Prahlāda Upākhyāna: Prahlāda and Narasiṃha

The Prahlāda Upākhyāna is the account of Prahlāda’s life and of Bhagavān Narasiṃha. Nārada Maharshi tells it to Yudhishṭhira in the 7th Skanda of the Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Chapters 1 to 10. An upākhyāna is a narrative inside a larger text. It starts from Yudhishṭhira’s question about why Bhagavān Vishṇu seems to favour the devas over the asuras. It then tells of Hiraṇyakaśipu’s grief and tapas (austerity), the five-part vara (boon) he received, his conquest of the three worlds, Prahlāda’s birth and his natural bhakti (devotion), the nine forms of bhakti, the thirteen failed attempts to kill Prahlāda, Bhagavān Narasiṃha coming out of the pillar, the killing of Hiraṇyakaśipu, the stotras of the devas, and the teaching of nishkāma bhakti (devotion without any wish). The Vishṇu Purāṇa also tells the Prahlāda account, and its account is given at the end.

The question about partiality

The narrative opens with two questions, one inside the other. First, Parīkshit Mahārāja asks Śuka Maharshi a question. Bhagavān Vishṇu has no guṇas (qualities) and is love itself. He does not divide things into “mine” and “another’s”. Then how does he seem to take the side of the devas and kill rākshasas for them?

Śuka answers by the teaching of the guṇas. Sattva, rajas and tamas are qualities of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s māyāśakti (power of illusion). They do not belong to the ātmā (the self) itself. Bhagavān Vishṇu is the adhishṭhāna (base) of māyā, and he acts through these guṇas according to which guṇa is strong at the time. Fire takes the form of the wood it burns. In the same way Bhagavān Vishṇu shows himself through the nature that each being brings to him. His action is not bias. It is the answer of the Absolute to each being’s own turning toward him, like a mirror.

This leads to the second question. At Yudhishṭhira’s Rājasūya yajña (fire ritual), Śiśupāla attained sāyujya-mukti (union with Bhagavān Vishṇu). Śiśupāla had abused Kṛshṇa all his life with fierce dvesha (hatred). Yudhishṭhira asks Nārada how a man so hostile reached what even great bhaktas work for.

Nārada’s answer begins the Prahlāda Upākhyāna. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 1)

Five ways of approaching Bhagavān Vishṇu

Nārada teaches that Bhagavān Vishṇu is reached not by one way alone but by the depth of absorption, that is, how firmly the antaḥkaraṇa (the inner mind) is fixed on him:

The Gopīs came to him through kāma (love-desire).
Kaṃsa came through bhaya (fear).
Śiśupāla and Dantavaktra came through dvesha (hatred).
The Yādavas came through bāndhavatva (kinship).
The Pāṇḍavas came through maitrī (friendship).
Nārada and the maharshis came through bhakti (devotion).

The example of the wasp and the larva makes this clear. A wasp shuts a larva in a hole. The larva thinks of the wasp in terror and in time becomes a wasp itself. Jaya and Vijaya were the doorkeepers of Bhagavān Vishṇu at Vaikuṇṭha. Through three births as asuras they fixed their minds on Bhagavān Vishṇu with strong vaira (enmity). Through that very vaira-dhyāna (meditation through enmity) they were cleansed of pāpa (sin) and returned to Vaikuṇṭha.

Nārada then tells the full account of the three births of Jaya and Vijaya. After that he comes to Yudhishṭhira’s second question: how did Hiraṇyakaśipu come to hate his own son Prahlāda, a mahātmā (great soul)? (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 1)

Hiraṇyakaśipu’s grief, his resolve and his tapas

Bhagavān Varāha killed Hiraṇyāksha. His elder brother Hiraṇyakaśipu was filled with grief and rage. His body shook, his eyes blazed and his lips trembled. He made a war speech to his generals and named them one by one: Dvimūrdhā, Tṛksha, Śambara, Śatabāhu, Hayagrīva, Namucī, Pāka, Ilvala, Vipracitti, Pulomā and Śakunī. He ordered them to destroy the three worlds. They were to burn towns, villages, fields, āśramas (hermitages) and sacred forests, cut down trees, and break bridges and walls. The rākshasas carried out this destruction while Hiraṇyakaśipu went to Mandara Parvata to perform tapas.

