“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

“Let me ask you something. Do you not notice a glaring contradiction in the criticism from Hiranyakashipu directed towards his son? This is the leader of the Daityas we are talking about. You know, the one infamous from Vedic texts like Bhagavata Purana and Vishnu Purana. There is a section in Narasimha Purana which describes a threat of peer pressure. It is in potential, only; the pressure has yet to occur.

“The father cannot believe that his son is worshiping Vishnu. Surprisingly, the son knows what he is doing. It is not like someone left a random phone number on the wall of the boy’s bathroom in school. Prahlada was saying the name of Vishnu, the name of Krishna, and drawing the sign of a chakra. Prahlada was explaining how Vishnu is the source of everything and how all of mankind should worship Him. In other words, Prahlada was explaining the concept of God to his father.

“Hiranyakashipu is more or less flabbergasted. Of all people, his own son should know the position of the family. Hiranyakashipu is at the top. There is no one above him. The son should not be submitting to lower beings. The father compares it to a cat praising a mouse or a peacock offering prayers to a snake. These things just do not happen. The law of the jungle prevails. It is the law of nature that the weak get dominated by the strong. It is something like the food chain, knowledge of which was passed forward long ago in Vedic literature, well before modern science stumbled upon the same principle, through their observation and experiment, which is always flawed.”

अहस्तानि सहस्तानाम्
अपदानि चतुष्-पदाम्
फल्गूनि तत्र महतां
जीवो जीवस्य जीवनम्

ahastāni sahastānām
apadāni catuṣ-padām
phalgūni tatra mahatāṁ
jīvo jīvasya jīvanam

“Those who are devoid of hands are prey for those who have hands; those devoid of legs are prey for the four-legged. The weak are the subsistence of the strong, and the general rule holds that one living being is food for another.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 1.13.47)

“Okay, I get it that Hiranyakashipu is a Daitya. He is an atheist both by birth and in spirit. He holds a grudge against Vishnu, for the killing of the demon named Hiranyaksha. Hiranyakashipu is intent on overthrowing Vishnu; as if that could ever be done. The problem I have is that the very same father was once praising the gods. He was also offering nice prayers. There was stuti directed at the person known as Suresha.

“Did Hiranyakashipu later suffer from amnesia? How can he criticize Prahlada for offering worship in the same manner? It does not make sense. The father painted a vision of schoolchildren making fun of Prahlada, thinking that the boy had gone mad. But wouldn’t the sane person make fun of the father? How could Hiranyakashipu proclaim himself to be above worship when it was his very worship of Lord Brahma, the creator, that facilitated the ascension to world domination?”

ततो जगाम भगवानमोघानुग्रहो विभु:
पूजितोऽसुरवर्येण स्तूयमान: प्रजेश्वरै:

tato jagāma bhagavān
amoghānugraho vibhuḥ
pūjito ’sura-varyeṇa
stūyamānaḥ prajeśvaraiḥ

“Then Lord Brahma, who awards infallible benedictions, departed, being worshiped by the best of the demons, Hiranyakashipu, and being praised by great sages and saintly persons.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.4.3)

This is the underlying fraud in the atheistic model. Not the one that childishly refuses to reconcile the innate intelligence embedded into nature. Not the one that is confused or has rejected the religion of the area due to bad experiences. The real atheist, hardened and true, who is against God, as a genuine asura, perpetuates the fraud that someone can be self-made or rise to the highest stature on their own.

We can think of it like someone who is attempting to climb the corporate ladder. In the beginning, they are a low-level employee. They must be nice to the bosses. They have to play by the rules in order to get promoted. Once they reach the top, they pretend as if they were always there. They feel as if they no longer have to show respect to anyone. Rather, everyone should respect them. They are no longer poor, you see. They no longer have to beg at the feet of others. Everyone in the organization looks up to them. Even better if the employees fear the leader.

If austerities are involved in supplicating a superior entity in the manner described above, we could say that the behavior falls into the mode of passion. There is some benefit involved. There is an expectation of reciprocation. Hiranyakashipu underwent tremendous austerities; enough to catch the attention of Lord Brahma. Hiranyakashipu was looking for something. He wanted a respectable position. Once he attained it, he forgot all about the previous reliance on a benefactor.

सत्कारमानपूजार्थं तपो दम्भेन चैव यत्
क्रियते तदिह प्रोक्तं राजसं चलमध्रुवम्

satkāra-māna-pūjārthaṁ
tapo dambhena caiva yat
kriyate tad iha proktaṁ
rājasaṁ calam adhruvam

“Those ostentatious penances and austerities which are performed in order to gain respect, honor and reverence are said to be in the mode of passion. They are neither stable nor permanent.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 17.18)

Someone like Prahlada never forgets. There is the saying that you should be nice to the people on the way up, since they are the same people you will meet on the way down. Hiranyakashipu foolishly believed he could never be brought down. He was protected by the boons of safety offered by Brahma, after all. Prahlada understood the reality. No one is superior to Vishnu. No one should ever feel they have conquered the world. All living entities are rightly positioned, in their eternal dharma, when offering prayers to Vishnu out of appreciation, out of love, and without any expectation of reward.

In Closing:

Recall not previously to do?
Supplicating superior who.

When set in austerity’s task,
Against Lord Brahma to ask.

Now seemingly to forget,
Over son’s words to fret.

That describing Vishnu as highest one,
And not for personal favor won.

Categories: questions, supplicating the inferior

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, poem, poems, poetry, prahlada, religion, wealth