Sastra Caksusa

seeing through the eyes of scriptures

how and why did Prahlada Maharaja becomes a grhastha?


 


 
Text 1 Koti koti vadanah prapalakam Koti koti vadanah khalantakam koti koti vadanah Nrsimhakam koti koti vadanas to santu tam
Millions and millions of obaisences to the protector of the devotees.Millions and millions of obaisences to the killer of the demons! Millions and millions of obaisences to the Supreme Personality of Godhead! Millions and millions of obaisences to Lord Narasimha!
Text 2 Jayati Narahari-nakha kamala dalakah jayati Narahari mukha sasi vara ganah jayati Narahari-rava vara kala paro jayati Narahari karuna rasa varidhih
Glory to the lotus petals of Lord Nrsimhas claws!Glory to the moons of Lord Nrsimhas face!Glory to the music of Lord Nrsimhas roar!Glory to the nectar ocean of Lord Nrsimha's mercy
Text 3 Jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati jayati Nrharih
Glory, glory , glory, glory, glory, glory, glory , glory , glory glory , glory, glory, glory, glory, glory , glory , glory glory , glory to Lord Nrsimha
Text 4 Pradya puspam Narasimha paduke pranamaya murdhna Narasimha paduke prapathya stotram Narasimha paduke prayami raksam Narasimha paduke
Offering a flower, bowing my head , and reciting prayers, I take shelter of Lord Nrsimha's lotusfeet.
Text 5 Nrsimha he he Narasimha pahi mam Nrsimha Prahlada prapala pahi mam itiva rodimi muhur muhur muhuh Nrsimhadevam saranam prayamy aham
"Nrsimha, Nrisimha! Save me ! Nrsimha! O protector of Prahlada! Save me! Crying out again and again and again, I take shelter of Lord Nrsimha."

Please accept my humble obaisences
All glories to Srila Prabhupada 
  We read so many prayers by Sri Prahlada Maharaja of the danger of material desires.Some questions may be raised Hiranyakasipu was a demon still his son was the greatest devotee Prahlada Maharaja.Prahlada Maharajas son was Virocana ,who was a demon and ignorant in Atma Jnana , Virocana became the king of the demons later in the presence of Prahlada Maharaja this is mentioned in the Puranas and Chandogya Upanisad  mentions that Virocana and Indra went to see Lord Brahma to get Atma jnana , only Indra was able to understand he was a spirit soul and eternal servant of Krishna, but Virocana was happy to just identify with the body ( I recommend you read the Chandogya Upanisad,  though finding a bona fide copy will be hard ,former ISKCON sannyasi Rohini Kumara Swami was actually a learned scholar and translated it ,unfortunately it has never been made into a printed book in English with vaisnava commentaries mostly the mayavadis misinterpret it left and right ,kindly pray for his purification so that in a future life he can return to devotional service )   .Virocanas son was Bali Maharaja that was also a Mahajana   .
  So Prahlada Maharaja prays in the SB 5th Canto chapter 18 to not be entangled by family life and also in 7th canto prays : SB 7.10.7
yadi dāsyasi me kāmān
varāṁs tvaṁ varadarṣabha
kāmānāṁ hṛdy asaṁrohaṁ
bhavatas tu vṛṇe varam
Word for word: 
yadi — if; dāsyasi — want to give; me — me; kāmān — anything desirable; varān — as Your benediction; tvam — You; varada-ṛṣabha — O Supreme Personality of Godhead, who can give any benediction; kāmānām — of all desires for material happiness; hṛdi — within the core of my heart; asaṁroham — no growth; bhavataḥ — from You; tu — then; vṛṇe — I pray for; varam — such a benediction.
Translation: 
O my Lord, best of the givers of benediction, if You at all want to bestow a desirable benediction upon me, then I pray from Your Lordship that within the core of my heart there be no material desires.
 
Did Lord Narasimha cheat Prahlada Maharaja a neophyte will ask? No because Lord Narasimha had a plan with the children of Prahlada Maharaja ,I forgot how many children Prahlada Maharaja had I would have to go back to Srimad Bhagavatam or Visnu Purana to look it up but that is not the point here.Of course do not forget that many generations of Prahlada Maharajas family  went back to Godhead somehow because this was the promise of Lord Narasimha and certainly that would be so . 
 
 

