“Prahlada Maharaja said: My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength. Whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior, everyone, including Lord Brahma, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.8.7)

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श्री-प्रह्राद उवाच
न केवलं मे भवतश् च राजन्
स वै बलं बलिनां चापरेषाम्
परे ’वरे ’मी स्थिर-जङ्गमा ये
ब्रह्मादयो येन वशं प्रणीताः

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
na kevalaṁ me bhavataś ca rājan
sa vai balaṁ balināṁ cāpareṣām
pare ’vare ’mī sthira-jaṅgamā ye
brahmādayo yena vaśaṁ praṇītāḥ

“The depiction is not as common today as it used to be. I think every television sitcom involving children featured at least one character like this. For today, I have given up all hope. No one has manners. No one behaves properly. No one even thinks to employ tactics, such that they would be described as clever. They just yell and scream until they get what they want. The parents created this mess, as they are standing by, ready to attend to every need of the child.

“The situation of which I speak is a child behaving duplicitously with an adult. In television, it is usually one of the friends of the main character. This friend is devious. They always seem to get into trouble. But when they face an adult, they put on an act. They carry themselves with restraint and obedience. They flatter the adult to the point that others cannot help but laugh. No one really buys the act, but it is funny to watch.

“I bring this up because couldn’t Prahlada Maharaja be accused of behaving in the same way? Just from a different angle of vision, which does not jump at the chance to worship or appreciate. Yes, we know Prahlada is only five years old. We understand that he withstood the worst kind of torture from his father, King Hiranyakashipu. We acknowledge that the justification for the violence was worship of Vishnu. As in, Prahlada kept worshiping, despite repeated threats to desist. He was a rebel who never really coveted the role.

“But what if Prahlada stepped back a little? What if he wasn’t so insistent? What if he didn’t present such a picture of innocence? Couldn’t he be accused of taunting the father? Take, for instance, the explanation on the source of strength. Why did Prahlada have to bring that up? If the father didn’t want to believe in God, just leave him alone. If the father thought that he was self-made, that his strength was his own, why did Prahlada have to throw cold water on the idea?

“Do you get what I am saying? No child deserves to be tortured in that way, but doesn’t Prahlada come off as smug? Just a little? Was he really all that innocent? Just what was to be gained by trying to instruct someone so inimical on the ways of the science of self-realization?”

We should keep in mind that the teaching about the source of strength was in response to a question. Granted, the father was probably not looking for an answer. Hiranyakashipu was boiling with rage. It is not like he was ready to sit down and take notes. Just in case Prahlada had someone protecting him, if there was some magical spell that was called upon, the father wanted to know. Prahlada had the chance to come clean.

Otherwise, how to explain surviving being attacked with pointed weapons? It is not like Prahlada fought back. The child did not fight, at all. Somehow, he survived being with venomous snakes. He escaped from a blazing fire, while Hiranyakashipu’s sister, Holika, did not. Prahlada could not be trampled to death by elephants. Prahlada survived being thrown off a cliff. None of this was normal. None of this was expected. There was something special to Prahlada. Just what was it?

Prahlada responded by revealing that the source of strength is the same in everyone. Hiranyakashipu was in a position of power. He was in command of the kingdom of the Daityas. Hiranyakashipu had authority. This is a kind of strength. That strength also was not ordinary. Otherwise, anyone could have fought against Hiranyakashipu and taken over the kingdom. The father was strong in defense, which is not surprising. This is because Hiranyakashipu requested such protection, in begging from a benefactor.

नान्तर्बहिर्दिवा नक्तमन्यस्मादपि चायुधै:
न भूमौ नाम्बरे मृत्युर्न नरैर्न मृगैरपि

nāntar bahir divā naktam
anyasmād api cāyudhaiḥ
na bhūmau nāmbare mṛtyur
na narair na mṛgair api

“Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.” (Hiranyakashipu praying to Lord Brahma, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.3.36)

There was no taunting involved. Prahlada was truly wishing well for the father. The reveal about the source of strength was not meant to trigger a ferocious response. Rather, it is a warning. Since the strength has an external source, there is no guarantee that the source will always be available. In other words, there is a sanctioning body. That sanction must be there for the result to manifest. There is no other way. Only the fool thinks they have complete control over outcomes.

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि
गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः
अहङ्कार-विमूढात्मा
कर्ताहम् इति मन्यते

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.27)

Indeed, the continued survival of Prahlada was the first indication of the limitation of self-made strength. Prahlada was the living proof of the folly of thinking there is no God. The second indication would not be pretty. Hiranyakashipu would soon learn that the source of strength could bypass any protections that the Daitya leader may have received. Hiranyakashipu was counting on that protection. Prahlada knew that protection had conditions. Prahlada wanted to avoid the unthinkable for his father. His father was in no mood to listen. Only someone who knows the true source of strength keeps their behavior within the bounds of propriety. If they think they are self-made, they are more vulnerable to crossing the line. This was the case with Hiranyakashipu.

In Closing:

At risk of crossing the line,
In kingdom of Daityas to find.

Where ignorant source of strength,
Despite instructed at length.

From son his own,
Who should have left alone.

But the warning in compassion based,
As soon those protections erased.

Categories: questions

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