In Srimad Bhagavatam, sage Narada describes many devotional qualities of Prahlada Maharaj to King Yudhishthira. Prahlada was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He spent every moment of his life meditating on the beautiful form and transcendental qualities of the Supreme Lord. Since his childhood days only one desire blossomed in his heart – the desire to enthrone the Supreme Lord Vasudeva, Lord Krishna, in his heart.
Ordinary souls like you and me contemplate on mundane things and engage mentally and physical in worldly activities. But pure souls like Prahlada never wastes their time in contemplating on mundane subject matters and engage their mind and senses in those activities which are sanctioned by the scriptures, and which takes one closer to the lotus feet of the Lord.
Prahlada has unlimited qualities, and it is not possible to discuss all of them in a single article. So, let us try to discuss seven qualities of Prahlada and meditate upon them.
1. A great devotee
Sage Narada has described many wonderful qualities of Prahlada. In Srimad Bhagavatam 7.4.33, sage Narada, says that although born in the family of the demons, Prahlada was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. It was because of Narada’s spiritual instructions; Prahlada became a devotee of the Lord. He got enlightened in Krishna Consciousness when he was in the womb of his mother, Kayadhu. Prahlada constantly meditated on the lotus feet of the Lord and experienced great happiness.
Prahlada’s devotional ecstasy is described by Narada, “Because of advancement in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he sometimes cried, sometimes laughed, sometimes expressed jubilation and sometimes sang loudly.” Srimad Bhagavatam 7.4.39
Srimad Bhagavatam 6.3.20 -21 says that there are twelve mahajans, great devotees of the Lord, and Prahlada Maharaja is one of them.
2. Fearless Prahlada
When Prahlada’s father, Hiranyakasipu, tried to kill him, little Prahlada remained unperturbed. The demon king because of ignorance and ego considered Lord Vishnu, his enemy. So, he was seething with anger when he discovered that his own son was a devotee of his enemy. Maddened by anger, he decided to torture and eliminate Prahlada, a five-year-old innocent boy.
Srimad Bhagavatam explains how Prahlada was being tortured. “The demons [Rākṣasas], the servants of Hiraṇyakaśipu, thus began striking the tender parts of Prahlāda Mahārāja’s body with their tridents. The demons all had fearful faces, sharp teeth and reddish, coppery beards and hair, and they appeared extremely threatening.
Making a tumultuous sound, shouting, “Chop him up! Pierce him!” they began striking Prahlāda Mahārāja, who sat silently, meditating upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” Srimad Bhagavatam 7.5.39-40.
Prahlada did not even try to protect himself. He was fearless in front of the mighty demons. This would infuriate the blood thirsty demons. Why is Prahlada always fearless and jubilant in spite of threat to his life? Hiranyakasipu, the mighty tyrant who had brought the entire universe on his knees, would have surely contemplated on it.
He devised all means to torture the five-year-old kid and eventually get him killed. But Prahlada was always at peace and also in bliss. How could it be possible? To understand this, let us reflect on the next quality of Prahlada.
3. Faith in Lord
He had complete faith in Lord’s protection and so he was not worried about anything in this world. He was never agitated when put in danger. He only thought how best he can utilize every moment of his life in remembering and serving the Lord. Just like a child knows very well that his father is always there for him when he is in danger. Similarly, Prahlada was fully aware that the Supreme father is always there for him.
So, we see that when Prahlada’s material father, Hiranyakasipu, began torturing him then he was not mentally or emotionally disturbed because he was under the shelter of his spiritual father, Lord Vishnu. And the world knows that in spite of all his power the mighty demon, Hiranyakasipu, was not able to do even a little harm to great Prahlada. Finally, Lord Vishnu appeared as Lord Narasimhadeva for the pleasure of Prahlada and to kill the demon.
Expressing his complete faith in the mercy of the Lord, Prahlada says, “Nothing is unobtainable for devotees who have satisfied the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the cause of all causes, the original source of everything.” Srimad Bhagavatam 7.6.25.
4. Compassion for all
After killing Hiranyakasipu, Lord Narasimhadeva asked Prahlada for any benediction. Prahlada could have asked anything, and the Lord would have immediately fulfilled that desire. However, Prahlada who was just five years old was not much bothered about his own well-being. He did not fear this world because he was always taking shelter of the Lord. But he felt sorry for the souls suffering in this world and also for those who although are suffering but are imagining that they are enjoying in this world.
“O best of the great personalities, I am not at all afraid of material existence, for wherever I stay I am fully absorbed in thoughts of Your glories and activities. My concern is only for the fools and rascals who are making elaborate plans for material happiness and maintaining their families, societies and countries. I am simply concerned with love for them.” Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.43
Just as without sun there cannot be light, similarly, without Krishna there cannot be happiness. So, Prahlada had a great desire that everyone should take shelter of the Supreme Lord. He again and again prayed to Narasimhadeva to free everyone from their suffering.
