SB 7.10.15–17 – Friend of the Enemy

Giriraj Swami: Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Canto Seven, Chapter Ten, “Prahlāda, the Best Among Exalted Devotees,”

TEXT 15–17

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
varaṁ varaya etat te
varadeśān maheśvara
yad anindat pitā me
tvām avidvāṁs teja aiśvaram

viddhāmarṣāśayaḥ sākṣāt
sarva-loka-guruṁ prabhum
bhrātṛ-heti mṛṣā-dṛṣṭis
tvad-bhakte mayi cāghavān

tasmāt pitā me pūyeta
durantād dustarād aghāt
pūtas te ‘pāṅga-saṁdṛṣṭas
tadā kṛpaṇa-vatsala

TRANSLATION

Prahlāda Mahārāja said: O Supreme Lord, because You are so merciful to the fallen souls, I ask You for only one benediction. I know that my father, at the time of his death, had already been purified by Your glance upon him, but because of his ignorance of Your beautiful power and supremacy, he was unnecessarily angry at You, falsely thinking that You were the killer of his brother. Thus he directly blasphemed Your Lordship, the spiritual master of all living beings, and committed heavily sinful activities directed against me, Your devotee. I wish that he be excused for these sinful activities.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Although Hiraṇyakaśipu was purified as soon as he came in contact with the Lord’s lap and the Lord saw him, Prahlāda Mahārāja still wanted to hear from the Lord’s own mouth that his father had been purified by the Lord’s causeless mercy. Prahlāda Mahārāja offered this prayer to the Lord for the sake of his father. As a Vaiṣṇava son, despite all the inconveniences imposed upon him by his father, he could not forget his father’s affection.

COMMENT

So you know the story of Prahlada Maharaja which we have been reading for several months. The father of the Prahlada Maharaja was Hiraṇyakaśipu, the greatest of the materialists. Hiraṇyakaśipu was very affectionate towards Prahlada. So when he discovered that Prahlada was a devotee of Lord Vishnu to whom Hiraṇyakaśipu considered to be his enemy, then Hiraṇyakaśipu considered Prahlada as his enemy. because according to materialistic logic anyone who is a friend of my enemy becomes my enemy. And anyone who is an enemy of my friends become my enemy. So the history of the enmity between Hiraṇyakaśipu and Lord Vishnu goes back to the time when Lord Vishnu killed Hiraṇyakaśipu ‘s brother Hiraṇyakṣa when Lord Vishnu takes form of Varahadeva and killed Hiraṇyakṣa. So, Hiraṇyakaśipu being in bodily concept of life very strongly identified with his brother and he considered Lord Vishnu to be his enemy because he killed his brother. He resolved to revenge the death of Hiraṇyakṣa by killing Lord Vishnu.

So eventually Prahlada took birth as the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu but because he had been instructed by Narada when he was within the womb, he became a great devotee. It is described here the best among all devotions and he was always remembering Lord Vishnu. And Hiraṇyakaśipu when he discovered that his son was a devotee of his enemy, he became inimical to Prahlada as well. And he tried to kill Prahlada in so many ways and ultimately Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, the powerful half-man half-lion incarnation of the Lord appeared from the pillar of the palace and killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. So after Prahlada offered prayers to the Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, Nṛsiṁhadeva ask Prahlada to accept some benediction. But Prahlada Maharaja refused. He said that, “You have sent me here to the material world to exemplify the pure devotee, so why should you now want to tempt me by offering me some benediction. I do not want any benediction. If I accepted some gain from you in exchange for my service, I would not be a servant; rather, I would be a businessman.” So the real servant does not accept anything material in return for his service from the master, and the real master does not give anything material to the servant just to maintain his prestigious positions as master. So, Prahlada said that, “You are my master, and I am your servant, and there we have no other relationships.” So eventually, because Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva insisted Prahlada should accept some benediction, Prahlada asked Nṛsiṁhadeva for one benediction only, and that is that his father, who tried to kill him in so many ways, be liberated, be purified. So from the behavior of Prahlada Maharaja, we can understand how merciful the devotee is. He is completely free from envy, and because he is completely free from envy, he wishes well for everyone. He doesn’t consider anyone to be his enemy or special friend, but he is kind to everyone and he wants good for everyone.