He then comforted his mother Diti and the nine sons of Hiraṇyāksha. Their names were Śakunī, Śambara, Dhṛshṭa, Bhūtasantāpana, Vṛka, Kālanābha, Mahānābha, Hariśmaśru and Utkaṭa. His speech was full of Vedānta. He spoke of the ātman, which cannot be destroyed, of how all bonds between people pass away, and of how useless grief is. He gave an old account of King Suyajña and Yama in the form of a boy, to teach that mourning for the dead is itself a sign of the same death that will take the mourner. Diti heard these words, gave up her grief and fixed her mind on ātmatattva (the truth of the self).

His tapas at Mandara was extraordinary. He stood on the tip of one toe with his arms raised to the sky. His tapas was so fierce that fire and smoke poured from his head and blazed through all three worlds. The devas were scorched and fled to Brahmaloka. Brahmā came down to the āśrama and found Hiraṇyakaśipu hidden from sight. Ants had eaten his body, and grass and bamboo had grown over him. Only his life breath, in his bones, was left. Brahmā sprinkled holy water from his kamaṇḍalu (water pot). Hiraṇyakaśipu rose from the anthill shining like refined gold. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 2–3)

The five-part vara

Full of joy, Hiraṇyakaśipu sang a long stotra to Brahmā. He praised him as the self-shining creator, the adhishṭhāna of the seven yajñas, the kāla (time) that wears down all beings, and the one ātmā of all. Then he made his famous fivefold request:

Not to be killed by any being that Brahmā created
Not to be killed inside any dwelling or outside it
Not to be killed by day or by night
Not to be killed on the earth or in the sky
Not to be killed by any weapon, or by any living being or lifeless thing

He asked for more: no rival in battle, undisputed rule over all beings, the glory (mahimā) of all the lokapālakas (guardians of the worlds), and the unfailing aiśvarya (power) of the siddhas.

Brahmā knew that these varas were almost impossible to give, yet they could not be refused. He gave them all and declared that his grace is amogha (never fails). (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 3)

Hiraṇyakaśipu conquers the three worlds

Hiraṇyakaśipu held his varas and carried dvesha for Bhagavān Vishṇu in his heart. He conquered all three worlds. He took Indra’s own palace, Mahendrabhavana, built by Viśvakarmā. It had steps of coral, floors of emerald, walls of crystal, pillars of vaidūrya gems, canopies hung with pearl garlands, seats of ruby and beds as white as milk foam. All the lokapālakas except the Trimūrtis stood before him with gifts, trembling at his fierce commands.

The whole world arranged itself for him. The earth gave crops without ploughing. The sky held wonders. Oceans of salt water, āsava (a fermented drink), ghee, honey, curds and milk brought gems to his shore. Yet he was drunk with his aiśvarya and bound by the śāpa (curse) of the Sanakādis, and he could not win over even one of his own senses. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 4)

The devas had lost every refuge. They prayed to Bhagavān Vishṇu at his paramadhāma (highest abode), withdrawn fully inward. A great ākāśavāṇī (voice from the sky) told them that Bhagavān Vishṇu would put an end to Hiraṇyakaśipu’s tyranny when the time came. When Hiraṇyakaśipu would harm Prahlāda, the mahātmā among his own sons, Bhagavān Vishṇu would kill him. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 4)

Prahlāda: his nature and his natural bhakti

Hiraṇyakaśipu had four sons. Prahlāda was the most famous of them for his natural guṇas. The text lists his qualities at length.

Qualities of conduct. He had deep respect for those who know the Veda. He had indriyajaya (mastery of the senses) and satya (truthfulness). He was kind to all beings in the highest way, as if each were his own ātmā.

Qualities toward others. He bowed to great souls like a servant. He loved the poor like a father. He was a friend to his equals like a brother. He looked on his gurus as Īśvara. Although he had high birth, learning, wealth and beauty, he had no abhimāna (pride).

Inner qualities. He felt no fear or distress in hard times. He knew that all pleasures seen or heard of are mithyā (unreal). His senses, prāṇas (life breaths), body and buddhi (mind) were always under perfect control. All his kāmanas (desires) were still.

