Prahlad Maharaj's Prayer

His Divine Grace Om Vishnupad
Srila Bhakti Nirmal Acharya Maharaj
Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama, Day Two
Evening class, 24 March 2021, part 9
Translated from Bengali

...When Nrisinghadev appeared, He sat on the throne of Hiranyakasipu, and He roared so fiercely that all the demigods trembled out of fear! Even Laksmi Devi shivered to hear the Lord's cry. Demigods came to Laksmi Devi and asked her to go to the Lord and pacify Him, but Laksmi Devi said, "Do you think I am mad? I serve Narayan when He is always peaceful. I have never seen Him in this state!"

When there was a great fight between Nrisinghadev and Hiranyakasipu, at some point Lord Nrisinghadev let Hiranyakasipu go, and, seeing this, all the demigods gasped, "What if the Lord loses? What if Hiranyakasipu wins?!" Even the demigods shivered with fear seeing their battle. Then, the Lord decided not to waste any more time—when Hiranyakasipu hit Lord Nrisinghadev, the Lord pulled Hiranyakasipu up (the Lord carries the whole universe—all the fourteen worlds—so to lift this demon was nothing for Him!), and, placing him on His lap, He tore the demon's chest and stomach with His nails and put his intestines on His neck! Seeing this pastime, everyone shivered with fear and did not want to come close, so finally Prahlad Maharaj came to the Lord. Seeing His devotee, the Lord became peaceful.

Prahlad Maharaj offered a prostrate obeisance to the Lord, and the Lord then took Prahlad Maharaj and seated him on His lap. After that, there was the conversation I have told you about earlier (when the Lord offered a boon to Prahlad Maharaj).

[Clamour in the audience.] It is said in the scriptures that if jiva souls cannot control their senses (five karmendriya—feet, hands, rectum, genitals, mouth; five jnanendriya—eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin), they are striving so hard, but all their effort will merely take them to hell. Yet those who are wise and prudent (who have some intelligence) can attain the mercy of the Lord without any effort. It is said in Srimad Bhagavad-gita also,

patram puspam phalam toyam, yo me bhaktya prayachchhati
tad aham bhakty-upahrtam, asnami prayatatmanah

"If one offers Me with devotion a leaf, flower, fruit or water, I affectionately accept that offering of the clean hearted devotee."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 9.26)

"If a devotee worships Me with a leaf, a flower, some water or fruit with selfless devotion, I lovingly accept all these items offered to Me with devotion."

So, when the Lord defeated Hiranyakasipu and threw his body away, He took Prahlad Maharaj on His lap and petted him affectionately. Then, the Lord asked His devotee, "Prahlad, what boon would you like to receive?" Prahlad Maharaj replied, "What can I want, Prabhu? You have treated me in a way that You have never treated even Lord Brahma, Lord Siva, or Lord Indra, what more can I possible want? If You must give me something, then please liberate my father who has done so much wrong in his life." The Lord said, "This has already happened long ago! I automatically grant liberation to those who chant My glories (kirtan), who take the darshan of My Deity, and so on, and your father has actually touched Me when he hit Me, so he already attained the Lord a long time ago—he left this body and his soul has got the supreme benefit." I have told you before that if some inimical person always thinks about the Lord—even if these thoughts are about how to kill the Lord, how to harm the Lord—even they get liberation (sayujya-mukti, merging into the impersonal aspect of the Lord, Brahman).

There is a sloka in Srimad Bhagavatam that says that we always worry about the happiness of this body and everything that is related to it (wife, house, wealth, children, relatives, friends, etc.), but this body will be reduced to stool one day—yet we always worry about nice food, nice place to sleep in, nice clothes to wear, and so on. As long as we are situated in this body, we will think that our wife, friends, family, etc. are very dear to us, but as soon as this body is destroyed, there will no longer be any relation to all this paraphernalia of the body (friends, family, and other attachments). Once you die, everything comes to an end. Prahlad Maharaj spoke about all these things. Srimad Bhagavad-gita says,

তদ্­বিদ্ধি প্রণিপাতেন পরিপ্রশ্নেন সেবয়া ।
উপদেক্ষ্যন্তি তে জ্ঞানং জ্ঞানিনস্তত্ত্বদর্শিনঃ ॥

tad viddhi pranipatena, pariprasnena sevaya
upadeksyanti te jnanam, jnaninas tattva-darsinah

"You will be able to attain knowledge by satisfying the divine master with submission, relevant inquiry, and sincere service. The enlightened souls who are learned in scriptural knowledge and endowed with direct realisation of the Supreme Absolute Truth will impart divine knowledge to you."

(Srimad Bhagavad-gita, 4.34)

Do you know what Prahlad Maharaj taught his schoolmates? He told them, "Dear friends, sons of demons, just as you love yourself, just as you always take care of yourself, you must serve and try to please Him who is present within all jiva souls." However, the more Prahlad Maharaj spoke about the glories of the Lord, the angrier the demons became. Hiranyakasipu became so angry that he even decided to kill his own son.

