying all types of dear sense gratification as much as possible, Hiranyakashipu was dissatisfied because instead of controlling his senses he remained their servant.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.4.19)

That was the whole problem; he wasn’t thinking straight. Shrimad Bhagavatam describes the condition as ajitendriyah. This compound Sanskrit word refers to someone who has been conquered by their senses. Hiranyakashipu thought he had conquered material nature, through the physical standing of the most feared ruler in the world. It was like he had planted a stake in the ground, which stood as sturdy as an immovable pillar.

A person well-versed in the spiritual science can spot the problem from a mile away. When on the proper footing of understanding, a person will not foolishly chase after something they already have: eternal life. Everyone is eternal. They have always been this way. No one can remove the property. No one can install it; as it is not something which exists separate from the individual.

न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्
नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः
अजो नित्यः शाश्वतो ऽयं पुराणो
न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे

na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin
nāyaṁ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ
ajo nityaḥ śāśvato ‘yaṁ purāṇo
na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre

“For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.20)

Hiranyakashipu’s attempt was to keep something fixed that inherently lacks endurance. The body does not identify the individual. To pursue permanence of the temporary body is foolish. Vedic teachings deal with the gross body first, and then the subtle body. Gain a proper understanding of the five gross elements and how they combine together in different ways to form what are known as species. Then understand that there is also a subtle body, consisting of three elements.

भूमिर् आपो ऽनलो वायुः
खं मनो बुद्धिर् एव च
अहङ्कार इतीयं मे
भिन्ना प्रकृतिर् अष्टधा

bhūmir āpo ‘nalo vāyuḥ
khaṁ mano buddhir eva ca
ahaṅkāra itīyaṁ me
bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā

“Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego – altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.4)

We can approach a doctor to deal with our physical issues. We might try to lose some weight through modifications in diet and exercise. We stay off of certain foods in order to fix a temporary condition. The doctor might surgically intervene to fix an internal misalignment. There are similar interventions available to treat some mental conditions, if we want to experiment in that direction.

The underlying problem cannot be solved through any artificial means, however. The underlying problem is ajitendriyah. This was visible in the egregious sense through the paranoia of Hiranyakashipu. He tried to reach a heightened position through physical efforts, but he was unsuccessful. His failure was evident in the inability to tolerate the allegiance shown in a five-year old child.

This child was the very son to Hiranyakashipu. This child was showing favoritism to Vishnu. The child had both sentiment and knowledge. He could support his decision with sound reasoning and logic. Except Hiranyakashipu would not hear any of it. The father was so disturbed, so defeated by the ajitendriyah condition, that he tried to shame Prahlada out of the allegiance. The father attempted to employ fear from the pressure of peers. What would the other children in school think? They would say that Prahlada had gone mad, like a cat suddenly thinking the mouse was worthy of praise or the peacock living in fear of the snake.

Prahlada was five years of age, with few physical resources at his disposal. His strength was the connection to Vishnu, and that connection was enough to ward off the ajitendriyah condition plaguing the father. Rather, Prahlada was jitendriyah, because his senses were dedicated to the master of all senses, Hrishikesha. This is, in fact, the only permanent solution to the issue of uncontrolled senses.