Appearance of Prahlad Maharaj

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Two
Evening class, 24 March 2021, part 6
Translated from Bengali

So, by the time Hiranyakasipu was getting his boon, there was another event that took place in the meantime. When Hiranyakasipu left his house to meditate on Lord Brahma, his wife Kayadhu stayed at home (Hiranyakasipu's palace), but at that time all the demigods, encouraged by their guru Brihaspati, came to the palace and destroyed the whole place breaking everything into pieces. They were angry thinking, "This demon has tortured us so much! It is very good he has left!" So, they crushed the palace and took Hiranyakasipu's wife Kayadhu with them to kill her later. They knew that Kayadhu was pregnant at that time, so, fearing that her child would be a demon too and would disturb them even more, they decided to kill her. Even the demigods can have such crazy ideas.

You have seen the image of 'Mother' Kali—she wears a garland of heads, her husband lies under her foot (he is lying down and she is keeping her leg on him), and she stands naked. Many worship this kind of 'raksasi' deities. It is said in the scriptures also that demons worship such demigods. If you meet such worshippers on the street, they will kill you. All this Kali-puja, Durga-puja is the worship of demons.

So, as the demigods were taking Kayadhu away while Hiranyakasipu was meditating in the forest, by the will of the Lord, Narad Goswami suddenly appeared in front of the demigods and said,

"What is going on? Where are you taking her?"

The demigods replied, "Do you not recognise who she is?"

"Yes, she is Hiranyakasipu's wife Kayadhu. Where are you taking her?"

"Prabhu, she has a child in her womb. We will kill her, then the child will die too."

"You are thinking wrong. Give up this nonsense. This son of Hiranyakasipu will protect you in the future—he will give you all relief in the future. So, do not harm her, better you let Kayadhu go with me. I will take care of her."

In this way, Kayadhu went to the ashram of Narad Muni. She would wash the dishes and make garlands there. She would also listen to Hari-katha, and Prahlad Maharaj would hear it too from the womb of his mother (everything that he learnt from his mother's womb can now be found here in Srimad Bhagavatam). Narad was very pleased with her, so one day he asked her, "Kayadhu, I am very happy with your service, you are doing so much although you have a child in your womb. Tell me, what boon would you like to get from me?" Kayadhu said, "Prabhu, my husband is a demon (although he is a demon, but he is my husband), he has left, but I want him to come back, so please give me a boon that my son would not be born until he returns." Narad Muni agreed and gave her this boon.

Then, Hiranyakasipu returned full of power and vanity thinking, "Nobody can kill me! I am the most powerful in the world! There is nobody as powerful as I am in this world! I can destroy anyone!" He did so many atrocious things!

By and by, his son was born, and as he grew up a little, he was sent to the school of Hiranyakasipu's teacher named Sukracharya. Sukracharya had two sons named Sanda and Amarka, and Hiranyakasipu sent Prahlad Maharaj to study together with them. What was he taught there? All the demoniac subjects—sama, dana, danda, bheda (how to pacify, give money in charity, punish, and divide). Prahlad Maharaj was told about all the demoniac qualities there—how to fight, how to win, etc...

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