When You Have No Suitable Retort

“’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

“Listen, I hate to bring up politics or politicians.  I wish them well.  All of them; I truly mean it.  I think most of them are simply hired representatives of different organized crime groups.  You have the casino mafia.  You have the legal drug cartel, in the pharmaceutical companies.  You have people who want less government.  You have people who want more government.  I respect that there are leaders willing to take the risk, to be out in public, to withstand the scrutiny.  I am not one to focus too much on this politician or that, but something occurred recently which really ticked me off.

“You had one particular leader publicly bemoaning the fact that his wife follows a different religion.  He hopes that one day she will come over to his side, to convert to his religion.  It was so insulting, that I felt like cursing in response.  It is not the religion aspect, either.  That is not what bothers me.  It is this idea of dogmatic insistence.  This idea that my God is the only one; all others are false.  Indeed, everyone else is worshiping a false God.  That is the claim, anyway.  At least that is what they are implying.

“The thing is, if you want to start playing that game, you better know what you are talking about.  Religion does not have to be based on preference, sentiment, or insistence.  There can and should be an arena of ideas.  You know, where we sit down and compare notes.  What I believe in.  What you believe in.  What I study.  What you are supposed to be knowledgeable in.

“You say that I worship false gods.  Meanwhile, those deities happen to explain the following concepts, at length:  identity, non-identity, action and consequence, the timing of the delivery of results, and the individual who is above the entire process.  Those are just the higher level topics.  The same deities explain health, chemistry, biology, the planets, psychology, military strategy, and even childrearing.  There is the appropriate comparison to a tree, with its many leaves and ever-ripe fruits.

“I have all of this information on my side.  I am encouraged to ask questions, to contemplate, to deliberate, and to reach an appropriate conclusion.  Meanwhile, the people desperate to convert me to their side have no equivalent base of knowledge.  They have nothing except threats.  I better submit or I will be forever condemned.  Just why, exactly?  They have no idea, in fact.

“Making matters worse, most of these people insisting have a checkered past, to put it mildly.  They only found religion after dealing with drug and alcohol addiction.  You would think they might carry some humility.  They might be quiet in front of people who never fell into the depths of depravity.  But nope.  Not these people.  They are the absolute worst, if you ask me.  If ever there were an honest debate on this issue, they would run away, with their tail between their legs.  They would then insist on the very censorship that they supposedly stand against.”

It may be difficult to believe, but this issue has been going on since the beginning of time.  We find something much worse in the kingdom of the Daityas, as described in the Puranas.  At least in the modern day the insistence does not usually carry accompanying violence.  The words are stinging, but the difference in religion is tolerated.  In some countries, the founding documents expressly provide for the free practice of religion.  This means that the government cannot interfere.  A government official can encourage, with derisive words, but they cannot apply force.

Imagine, then, the situation of Prahlada Maharaja.  He was only five years of age.  He did not mention a religion, necessarily.  He simply asked his father to take stock of the world around him, the place of the human beings within that world, and the meaning to it all.  Prahlada asked the father to consider the source of strength.  Prahlada pointed out that human life is meant for moving closer to the destination of Vishnu.  This is one way to describe God.  He is a person.  He has names.  These names are due to qualities, attributes, movements, and characteristics.  This Vishnu is for everyone.  He is not the exclusive property of any single group.  He is not manifest only within a specific period of time.

Prahlada could back up his claims.  Prahlada could speak on and on about Vishnu.  Prahlada saw Vishnu everywhere.  The Sanskrit word is sarvatra.  If there is a God, He must be all-pervading.  He must be present in every single space.  He must have the capacity to witness and remember.  Otherwise, God would be deficient.  If He is deficient, then He cannot be God.

Prahlada’s father thought a different way.  Hiranyakashipu followed the religion of the Daityas, which were a class of asuras.  Their worldview is nicely summarized in Bhagavad-gita.  The asura thinks that this life is the beginning and end of everything.  People are nothing more than a collection of chemicals.  That collection comes together randomly.  The goal is to therefore enjoy this specific set of chemicals for as long as possible.  No need to worry about the afterlife.  No need to contemplate the beginning.  Certainly, no need to think of a higher being, who might be in charge of everything.

असत्यम् अप्रतिष्ठं ते
जगद् आहुर् अनीश्वरम्
अपरस्पर-सम्भूतं
किम् अन्यत् काम-हैतुकम्

asatyam apratiṣṭhaṁ te
jagad āhur anīśvaram
aparaspara-sambhūtaṁ
kim anyat kāma-haitukam

“They say that this world is unreal, that there is no foundation and that there is no God in control. It is produced of sex desire, and has no cause other than lust.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 16.8)

When juxtaposed with the words of wisdom from Prahlada, this philosophy falls flat.  It would be laughed out of any gathering of wise individuals.  It is for this reason that Hiranyakashipu resorted to threats.  There was mocking, as well.  After all of the violent attempts to silence Prahlada did not work, Hiranyakashipu laughed at the concept of an all-pervading Vishnu.  He essentially made fun of the son for worshiping a false god.  There was one final chance.  Rather than settle for conversion, the father wanted elimination.  If this sarvatra person did not instantly prove His existence from a nearby pillar, then the heretic who was Prahlada would be divided into two pieces by a sword.  Alas, that God was anything but false.  That God was real and had perfect memory.  That God remembered the unjustifiable interference of Hiranyakashipu against the innocent Prahlada.  That interference had to be punished.  For Vishnu as Narasimha, there was no force that could get in the way of the delivery of justice.

In Closing:

Time now to pay,
For more than words to say.

That violence reprehensible,
Turning father contemptible.

Such that Vishnu personally to appear,
And interference to clear.

Prahlada describing for all,
The Supreme as Vishnu to call.