So, Prahlad Maharaj's request to grant liberation to his father was not accepted, so he finally took one boon from Lord Nrisinghadev. He asked the Lord, "Prabhu, if You must give me some boon, then please give me this boon—make it so that I may never want anything from You. I do not wish to have any asking mentality." In this world, we always want something—we even come to our guru because we want something in return. Somebody comes and says, "Gurudev, give me a temple. I will become the king (president) of the temple." Somebody writes letters saying, "Gurudev, if you leave, what will become of us? You have not made a temple in our area!" Disciples come up with all these desires—somebody wants money, somebody wants a house, somebody wants a car, etc. But what did Prahlad Maharaj ask the Lord for? "Make so that I may not ask You for anything—so that I may have no asking mentality. Please remove this mentality from me." We must learn this. Therefore, I am begging you for your blessing that I may never want anything from Guru and Vaishnavs...

This is what Prahlad Maharaj asked the Lord for. And how did he pacify the Lord? Not only just by coming in front of Him. He said (SB, 7.9.27), "My Lord, unlike an ordinary living entity, You do not discriminate between friends and enemies, the favourable and the unfavourable, because for You there is no conception of higher and lower. Nonetheless, You offer Your benedictions according to the level of one's service, exactly as a desire tree delivers fruits according to one's desires and makes no distinction between the lower and the higher." One gets a blessing according to their service. Always remember this. Prahlad Maharaj said, "You never give more or less to anyone, but You always reward one with Your blessing according to their service. Everyone does not get the same kind of blessing or benediction from the Lord. I know that." He also says (SB, 7.9.26), "O my Lord, O Supreme, I am a resident of hell because I was born in a family full of the hellish material qualities of passion and ignorance. What is my position? Who am I? And what is to be said of Your causeless mercy, which was never offered even to Lord Brahma, Lord Siva or the goddess of fortune, Laksmi? You never put Your lotus hand upon their heads, but You have put it upon mine!"

Therefore, it is necessary to become a devotee. How does one become a devotee? "Bhaktis tu bhagavad-bhakta-sangena parijayate (ভক্তিস্তু ভগবদ্ভক্তসঙ্গেন পরিজায়তে, Brhan-naradiya Purana)—you can get devotion through the association of devotees." If you serve devotees, if you associate with devotees, then their qualities will come to you. Therefore, you must always associate with devotees, then you will develop devotional qualities. That is why, we always want devotees' association—we always hanker for the footdust of devotees. There is no other way except for the footdust of the Lord's devotees. "I am your dog!"—we must think in this way.

[His Divine Grace chants "Sarvasva tomara" followed by 'Hari Haraye Nama Krsna' and concludes the evening class.]

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukkura,
baliya janaha more [1]

I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.

We chant in the kirtan, "I am placing everything at your feet," but meanwhile we keep the key with ourselves. We must think what we chant and follow it...

sarvasva tomara, charane sapiya,
padechhi tomara ghare
tumi ta' thakura, tomara kukkura,
baliya janaha more [1]

I have offered everything at Your feet and taken shelter in Your home. You are my Master; please consider me Your dog.

bandhiya nikate, amare palibe,
rahiba tomara dvare
pratipa-janere, asite na diba,
rakhiba gadera pare [2]

You will tie me up nearby and maintain me. I will remain at Your doorstep. I will not allow any inimical persons to enter; I will keep them on the far side of Your moat.

I have just remembered something. One time, I was doing collection for Gaura Purnima (Sri Nabadwip Dham Parikrama) with a few devotees. That day some devotee let us stay in his house and suddenly he took up a piece of chopped wood and wanted to strike me saying, "I am not 'Prabhu'! I am a dog! You must call me 'dog'!" I did not say anything (I thought it was no use saying anything) and he did not hit me. I tolerated it. When you tolerate in this way, then the Lord arranges everything...

We chant in the kirtan, "You are my Lord, and I am your dog." If you call somebody a dog, what is the problem? If you walk on the street and somebody swears you, what is the problem? It does no harm to me. When somebody does this to you, it means they have some problem, that is why they do this. Hiranyakasipu's brother was killed, so he decided to kill the Lord and he even tried to kill his own son.

Anyhow, some days later that man came to the devotees and fell at their feet with tears in his eyes. I phoned the devotees later and asked them what had happened. They said he had come to them to ask for forgiveness and they told him that they had no power to give forgiveness to anyone, but Gurudev will forgive him. I told them that they did well...

tava nija-jana, prasada seviya,
uchchhista rakhibe yaha
amara bhojana, parama-anande,
prati-dina habe taha[3]

Whatever remnants Your devotees leave behind after hon-ouring Your prasad I will eat every day with great joy.

basiya suiya, tomara charana,
chintiba satata ami
nachite nachite, nikate yaiba,
yakhana dakibe tumi [4]

While sitting up or lying down, I will always think of Your feet. I will come to You whenever You call me, dancing all the way.

I will come when you call me—when the call comes, then no material bondage can hold you back. Those who have demoniac nature, they become slaves of illusory environment, and if you try to pull them out of this illusion, they only become angry, antagonistic, full of ego, etc.

nijera posana, kabhu na bhaviba,
rahiba bhavera bhare
bhakati-vinoda, tomare palaka,
baliya varana kare [5]

I will never think about my own maintenance; I will always remain within the shelter of loving attachment for You. Bhakti Vinod embraces You as his maintainer.

— : • : —

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