Fourth Chapter (Devotee)

Bhakta Prahlad

Parikshit Mahârâj said – “Dear Mother! Shivji’s statement surprised Nârad who traveled quickly on his ‘mental’ chariot and entered Sutal. He was so impatient to behold Prahlâd, who was the foremost devotee. He saw Prahlâd in a secluded place, immersed in meditation. He was relishing the ras of the lotus-feet of Sri Bhagavân. In meditation itself, he could make out that Nârad has entered. So he got up to welcome the great sage. But no sooner than he did this, Nârad hastened to be by his side, and Prahlâd offered him obeisance. When Prahlâd started worshiping him with all the paraphernalia, the sage stopped him with reverence. With tear-filled eyes he started embracing Prahlâd again and again.

Nârad said, “Dear child! You alone are the greatest recipient of Sri Krishna’s bounty. Today my labor has borne fruits. I have been traveling all the way from Prayâg to Sutal searching for the greatest recepeint of Sri Krishna–kripa and at last my effort has borne fruit. Dear child! Your father had created tremendous obstacles on your path, yet you have overcome all of them by the power of your bhakti. You have also transformed the asur-children, who were of tâmasic nature, into supreme bhâgvats.

Lord Narasimha was so furious to see how his devotee ws being tortured. Therefore he was about to destroy the whole universe. Then the devatâs, who were extremely afraid of His blazing anger begged you to assuage Him. As soon as you fell at His lotus feet, He picked you up and licked you all over. O supreme bhâgavat! When Sri Bhagavân offered you the topmost positon, you rejected it. However, to please Him you accepted the kingdom. Sri Bhagavân is like a honey bee, whose only means of survival is, to drink the honey like prem from the devotee’s lotus like heart. Sri Bhagavân always wants that all living beings should attain love for His lotus feet. As a result, to salvage every living entity, you accepted the kingdom, so that you could preach divine prem. This is why the royal throne could not harm your spiritual endeavor.

O best of the devotees! What more can I say? Your mercy alone has enabled even Bali, your grandson, to subjugate Sri Bhagavân and keep Him as a security guard.”

Parikshit said, “Dear Mother! Sri Prahlâd was embarrassed by Nârad’s statements. He offered him obeisance and said, ‘O Gurudev! Even material knowledge does not develop in childhood, then how can a child gain supreme knowledge – that pertaining to Sri Krishna-bhakti? You extolled me – yet all these qualities that you naturally find in steadfast devotees – I do not possess any one of them. When my heart is in peril, I remember only my Master, and consequently I am not overwhelmed by trouble. This does not indicate that I have gained His mercy. Real Sri Krishna-kripâ is expressed only in His servants. When the devotee has the good fortune to serve the lotus feet of the Lord, in various beautiful ways, we can say that he has indeed got His mercy. When he saves us from troubles, or destroys our anarthas, it does not signify ‘kripâ’. You may say that – ‘Lord Narasimha has petted and fondled you, does it not reveal His kripâ?’ Then I beg to reply – the Mâyâvâdis call such petting as the activities of Mâyâ, and they say that the Supreme Being does not perform such actions – it is impossible for Him. Some devotees feel it is just Sri Bhagavân’s leelâ. As soon as you come close to the fire, you will stop feeling cold, and stop feeling lethargic. Similarly, Sri Bhagavân has a natural paternal tendency towards one and all, since He is naturally compassionate. Therefore, we cannot call His petting and fondling as ‘real kripâ’. The great souls who are truly devout say that devotees such as Sri Hanumân, who have obtained the good fortune to serve the Lord in an exceptional manner, they have truly got His mercy. I cannot call His loving gestures as ‘mercy’, I am afraid.

O Master! Whatever divine pastimes Lord Nrisimha performs, is simply to protect the devatâs who are His devotees, salvage His associates Jay and Vijay from the bondage of curse, and to help keep the vow made by His son Brahmâji. He does not perform any leelâ to show compassion towards me. O Gurudev! If He indeed had any mercy for me, do you think He would have deceived me, by giving me a kingdom? Do try to recollect His vow – ‘When I am merciful to someone, I take away his wealth’. As a result, it is very clear that He has been un-merciful towards me when He gave me the kingdom. Moreover, because of the kingdom, I have also gained servants, friends and relatives; this has obliterated my devotional practice as well. He has also declared with His holy lips that material pleasures never attract His exclusive devotee; yet I am addicted to kingdom and material happiness. Then, don’t you think my addiction for material wealth such as the kingdom has been a blow to a staunch and exclusive bhakti?

