​Prahlad Prayers 5 Those who cherish the spiritual can channel the material

Narasimha Chaturdashi meditation on Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.26

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Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna.
In this last meditation on Prahlad’s prayers, on the occasion of Narasimha Chatur Dasi, let us contemplate that what was the blessing that Prahlad got by his unflinching, unparalleled, unfailing devotion to Krishna, and what he felt after receiving this benediction. This is Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.26 So, Who am I? Where am I? O Isha, O Lord, I am filled with the influence of Rajoguna, and beyond that with Tamoguna also, all these are very much increased within me. And not only is my consciousness low, but this consciousness is naturally low because I am born in a low family.
The Suras are devoted to the Lord, but I am born as Sura Tarakule, the opposite of Sura, other than Sura, that is Asuras. And yet, while this is my position, My dear Lord, what is your extraordinary mercy on me? Mercy is what? This mercy, you have not given to Brahma, nor to Bhava, that is Lord Shiva, nor to Rama, Lakshmidevi. You have offered unto me.
Padmakarah Prasadah On my head, you have offered the mercy, you have mercifully offered Padmakarah. You have placed your lotus hand on my head and thus you have blessed me. Here Prahlad Maharaj is expressing his gratitude and his expression of gratitude reveals his immense exalted spiritual consciousness.
You know, what people are grateful for reveals what their priorities are. It reveals what their what their what their level of consciousness is. So, for example, suppose we visit somebody, we visit somebody’s house and suppose we are in a particular position and that person is in a lower position and we go to their house and when we go to their house, we are going to their house as a friend and suppose we go there and we we speak some we, when they have assembled their friends, we speak some appreciation of their friend of this friend to their assembled people and then later on, maybe they have got some elderly relatives, we go and meet them also and then while we are departing, if that person says, thank you very much for coming to my house and thank you please for spending time with my grandfather or whatever.
Now, they can, they may thank us for various things. Now, they may thank us, thank you very much for speaking about me to my friends. That means, they are very concerned about prestige and position and they want others to know others to know their glories.
That could be one way of looking at it. Or they may say, thank you very much for spending time with my grandfather. That may show that they are very much concerned about their relatives.
Or they may say, thank you for coming to my house. That means, they may have a more of a pious conception where they want someone spiritual to come to their house and the idea is that someone like this comes to our house and we feel blessed. Then our house gets blessed by their feet or whatever.
So, the point here is that people’s expressions of gratitude, especially of what they are grateful for, that reveals their consciousness, that reflects their consciousness. So now, Prahlad Maharaj, he could have expressed his gratitude for various things. You know, he, his father had been making his life a living hell.
You know, he, his father had been making his life, had been trying to take his life and not just take his life, but take his life in very brutal ways, trying to throw him into fire, trying to throw him off a mountain, trying to have him put in a pit of poisonous snakes, trying to have him pierced by weapons. So now, Prahlad could have said, thank you, my dear lord, for rescuing me from all those dangers. Thank you, lord, for killing the person who was trying to murder me.
Prahlad does not speak any of these things. He could also have said that, my dear lord, others could not pacify you, but I pacified you, because you have demonstrated the glory of my devotion to the whole world. Now, he doesn’t even say that.
He, what is he grateful for? What is the benediction? He says, janme arpita padmakara prasada janme arpita shirasi on my head you have offered, you have placed your lotus head and this you have not offered brahmanot bhavasena vairamaya that here, now he is looking in the assembly and that assembly he is saying that there are exalted persons like Brahma, there is Shiva. Now, there are various devatas of course, but among all the devatas, Brahmaji, Brahma and Shiva are considered among the topmost of the devatas. And these are there and of course, lord’s own lord’s own consort, goddess of fortune is there.
And even, you have not offered this favor even to them and you have offered this favor to me. So, this is your extraordinary mercy that you have offered such mercy to me. And again Prahlad’s astonishing humility is seen in that he doesn’t focus on thinking, oh, I am so qualified.
No, no, don’t you know that I stayed faithful to you? Even when all these devatas, they started they started they remained they were kowtowing to Hiranyakashipu, but I remained firm in my devotion to you and therefore I am worthy of what you have got, what you have given me. He doesn’t think like that. Rather than thinking of his achievements, he thinks about his limitations and he says I am influenced by the lower modes and I am born in a lower family.
So, all these devatas, they are exalted. I do not belong to them. I am like an odd man out.
I am not just an odd man out. I am a lowly person in this august assembly and this is such a such a humbly, heartrendingly humble consciousness which Prahlad exhibits over here. So, for us, especially when we go in front of those who are qualified, especially qualified, you know, it is against Vaishnava etiquette and it is against even common etiquette to just brag about our own glories.
Instead of speaking our own glories, we can focus on speaking about on glorifying them and Prahlad, this was the extraordinary benediction that he got. Now, if you see, the 7th canto begins with the question of Parikshit Maharaj is Vishnu partial? Does he take side in the battle between devatas and demons? And at one level, we may say that Vishnu does take side. You know, Vishnu, he sided with Prahlad and he killed Hiranyakashipu and he sided with devatas because Hiranyakashipu was the terror of devatas.
But no, that is an oversimplification. The reality is that the Lord is equal to all. The 7th canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam is titled by Srila Prabhupada as the Supreme Lord is equal to all.
That’s the first chapter. That’s the first chapter of the 7th canto. Actually, now, if we see the 7th canto, the focus, the focus of the Bhagavatam is on devotion to Vishnu.
And now, if you see, Prahlad got to sit on the lap of Narasimhadeva and Hiranyakashipu also got to be on the lap of Narasimhadeva. So, in that sense, the Lord is equal to all. But depending on our disposition, the Lord reciprocates accordingly with the disposition.
So, because Hiranyakashipu approached with the inimical disposition, so he got on the lap of the Lord, but he got with the Lord being in a house, the Lord killed him over there. Of course, in killing also, the Lord delivered him. But Prahlad, he approached the devotional disposition, the Lord offered him a seat on his lap and then afterwards, the Lord offered him the throne of the world.
And this way, Prahlad Maharaj is benedicted both in this world and in the next world. Although Prahlad says that I do not want worldly benedictions. Actually, the Lord gives him worldly benedictions because those who don’t want worldly benedictions, they will not get enamored by them.
Their eyes will stay fixed on the Lord and thus they will be able to use those worldly resources in the service of the Lord. And that is what Prahlad Maharaj did. So, the devotional blessings of the Lord by which we appreciate the Lord’s gifts, spiritual gifts more than material gifts and our vision stays fixed on the spiritual gifts, that vision, that understanding, that insight is the Lord’s greatest blessing.
And Prahlad had this insight to focus on the spiritual beyond the material even before Hiranyakashipu started terrorizing him, even while Hiranyakashipu was terrorizing him and even after Hiranyakashipu had been annihilated and even while he was glorified. So, we can pray to Narasimhadev, we can pray to Prahlad that through this immortal love story between the Lord and the devotee which is depicted in the pages of the Bhagavatam, the 7th Canto, through it we can also get the inspiration to treasure the spiritual not to let our vision be distracted from the spiritual for the sake of temporary material things. By this vision we can march straight and steady through this temptation-filled world and attain the Lord’s eternal abode for a life of eternal ecstatic love.
Thank you. Hare Krishna. Narasimhadev ki jai.