In the Third Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, we find the description of the good qualities which ornament the devotee. One is ajāta-śatravaḥ, that he has no enemy. Even if someone becomes the enemy of the sadhu, but the sadhu does not become his enemy’s enemy. He always remains the friend of all, suhṛdaḥ sarva-dehinām. So although Hiraṇyakaśipu acted as the enemy of Prahlada, he never became the enemy of Hiraṇyakaśipu, but he always remained his best well-wisher, and therefore in the end, he asked for a benediction for Hiraṇyakaśipu. Earlier, Prahlada had expressed his concern for all living entities, that the living entities within the material world are suffering for want of Krishna consciousness. Therefore, although personally Prahlada has no problem, he does have one problem, which is how to bring others to the shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord. Because unless they take shelter of the lotus feet of the Lord, they cannot be happy. He also tells Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva that there are many saintly persons, but most of them are ambitious for their own personal liberation and they do not care for others. They avoid the busy cities like Bombay, London, New York, and Hong Kong, and they prefer to go to the forest or the mountains to become liberated themselves.

Here Srila Prabhupada explains that one may think of his own liberation for one of two reasons. One is that he is not interested in helping others; he is selfish, bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī-sakali aśānta. Those who want material enjoyment, those who want liberation, and those who want mystic perfection are all selfish, and because they are all selfish, they are not peaceful. So some saintly persons are selfish; they are not real saintly persons, or they are saintly persons but not of the highest quality. So they think of their own liberation. The other reason Srila Prabhupada explains that one may not care to do good for others is that the person feels himself to be incapable. He feels that he is not strong enough to preach or not knowledgeable enough to preach, and because he feels that he is incapable of preaching, he thinks, Let me take care of myself, and therefore he doesn’t preach. So, Srila Prabhupada has very vividly explained that anyone can preach; it doesn’t matter how young or old he is, how knowledgeable he is, or how strong he is. Whatever capacity he has, he can preach. Srila Prabhupada gave the example—during the times of his guru Maharaja, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, some brahmacharis used to go Navadvipa to sell one paper, one magazine. And if a brahmachari went and came back and has sold even just a few copies, and each copy was one paisa, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura take it as a very great preaching. So whatever our capacity, whatever little we can do, we should do for the cause of propagating Krishna consciousness. We should follow in the line of Prahlada Maharaja and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, and Srila Prabhupada.

Prahlada Maharaja says that there are many saintly persons, but I see that most of them are not interested in others. They just want their own liberation, and therefore they go to the forest or the mountains. But as far as I am concerned, I do not want to go back home, back to Godhead alone. I want to take as many of the fallen conditioned souls with me as possible. Prahlada Maharaja used the word, naitān vihāya kṛpaṇān, I don’t want to leave aside the kṛpaṇā. And here, he addresses Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva as kṛpaṇa-vatsala, the friend of the kṛpaṇa. So, what is a kṛpaṇa? There is one verse in the Upanishad; it says that one who has the valuable human form of life but does not use it to solve the problem of life, namely birth, death, old age, and disease, but dies just like the cats and dogs without making any solution to the problems of life, he is a kṛpaṇa. And one who uses the valuable human form of life to solve the problems of life, or in other words to become liberated from the repetition of birth and death, he is a brahman.