Just as the Supreme Lord is equal towards everyone and he does not have any friend or enemy, similarly, Prahlada did not consider anyone his enemy. He was everyone’s best well – wisher, he had compassion for all living entities. He even begged the Lord to forgive his father of all the sins. He did not have revengeful mind. And the sinful demon too got purified just by the touch of Lord Narasimhadeva.
5. Not interested in childish playthings
One of the qualities of Prahlada which I like the most is that as a child he was not interested in “childish playthings” but utilized all time in practicing devotion to the Supreme Lord. When there would be leisure time to play then Prahlada’s friend who were of his age group would invite him to play with them.
But Prahlada as a true friend would persuade his friends not to waste time in worldly activities but utilize the given time in chanting and singing the glories of the Supreme Lord. And Prahlada’s friends would be so much moved by his kind and loving words that they would follow his advice and would chant and sing prayers.
Now let us reflect on our own life. Forget the time when we were child, now also when we are grown up, still, we are interested in playing sports or watching sports. Indians are mad after cricket, Europeans and Americans after soccer. Many times, or rather most of the time, we get so much immersed in sports that we forget the external world. Such absorption may give some flickering enjoyment, but it is never going to satiate our heart and give us endless happiness.
We are pleasure seekers
As souls, we are pleasure seekers, ananda mayo bhyasat. So, we always look for pleasure everywhere. Not just from sports, we also try to enjoy our life by watching movies, listening movie songs, watching YouTube videos, talking about politics or in idle gossips. These activities may help us to escape from our boring routine life, but hardly it brings great joy to our heart. We all have experienced this.
But we see that Prahlada was always in bliss because he was always absorbed in Krishna consciousness. Pure devotees of the Lord enjoy every moment of their life to the fullest because they find joy in spiritual activities like chanting the names of Krishna, hearing about Krishna, worshipping the deity of Krishna.
In Srimad Bhagavatam, life of great devotees like Prahlada has been described, so that we can learn from their life and apply it in our own life.
6. Free from Pride
Prahlada did not have any tinge of pride. He was the son of the emperor of the universe, had all the riches, but lived like an ordinary child. He never considered himself superior to others. Srimad Bhagavatam 7.4. 31-32 describes Prahlada’s qualities.
“To respectable persons he acted exactly like a menial servant, to the poor he was like a father, to his equals he was attached like a sympathetic brother, and he considered his teachers, spiritual masters and older Godbrothers to be as good as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.”
We see that although his father was insulting him and torturing him but Prahlada was always respectful towards his father.
7. Heroic Preacher
Hiranyakasipu had banned practice and preaching of Krishna Consciousness. Prahlada took it upon himself to propagate Krishna consciousness. He was a fearless preacher. Even the king of heaven, Indra, was fearful of Hiranyakasipu but Prahlada was fearlessly speaking truth to the powerful demon. He risked his life for that. This is one of the great qualities of Prahlada and we should try our best to follow the footsteps of Prahlada when we are preaching the message of Krishna Consciousness.
As discussed previously, he asked his friends not to waste time but utilize it in practicing Krishna Consciousness. Prahlada said that people are so absorbed in worldly activities that they hardly have any time to practice devotion to God. He gave a mathematical explanation for this.
- Assuming that a human being lives for 100 years
- One wastes half of one’s life in sleeping. So, one has just 50 active years.
- In childhood one passes 10 years in ignorance and in boyhood another 10 years is wasted in playful activities.
- In old age, one becomes invalid and is not able to perform any material activities, so how will he perform spiritual activities. In this way another 20 years is wasted.
- So, one has only 10 active years [100 – (50 + 10 + 10 + 20)]. But unfortunately, this is also lost in earning money and taking care of household activities.
So, he asked his friends not to waste their life in sense gratification. Instead, they should immediately start practicing devotion to God and Prahlada’s friends were convinced.
Preaches the mighty demon
But he did not stop there. To the horror and surprise of all, he began preaching Krishna Consciousness to Hiranyakasipu. The demon would have never expected that a five-year-old child will try to make him a devotee of Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu had great pride in his strength, and he thought that with this strength he will succeed in killing Lord Vishnu. Prahlada tried his best to make the ignorant demon understand that he will never be able to kill the Lord.
He would tell the demon that all his strength is coming from the Supreme Lord only, “My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength. Whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior, everyone, including Lord Brahma, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Srimad Bhagavatam 7.8.7.”
The demon was trying his best to kill Prahlada and Prahlada was trying his best to make Hiranyakasipu a devotee of the Lord.
Glorious Prahlada
Glorifying different qualities of Prahlada, sage Narada says, “In any assembly where there are discourses about saints and devotees, O King Yudhishthira, even the enemies of the demons, namely the demigods, what to speak of you, would cite Prahlada Maharaja as an example of a great devotee.” Srimad Bhagavatam 7.4.35.
Prahlada had many spiritual qualities and so he is celebrated as one of the great devotees of the Lord. Prahlada shunned all material desires and took complete shelter of Lord Krishna who appeared as Lord Narasimhadeva and who is the protector of all the sincere devotees. Such devotees are rare.
Note: This article of mine is published in https://btg.krishna.com/the-exalted-qualities-of-prahlada-maharaja/
