“Although Prahlada is only five years old, even at this young age he has given up his affectionate relationship with his father and mother. Therefore, he is certainly untrustworthy. Indeed, it is not at all believable that he will behave well toward Vishnu.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.5.36)

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विष्णोर् वा साध्व् असौ किं नु
करिष्यत्य् असमञ्जसः
सौहृदं दुस्त्यजं पित्रोर्
अहाद् यः पञ्च-हायनः

viṣṇor vā sādhv asau kiṁ nu
kariṣyaty asamañjasaḥ
sauhṛdaṁ dustyajaṁ pitror
ahād yaḥ pañca-hāyanaḥ

“Listen, I don’t blame parents for falling into the trap. They are new to the game, are they not? It is not like they can ask their own parents about the same experience. That is because things were done differently twenty and thirty years ago. Parents were not as frantic. They were not as eager to be prepared for every little change. They did not anxiously await reaching every little milestone. They let life happen. They adapted to the needs, based on the progress they witnessed. It is obviously different today. The fraudulent medical establishment is not helping matters, either.

“And yes, I have no shame in calling them frauds. I cannot express this sentiment in general conversation, since people will look at me funny, but my assessment is based on observation and experience. One manifestation of the fraud is this rush to compare the newborn’s height and weight to other children. How many times have you heard a proud parent say that their child is in the ninetieth percentile of height or weight? This is actually a meaningless number. If your child is growing today, it might slow down later on. If your child is shorter today, they might hit a growth spurt next year. I mean there were some people I graduated high school with who grew at least six inches in their first year of college.

“The whole thing is nonsense, if you ask me. It is a way for the pediatricians to make themselves look important. Hello, how about you get to work when there is an actual problem? Stop making trouble when there isn’t any. When the parents come back to you later on and say that their child hasn’t been the same since the last round of poison injections that you basically forced upon them, maybe try listening to them? Maybe start with believing the parents!

“Anyway, I don’t want to turn this into a tirade against the medical establishment. I was just thinking how it is natural for parents to be proud. They like it when their child show signs of maturity, when they do things prior to the expected time. In the case of the Daitya leader named Hiranyakashipu, why wasn’t there appreciation for the intelligence in Prahlada? You would have to admit that the words the boy was speaking were not ordinary. If comparing to today’s model, Prahlada would be like in the ninety-ninth percentile of intelligence. Why didn’t the father take that as a positive? Shouldn’t he have been a little proud?”

Consider a prison environment. The child in this sense is one of the inmates. The father happens to be the leader of the prison. The child can do anything that he wants, provided he remains within the confines. He is not allowed to leave. The father himself is the one suffering the most, in the condition described by the Sanskrit word ajitendriyah. It is akin to the sense urges poking at him, from morning until night.

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)

There is a common thread in the material world of envy, and it tends to focus on possessions. In the modern day, there is a corresponding metric: net worth. I am envious of someone else because they have a higher net worth. Their investments are doing better than mine. They earn a higher salary. They do not work as many hours. They can purchase whatever vehicle they like. They live on a large property. They are not embarrassed by their surroundings.

“In the conditional state, every living being is envious of another living being, but in the liberated state there is an absence of animosity. Prahlada Maharaja was tortured by his father in so many ways, yet after the death of his father he prayed for his father’s liberation by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He did not ask any benediction that he might have asked, but he prayed that his atheistic father might be liberated. He never cursed any of the persons who engaged in torturing him at the instigation of his father.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 3.14.46 Purport)

For the intelligent person the only justifiable envy is in the measure of the impact of the senses. The highest net worth person might feel the need to eat, from morning until night. They attract women due to their influence and power, but this means that they are asked to perform in the physical sense, even when they are exhausted. There is an endless supply of intoxicants just waiting to be consumed. The supposedly wealthy person cannot sit still for five minutes. They have no peace, and as Shri Krishna rhetorically asks in Bhagavad-gita, how can there be happiness without peace?

नास्ति बुद्धिर् अयुक्तस्य
न चायुक्तस्य भावना
न चाभावयतः शान्तिर्
अशान्तस्य कुतः सुखम्

nāsti buddhir ayuktasya
na cāyuktasya bhāvanā
na cābhāvayataḥ śāntir
aśāntasya kutaḥ sukham

“One who is not in transcendental consciousness can have neither a controlled mind nor steady intelligence, without which there is no possibility of peace. And how can there be any happiness without peace?” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 2.66)

The intelligence shown by Prahlada was for escaping the prison. He was giving clues on how to get out. Hiranyakashipu could not allow that information to spread. If so, what would the leader have left? He would be a leader in name only. All of his subjects would be liberated. They would not have to wait until the end of life. Due to their steady connection to transcendence, they would fall in the jivan-mukta category.

“When the soul is situated in his original constitutional position of existence, he is said to be liberated. It is possible to engage in transcendental loving service to the Lord and become jivan-mukta, a liberated soul, even while in the material body.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Chaitanya Charitamrita, Adi 2.91-92 Purport)

Instead, Hiranyakashipu had to reach for every excuse he could find to go against his own son. The father even speculated that Prahlada would not be a good devotee to Vishnu, who was supposedly the object of worship for the son. This is because Prahlada was going against his own father. Of course, Prahlada was only wishing well. He wishes well to everyone, in fact. He does not draw distinctions between friend and enemy. This is the way of saintly people, who are supported in their devotion by Vishnu Himself.

In Closing:

Even against Vishnu to bet,
In viewing Prahlada as threat.

Father the persistence perturbing,
Intelligence in son disturbing.

Due to ajitendriyah affliction,
Like to sense urges addiction.

Devotee kindly the way out giving,
Liberated no more in prison living.

Categories: questions

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, parenting, poem, poems, poetry, prahlada