So, the human form of life is very valuable. If one has the valuable asset of the human form of life, which is meant to achieve liberation and to realize God, and he does not use the valuable assets and lives just like an animal—eating, sleeping, mating, and defending—then he is a kṛpaṇa or a miser. A miser is someone who has a valuable treasure but doesn’t use it. Just like I may give someone a large amount of money, but he doesn’t use it; he just sits on it, just keeps it. So, the human form of life is the most valuable aspect, and if we don’t use the human form of life to realize God and solve the problems of birth and death, we are kṛpaṇas, we are misers. We are not using what God has given us, so we are just keeping it. So, Prahlada Maharaja says, naitān vihāya kṛpaṇān, “I don’t want to leave aside the kṛpaṇa for the materialists who have no interest in solving the problems of life, or in other words, they have no interest in liberation. They simply want to enjoy the material world, and specifically because they want to enjoy the material world, they are not interested in liberation. They are not interested in Krishna consciousness. It is very difficult to preach to them, so they have no interest, but still Prahlada says, ‘I do not want to leave them aside.’” And here he prays to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva to give mercy to the greatest materialist. Prahlada was the greatest of all devotees, and his father was the greatest of all materialists. And just see, the materialist is so envious, he tries to kill the devotee, even though the devotee may be his own son. And the devotee is so merciful that he prays for the deliverance of the materialists, even though the materialists may have tried to kill him.

So, we should try to follow the mood of Prahlada Maharaja, which is the same mood as Srila Prabhupada and Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and that is not to be envious of anyone but to want good for everyone. Therefore, Prahlada Maharaja prays for the mercy of everyone in the world. He doesn’t distinguish between friends and enemies. But materialistic persons always distinguish between friends and enemies, and they are always envious of those whom they consider to be their enemies. If they become envious of someone, automatically he becomes accepted as enemies. We have the example of Dhruva Maharaja. He was playing on the lap of his father, and his stepmother became envious. She said, “How dare you sit on the throne? You are not born from my womb. You get down.” So, kṛpaṇas, they very strongly identify with the body. Even Arjuna said to Lord Krishna, kṛpaṇa-doṣaḥ, “O Krishna, I am overcome by miserly weakness, and therefore, although I know I should follow your orders, I cannot follow your order because of bodily attachments. I am thinking these are my friends, these are my relatives, and so on.” So, Dhruva Maharaja’s stepmother also was thinking that this one is my son and that one is not my son. So good should come to my son and no good should come to the other son - immediately, friends and enemies.

But a brahman is liberal; a kṛpaṇa is miserly. The brahman is liberal; he sees everyone equally, and he wishes the best for everyone. He sees that all are parts and particles of Krishna meant to serve Lord Krishna, and therefore he welcomes everyone and tries to help everyone. Just like when Srila Prabhupada went to the West, he didn’t make any distinction that Krishna consciousness should be given only to a certain class of persons. In India, there are persons who think that Krishna consciousness should only be given to Indians or Hindus or brahmans by birth. In fact, some religious leaders in Hyderabad approached Srila Prabhupada and said, “You are doing the greatest harm to the Hindu religion by giving non-brahmans sacred threads and accepting them as brahmans.” Srila Prabhupada had to endure so much criticism just because he wanted to make Krishna consciousness available to everyone. He had to make so many enemies. Of course, they did not become enemies because of any fault in Srila Prabhupada, but they became enemies by their own nature, by their own enviousness. Even right here at Hare Krishna Land, Srila Prabhupada had to face so many enemies who were envious. They thought, “Such a big property, such a valuable property, how can it go to some sadhus? Let us take it. We will use it as it should be used—for sense gratification.”

And even after Srila Prabhupada left, there were so many enemies who were trying to get Hare Krishna Land. Srila Prabhupada also predicted before he left that envious persons would try to capture his property in Mayapur, Vrindavan, and Bombay. And actually, it happened. The very first year after Srila Prabhupada left, there was a great attempt to take Hare Krishna Land. It even came in the newspapers. One local municipal corporator made an appeal that the government should take over Hare Krishna Land; they should take it from the foreigners. So, Srila Prabhupada had to face so many enemies, but he never became the enemy of his enemies. He was the friend always, but he dealt with them accordingly. Just like Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted to kill Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, he wanted to fight, and Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva reciprocated and fought and killed Hiraṇyakaśipu. So, many enemies wanted to fight with Srila Prabhupada, and Srila Prabhupada reciprocated and fought with them and defeated them, but he never became their enemy; he was always their well-wisher.