(Commentary – Here, really speaking, a devotee is never addicted to material pleasure. We should realize that Sri Prahlâd is simply stating this out of humility that is natural for him. When we reach a mature stage in bhakti, gradually such humbleness awakens in us. As devotees, we should always seek out our faults and consider even little good quality in others as great. Bhakti is naturally sweet and soft. Whe we gain excellent qualities such as humility and politeness. It highly nourishes our bhakti. When we possess all excellent qualifications and brilliance, yet we consider ourselves extraordinarily worthless, such a bhâv is ‘humility’. Actually, humility is ‘complete self-surrender and sacrifie at the lotus feet of Sri Bhagavân’.

Some people think humility stands for weakness, cowardice and inferiority complex. Consequently they look down on humility. Yes, such qualities are tamasic, hence fit to be treated with contempt. However, we should never possess these qualities. Materialistic people censure and protest when we say that devotees should be humble. They are mistaken. A devotee’s humility is very exceptional, special and arises out of only prem-bhakti. In fact this starting quality arises in us only when reach the mature stage of prem-bhakti. The devotees who are very pure, untouched by sin, alone can consider themselves fallen. Our Vaishnav sampradây is full of such examples. If we are sinful and offensive, we do not want to acknowledge it. However, the great souls who are inoffensive and are the jewels adorning Mother Earth, consider themselves as burden for her. They think they are tarnishing her beauty – such lofty thoughts are possible because they have bhakti which is the best of all God qualities. Bhakti Devi has such inconceivable impact on them. Thus we see that the inferiority complex arising out of tamo-guna (mode of ignorance) and the humility awakened in the heart of a supreme bhâgavat who is full of prem-bhakti are as unlike each other as darkness and light. They are as dissimilar as lust and love. It is impossible for ordinary mortals to understand this fact. Mundane humility is like a piece of glass, while the meekness arising in the loving heart of a devotee is as priceless as diamond. We shall speak more on this topic in the second volume of Sri Brihad-Bhâgavatâmritam; therefore we are not going into the detail here.

Sri Prahlâd was humble, because of his natural devotion. He considered himself unworthy and has declared himself to be addicted to material pleasure. His modesty is making him glorify Sri Hanumân, since he has got the good fortune to serve Lord Râmchandra.)

Prahlâd told Nârad – “O Gurudev! You mentioned the way I preached to the asur-children – but in reality, I have proved my lack of education that is customary for an asur. I have no spiritual knowledge whatsoever. Due to the association of the asuras, I have still not got rid of dry knowledge. We can gain special divine mercy only by resorting to pure devotion, that is unadulterated by karma and gyân. Yet, where do I have the characteristics of such pure devotion? And without pure devotion how can I get the mercy of the Lord? Also I want to tell you that the Lord has not taken the position of Bali’s security guard due to my devotion, but rather he is guarding the gates of Sutal so that Bali cannot escape from there. That too, He is not visible to everyone at all the time; sometimes someone may see Him at Bali’s gate. When we are very much eager to attain Sri Bhagavân, He gives us darshan wherever we are, at that moment. As a result, some devotees get His darshan at the gate of Sutal. I don’t see this as an effect of my bhakti, or how you can consider me great?

O Gurudev! You will be sad to hear all my tales of woe; hence it is better if you go to Kimpurushvarsha, where Sri Hanumân resides. There you will see how Sri Bhagavân bestows His bounties on him. Hanumânji is steadfast in brahmacharya, knows all the scriptures and he is extremely courageous. Consequently, he is the chief servant of Lord Râmchandra. To serve His Lordship he had easily crossed the fathomless ocean. He had fulfilled the wish of Vibhishan, and had destroyed the vast army of the demons. In the battle between Lord Râm and Râvan, Lakshman had been hit with the powerful weapn called ‘shakti-shel’. Then Hanumânji had brought the medicinal herb for Lakshman that relieved him from pain.^[1] So think how mighty he is! He had brought great joy to Mother Sitâ by conveying the message of Râvan’s deliverance. On the pretext of obtaining her necklace, he only got the merciful gift of prem and bhakti. O Master! The shâstras extol his great glory in verses such as ‘kapi-patir-dâsye’. You too know his glory, what more can I tell you? Do visit Kimpurushvarsha and be pleased to behold Sri Hanuman.