Suspicion Is Your Name

“’You said that He is indeed everywhere, so why can He not be seen in this pillar? If I do see that Vishnu right now in the middle of the pillar, then I will not kill you. Otherwise, you will be divided into two.’ Having seen (his father) in that way, Prahlada began to meditate on that Supreme Lord.” (Narasimha Purana, 44.10-11)

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त्वयोक्तं स हि सर्वत्र कस्मात् स्तम्भे न दृश्यते
यदि पश्यामि तं विष्णुम् अधुना स्तम्भमध्यगम्

तर्हि त्वां न वधिष्यामि भविष्यसि द्विधान्यथा
प्रह्लादो ऽपि तथा दृष्ट्वा दध्यौ तं परमेश्वरम्

tvayoktaṃ sa hi sarvatra kasmāt stambhe na dṛśyate
yadi paśyāmi taṃ viṣṇum adhunā stambhamadhyagam

tarhi tvāṃ na vadhiṣyāmi bhaviṣyasi dvidhānyathā
prahlādo ‘pi tathā dṛṣṭvā dadhyau taṃ parameśvaram

Something was up with this kid.  On the outside, he looked innocent enough.  But isn’t that true of them all?  Unless they are known to be a nuisance, crying, yelling, screaming, and causing a disturbance wherever they go, children give off an aura.  They are innocent.  They do not know better.  Since they are yet to be jaded by a world cruel, harsh, punishing, and selfish, they tend to share what they are feeling.  They are not as afraid of rejection.  With Prahlada, however, that openness revealed a preference that cut through the heart of the father like a knife.

Isn’t it a wonderful arrangement by nature?  When the human being most requires assistance, when they need the adults to step up and give attention, there is a corresponding visual.  The child looks the most innocent when they need someone to take an interest.  When oversight becomes necessary.  When there is a tendency to sit calmly and explain the particulars of life to someone who is just learning.  When talking about how we can’t always get what we want.  How we have to sometimes sit through periods of boredom.  How we have to share.  How not everyone can be happy all of the time.

Prahlada was a typical child in every way except one:  his words.  The message he presented to the father, which revealed the primary interest, was instruction that no one in the kingdom wanted to hear.  It is like they were living a lie.  Let not anyone openly declare that the emperor has no clothes.  Let not the lie be exposed, such that everyone would have to reassess their priorities and principles.  Just what were they doing every day?  Just what was the meaning to it all?

Prahlada had the answers.  The human existence should be utilized for a higher realization.  Though only five years old, without the assistance of an AI chatbot to generate fancy-looking infographics, Prahlada described a pie chart that depicted the time spent in the typical human birth.  One quadrant for sleeping.  Another for learning.  One section for playing.  Though long from becoming a father, he even gave insight into the thoughts that consume an adult.  The father thinks always about his family.  The daughter and sons are dear to the father. How can such affections ever be voluntarily renounced?

मुग्धस्य बाल्ये कैशोरे
क्रीडतो याति विंशतिः
जरया ग्रस्त-देहस्य
यात्य् अकल्पस्य विंशतिः

mugdhasya bālye kaiśore
krīḍato yāti viṁśatiḥ
jarayā grasta-dehasya
yāty akalpasya viṁśatiḥ

“In the tender age of childhood, when everyone is bewildered, one passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, engaged in sporting and playing, one passes another ten years. In this way, twenty years are wasted. Similarly, in old age, when one is an invalid, unable to perform even material activities, one passes another twenty years wastefully.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.6.7)

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with holding affection for friends and family, but the priority should always be getting out of the cycle of birth and death.  That can only take place when there are no lingering attachments at the moment of quitting the body.  This is what Prahlada wanted for his father.  This is what Prahlada wanted for his classmates, in the school of the guru within the kingdom of the Daityas.

Needless to say, Prahlada’s precociousness made him a suspect.  The father did not want to hear about the afterlife.  The father did not want to hear about anything other than the importance of ruling a kingdom and keeping the subjects in check.  The father’s ultimate pursuit was protection and preservation.  Like trying to keep a principal balance that has accumulated in a bank account.  Both the amount and the claim to it should remain intact.  Forever, if possible.

Prahlada knew better.  Nothing could be done to transform the temporary into permanent.  Because of his refusal to give in to the demands of the father, he remained a suspect.  He was proclaimed guilty from the accusation alone.  The sentence for that conviction was death.  Hiranyakashipu had others hand out the sentence.  The only problem is that the death never happened.  Prahlada showed himself to be something special beyond the realm of theory.  The practical display of perseverance was a sight to behold.

As was the ultimate reveal of the person behind that perseverance.  Hiranyakashipu had enough of the suspicion.  He gave the son one last chance.  If this Vishnu person actually existed, then He should surely be in the nearby pillar.  While holding the most powerful weapon, Hiranyakashipu vowed to lay off if Vishnu somehow showed Himself.  Otherwise, Prahlada would be split into two.  Alas, it was the wicked father who was to receive the fate promised for his son.  The suspicion was correct, but just in the wrong direction.  Prahlada was telling the truth.  The father should have listened.

In Closing:

Suspicion is your name,
Your obstinacy to blame.

For this imminent attack,
One last chance to turn back.

That if Vishnu in the pillar to show,
Then father finally to know.

Alas the child truth entire time telling,
Doom as Narasimha for leader spelling.