When the owner of the land died, some of the devotees thought that now he must have taken birth as a snake or something because he was so envious. But Srila Prabhupada said, “No, he has taken birth as a human being because, in one sense, he did some service.” He offered Hare Krishna Land to Srila Prabhupada. So, even though his intention was to cheat him but still he offered Hare Krishna Land to Srila Prabhupada. Just like Pūtanā, she offered her breast milk to Krishna. Although her intention was to kill him, still she offered her breast milk to him, and therefore Krishna took the bright side. She has fed me her own milk, so she is my mother, and he elevated her to the position of his mother in the spiritual world. So, somehow, Mr. Nair came and offer Srila Prabhupada Hare Krishna land. Srila Prabhupada said he did some service. Although he was envious, although he was blasphemous and had so many other qualities, still he offered some service. So Krishna took the bright side that he offered some service and gave him the chance to take birth again as a human being. But here, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva gave special mercy to Hiraṇyakaśipu and purified him by His glance and nails, which split the heart of the demon. And so he became purified.

In the next verse, we will read, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva replied to Prahlada Maharaja. I want to speak more, but I’ll just read the verse because it is relevant.

 TEXT 18

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.

COMMENT

So, a devotee is naturally a well-wisher towards every living entity, sarva-dehinām, for every embodied soul, but he may have natural care and affection for his own family members. Srila Prabhupada explains that such affection is not unnatural; such affection is natural. So a devotee wants to know, “What about my family members? What will happen to them if I take to Krishna consciousness?” Sometimes, when devotees come to Krishna consciousness, the family laments. They think, Oh, I have lost my son. I have lost my daughter.” They may even calculate, “I have lost my income. I have lost some of my income,” or, “I have lost some help in the house.” So, they calculate that they have lost. The family member who has become a devotee will think, What about them? Because I love them, now they are suffering, or, “They imagine that they are suffering. So, what about them? Are they losing because of me?” A devotee, by nature, is grateful. So, he will think of the family, “They have given me life, raised me, fed me, clothed me, and educated me. They have spent for my education. Now, according to them, my education is lost because I haven’t become a doctor or an engineer.” So, what about them? Here, the Lord assures the devotee that, by your becoming a devotee, your family is not losing but will get the greatest benefit. They will be liberated from the repetition of birth and death. So, don’t fear that by becoming a devotee, your family will lose. They will not lose but will gain the supreme benediction of liberation from the material world.

The conclusion is that we should not have any hesitation about surrendering to Krishna and dedicating our life to spreading Krishna consciousness. If we do so, not only will we achieve the supreme benediction—because in Bhagavad-gītā, Lord Krishna says that he who is preaching the messages of Bhagavad-gītā is his dear most servant— and for one who preaches the message of Bhagavad-gītā, devotional service is guaranteed and in the end, the devotee will come to Krishna. But the devotee who dedicates his life to preaching Krishna consciousness will go back home, back to Godhead, but his family members for twenty-one generations will also be liberated.

If we think of our family members, we can think of our grandfathers and maybe our great-grandfather. Hardly can we go beyond our great-great-grandfather. So, twenty-one generations mean that not only our father, grandfather, and great-grandfather in the present life but in previous lives also. Someone might think, “Well, okay, if I become a pure devotee, my family members will be liberated, but what if I don’t become a pure devotee in this life?” Even if you become a pure devotee in the next life or the next life, the family members you had in the present life will be liberated. So, there is no need to have any hesitation because of family affection, kṛpaṇa-doṣaḥ, that, “Oh, my family will suffer.” They will not suffer; they will also gain as much as you gain by the mercy of the Lord.

