"The assistants of Hiranyakasipu struck Prahlada with sharp
weapons, threw him under the feet of elephants, threw him from
the peak of a mountain, subjected him to hellish conditions, and
tried to kill him in thousands of other ways, but they were
unsuccessful. To the wonder, Bhaktha Prahlada stayed cool with
smiling eyes and chanting lips. His face appeared like full
moon. He doesn’t even hate the assistants of Hiranyakasipu for
their sinful actions. "Regardless of the material condition in
which one is situated, one can achieve this perfection.
Devotional service is not dependent on the material activities
of austerity, penance, mystic yoga or piety. Even without such
assets, one can achieve devotional service through the mercy of
a pure devotee." (Bhag. 7.7.intro)
By
hearing the failure of murder attempts, Hiranyakasipu astonished
and felt shame at the same time. With the suspect of his
servants love with Prahlada, Hiranyakasipu wanted to try
himself. He mixed dangerous poison in milk and poured it in a
golden bowl. He then went to jail and saw his son Prahlada.
Hiranyakasipu’s heart was filled with two different feelings:
love on his son Prahlada and anger about his devotion to Lord
Sri Hari. With shaking hands and throat parched due to anxiety,
he handed over the golden bowl to his beloved son Prahlada and
ordered his son to drink the milk. As a great devotee, Bhakta
Prahlada offered the milk to Lord Sri Hari and drank the milk
full. With the blessings of Lord Sri Hari, the poision didn’t do
anything harm to Prahlada. Hiranyakasipu got shocked and left
the place. His heart was oscillating with wonder, happy and
shame. He was speechless and totally confused about Prahlada.
Hiranyakasipu therefore became increasingly afraid of his son
Prahlada Maharaja and decided to postpone the final decision
till his Spiritual master Sukracharya comes back. He then
ordered to teach Raja Neethi ( Management theories specific to
King ), other necessary practices ( Horse raiding , Weapons
handling and war management etc).
But Prahlada Maharaja did not accept their instructions. While
the teachers were absent from the classroom, Prahlada Maharaja
began to preach Krishna consciousness in the school, and by his
instructions all his class friends, the sons of the demons,
became devotees like him." (Bhag. 7.5.intro)
The teachers of Prahlada, Sanda and Amarka, became afraid that
the students would become more and more devoted to the Lord so
they informed Hiranyakasipu about Prahlada's preaching. By
hearing this, Hiranyakasipu become fully angry, couldn’t hold
himself, gave up all his control, decided to kill his son by
him. He threw away his love towards his son. Memories of his
brother Hiranyaksha also came into mind. By thinking that his
son is worshipping the Supreme Lord who has killed his brother,
Hiranyakasipu decided to take revenge of either Lord Sri Hari or
his devotee Prahlatha.
Hiranyakasipu ordered his servants to bring Prahlatha to
assembly hall. He saw his son walking towards him with bright
twinkling eyes and smiling face. Hiranyakasipu thought himself “
such a small and bright son of mine, but misguided by some
demigod, Anyway, this guy should be punished so that nobody
should think of worshipping my enemy “. Bhakta Prahlada saw his
father a moment. He could understand that Hiranyakasibu has gone
mad with anger, guilty and super ego. But Prahlatha tried to
instruct Hiranyakasipu : “ My dear father, please give up your
demoniac mentality. Do not discriminate in your heart between
enemies and friends; make your mind equipoise toward everyone.
Except for the uncontrolled and misguided mind, there is no
enemy within this world. When one sees everyone on the platform
of equality, one then comes to the position of worshipping the
Lord perfectly." (Bhag. 7.8.9)Controlling the mind is
essential in spiritual life and is easily accomplished by
becoming fixed in one's devotional service: "The only bona fide
process for controlling the mind is to fix the mind by service
to the Lord." (Bhag. 7.8.9)
Although Prahlada told good and truth words, Hiranyakasipu was
not about take the bona fide instructions because he was not
interested in devotional service:
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