SB 7.10.18

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
triḥ-saptabhiḥ pitā pūtaḥ
 pitṛbhiḥ saha te ’nagha
yat sādho ’sya kule jāto
 bhavān vai kula-pāvanaḥ
Word for word: 
śrī-bhagavān uvāca — the Supreme Personality of Godhead said; triḥ-saptabhiḥ — seven multiplied by three (that is to say, twenty-one); pitā — father; pūtaḥ — purified; pitṛbhiḥ — with your forefathers; saha — all together; te— your; anagha — O most sinless personality (Prahlāda Mahārāja); yat — because; sādho — O great saintly person; asya — of this person; kule — in the dynasty; jātaḥ — took birth; bhavān — you; vai — indeed; kula-pāvanaḥ — the purifier of the whole dynasty.
Translation: 
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: My dear Prahlāda, O most pure, O great saintly person, your father has been purified, along with twenty-one forefathers in your family. Because you were born in this family, the entire dynasty has been purified.
Purport: 
The word triḥ-saptabhiḥ means seven multiplied by three. In one’s family one can count back four or five generations — to one’s great-grandfather or even one’s great-grandfather’s father — but since the Lord mentions twenty-one forefathers, this indicates that the benediction expands to other families also. Before the present family in which one has taken birth, one must have been born in other families. Thus when a Vaiṣṇava takes birth in a family, by the grace of the Lord he purifies not only that family but also the families of his previous births.
  Past and present and future generation is even blessed by the presence of a pure vaisnava in a family. My Gurudeva Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja stated that according to the Puranas even a kanistha adhikari purifies his family what to speak of a madhyama adhikari or uttama adhikaris . In Gaura lila Prahlada Maharaja became Srila  Haridas Thakura that is stated in Gaura Ganodessa Dipika it is also stated Haridasa Thakura is the incarnation of Lord Brahma.
 One should not be confused why Prahlada Maharaja became a grhastha, he obviously went back to Godhead .
SB 7.10.13 — My dear Prahlāda, while you are in this material world you will exhaust all the reactions of pious activity by feeling happiness, and by acting piously you will neutralize impious activity. Because of the powerful time factor, you will give up your body, but the glories of your activities will be sung in the upper planetary systems, and being fully freed from all bondage, you will return home, back to Godhead.
Lord Caitanya was so pleased with Prahlada Maharaja that he would hear the pastimes of Prahlada Maharaja and Lord Narasimha and the prayers of Prahlada in Srimad Bhagavatam again and again? From whom did hear? From non other than Sri Gadadhara Pandit (the incarnation of Sri Radha Herself). Lord Caitanya is Krsna Himself and Gadadhara Pandit is Sri Radha Herself .So think of it this way also Radha explaining the glories of Prahlada to Krsna hundreds of times.So we should not think Prahlada was only a Narasimha bhakta we do not care to hear about Prahlada we will just hear abotu Radha Krsna that is called Sahajiya mentality.My Gurudeva also glorified Prahlada Maharaja and I asked him for his blessings to write a book about Lord Narasimha .I have just  completed it by his grace, and also I asked the blessings of many vaisnavas in ISKCON before starting this project almost 20 years ago including my former ISKCON Guru Harikesa and HH Bhakti Vikas Swami.I told Bhakti Vikas Swami I did not feel qualified to properly glorifie Lord Narasimha but he gave me the good advise to take full shelter of Lord Narasimha and let Him direct me from within .So by the blessings of my Gurudeva and so many vaisnavas and by the blessings of my readers I have written something about Lord Narasimha .It will not be lost .However something has not been mentioned in my Narasimha book , that is because Lord Narasimhadevas glories are unlimeted and so many milliones of books can be written in His glories. For example at Sri Simhacalam I once obtained a book written by a Sri Vaisnava scholar with over 1500 pages about the glories of so many Narasimha temples in South India.I have only described a few temples in my book  ,but most Gaudiya vaisnavas have not understood these temples visited by Lord Caitanya so I have described Simhacalam, Mangala Giri and Ahovalam in my book  .My worship of Lord Narasimha was once explained to me by a an astrologer in South India he told me that in my past life I have worshipped Lord Narasimha ,so it is natural you are are so much attracted to Lord Narasimha in this life time. But Lord Narasimha and Prahlada Maharaja are very dear  to all and to glorify them is the perfection of life.May Sri Prahlada Maharaja bless everyone that reads this attempt to glorify his exalted devotional service.I have written this as I felt this subject has been left out in my book.A devotee asked me a few years ago about why Narada Muni is described to have entered grhastha life after becoming Narada Muni .these are some special pastimes of Krsna explained in the Puranas and not very important to us because we just meditate on Srila Narada Muni as the eternal servant flying around in this  universe as long as it will be manifested to glorifie the Supreme Lord and deliver so many fallen souls.Sri Prahlada Maharaja heard the teachings of Bhakti from Narada Muni while in his mothers womb so he has offered humble obaisences to Narada Muni and  to our sampradaya from Lord  Brahma   . 
SB 7.9.18 — O my Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, by engaging in Your transcendental loving service in the association of devotees who are liberated souls [haṁsas], I shall become completely uncontaminated by the association of the three modes of material nature and be able to chant the glories of Your Lordship, who are so dear to me. I shall chant Your glories, following exactly in the footsteps of Lord Brahmā and his disciplic succession. In this way I shall undoubtedly be able to cross the ocean of nescience.
SB 7.9.28 — My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace. But Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position. Therefore, my first duty is to serve him. How could I leave his service?
your servant 
Paramananda das
gadadhara parena summukha bhagavata suniya prakase prabhu prema-bhava yata prahlada-caritra, ara dhruvera-caritra sata-vrtti kariya sunena sarhita
"Whenever Sri Gadadhara would recite the Prahlada-caritra and Dhruva-caritra from Bhagavatam, the Lord would manifest various symptoms of love. The Lord would hear the glories of Prahlada and Dhruva hundreds of times." (Sri Caitanya-bhagavata, Antya.10.13-14)

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