We should throw off all such miserly weakness based on bodily identification and surrender fully to the service of the Lord and preach Krishna consciousness for the benefit of all fools and rascals.

Hare Krishna.

Are there any questions or comments?

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:38:50]

Giriraj Swami: He said, why only liberation, why not back home, back to Godhead?

Well, the word in the verse—did you notice the word in the verse? Purified. Now, purified in a general sense means liberation, purified of all material contamination because pure devotional service takes place on the liberated platform. But according to Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, those who neglect the service of the lotus feet of the Lord, aśuddha-buddhes, their intelligence is not purified. So, when one is fully purified, he must be a devotee of the Lord. He liberation must mean, going back home back to Godhead otherwise he is not completely purified. But most people, especially materially attached family members, mainly they want sense gratification. They think their children or husband will help them in sense gratification. Out of so many persons who want sense gratification, hardly one will want liberation. Out of so many who want liberation, hardly one will want pure devotional service. Those who understand the value of pure devotional service will understand the meaning of purification or liberation.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:40:55]

Giriraj Swami: You are saying that the twenty-one generations go backwards? They go back home, back to Godhead. Yes.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:41:10]

Giriraj Swami: Vamanadeva ask very good question. Let us say we are reading that my forefathers will be liberated. They have already left their body; they are somewhere in the universe according to their karma. Yes, but still, the devotees of the Lord go everywhere in the universe. So, if the Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva decides that this soul should be liberated, he can send some devotee there to instruct that person in Krishna consciousness.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:42:25]

Giriraj Swami: He said that all of sudden so many people from hellish planet going up, someone might be surprised how suddenly so many people are going up. The answer is that some family member was chanting the holy names of the Lord, so they were liberated from their hellish condition and were being elevated. We should not doubt.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:43:30]

Giriraj Swami: He said that Prahlada Maharaja is called the best among exalted devotees [Break in audio 00:44:20] because within the universe, everyone jīvera ‘svarūpa’ haya — kṛṣṇera ‘nitya-dāsa.’ When we get to the spiritual world, then we can act as servants, friend, mother, father, lover, and so on. But in the material world, Prahlada Maharaja is the best among exalted devotees.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:45:00]

Giriraj Swami: He says that even in material world, we can serve the Lord as a friend, parent, or lover. But how is it possible?

In order to serve as a friend, parent, or lover, we have to enter kṛṣṇa-līlā. When we are in kṛṣṇa-līlā we are not in the material world. When Krishna performed his pastimes here, they are replicas of the spiritual world. Spiritual world was present at the same time. But when we asking in this body in this world as he was acting as son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, so he was in the mood of service, and we are all in the mood of service. Even Srila Prabhupada was in the mood of the service, in relation to the material world, he was in the mood of servant of his guru Maharaja. so, every Vaishnava in the material world must be in the mood of servant of his guru Maharaja and the Lord. The Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan are all gopīs in kṛṣṇa-līlā but in caitanya-līlā, they were the humble servant of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. So, the relation of servant to master must be there in material world. It is the only relationship between the Lord and the devotee in the material world. Of course, caitanya-līlā is not also in material world in a higher sense. But it is the type of relationship or service we can render in saṅkīrtana movement. That is in the mood of servant and master.

Devotee: [Unintelligible 00:48:15]

Giriraj Swami: Is there a difference between a devotee and a pure devotee?

Well, depending on the context in which the term is used, devotee may mean pure devotee. Often when Srila Prabhupada says devotee, he means pure devotee. When the scriptures say devotee, they mean pure devotee. But there are other devotees who may not be considered pure devotees; they may be considered mixed devotees. In one sense, we can say, “Well, they are not devotees because devotees are pure,” but sometimes we do say mixed devotees, sakāma-bhakta, they have desires, not niṣkāma-bhakta. So, depending on the context, devotee may mean pure devotee or it could mean all categories of devotees, including mixed devotees.

Srila Prabhupada ki jaya!

Nitai-Gaura premānande Hari Haribol!