His chief mark above all was sahajasiddha-prema, a love for Vāsudeva that arose by itself and was never learned. It cannot be taught because it was never absent. From childhood he gave up toys. He looked dull (jaḍa) to others, but he was wholly tanmaya (absorbed) in Kṛshṇa. Sitting, walking, eating, sleeping and speaking, his mind was only on Govinda. Sometimes he wept that Śrī Hari had not shown himself fully. Sometimes he laughed in meditation. Sometimes he sang kīrtana. Sometimes he danced with no thought of himself. Sometimes he fell into deep stillness when he felt the touch of Bhagavān Vishṇu. His bhakti brought śānti (peace) to those who were troubled by the wickedness of the world. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 4)

Prahlāda’s birth: how he received bhakti

Prahlāda himself tells his classmates how he received bhakti. Hiraṇyakaśipu had gone to Mandara Parvata for tapas. Indra and the devas attacked the rākshasas and seized Prahlāda’s mother Kayādhu, who was pregnant. She was the daughter of Jambha and the wife of Hiraṇyakaśipu.

Indra was carrying her away when Nārada Maharshi appeared on the road and stopped him. He said: “O Indra, this pativratā (faithful wife) has done no wrong. In her womb is a child who will be a great bhakta of Śrī Hari. You cannot kill him.” Indra respected Nārada’s word and let Kayādhu go into the care of the ṛshi.

Kayādhu then lived in Nārada’s āśrama. During this time Nārada taught her Bhāgavata tattva (truth): the nature of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the truth of bhakti, and the path of moksha. The teaching was for Kayādhu, but the child in her womb took it in through his mother’s antaḥkaraṇa. When Prahlāda was born, his bhakti had already taken shape in this way. It was not new learning but memory. He was born already knowing. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 7)

Teachers and the nine forms of bhakti

Hiraṇyakaśipu made the two sons of Śukrācārya, Śaṇḍa and Amarka, the teachers of Prahlāda and the other rākshasa children. Prahlāda heard the lessons and repeated them back. But the basis of the teaching was the difference between “mine” and “another’s”, and this gave him no satisfaction.

Once Hiraṇyakaśipu put Prahlāda on his lap and asked him what was the best lesson he had learned. Prahlāda answered that the household is a dark well that makes a person fall into craving for the senses. People should give it up, seek satsaṅga (the company of the good) and take shelter in Śrī Hari. Hiraṇyakaśipu laughed. He ordered Śaṇḍa and Amarka to guard Prahlāda’s mind more closely against those who favour Vishṇu.

On a second day Hiraṇyakaśipu again asked Prahlāda to tell his best learning. Prahlāda gave the full list of the nine forms of bhakti:

Śravaṇa: listening to the līlās (divine acts) of Bhagavān Vishṇu
Kīrtana: singing his glory
Smaraṇa: remembering him
Pādasevanam: serving his feet
Arcana: worshipping him
Vandana: bowing to him
Dāsya: the feeling of being his servant
Sakhya: friendship with him
Ātmanivedana: giving oneself wholly to him

He said that doing any one of these nine with full surrender (samarpaṇa-bhāva) straight to Śrī Hari is the best learning, in his view.

Śaṇḍa protested that he had not taught this. Prahlāda said that Bhagavān Vishṇu himself had changed his buddhi. Iron moves by itself near a magnet, and in the same way his mind melted on its own into Cakrapāṇi Śrī Hari. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 5)

Prahlāda teaches his classmates

One day the teacher went out, and Prahlāda’s fellow students gathered around him. He spoke to them about why bhakti is urgent and what it is for.

Human birth is the only birth in which the purushārtha (highest aim of life) can be reached. It is rare and does not last. Sense pleasure comes by itself from prārabdha-karma (karma already begun) without any effort. So there is no need to run after it, and running after it only wastes the āyus (lifespan). The only worthy act in human life is to take shelter at the feet of Vishṇu. Śrī Hari lives in all beings as antaryāmin (the inner guide). He is the ātmā and the home of prīti (love).

He told how human life is wasted. Half goes in sleep without knowing. Twenty years go in the foolishness and play of childhood. Another twenty go in the weakness of old age. The rest is eaten up by household worries and desire that is never satisfied. The sādhaka (seeker) who sees this must act now, while young, before disease ruins the body.

He told them to seek the dust of the feet of mahātmās. Only when this abhisheka (anointing with the dust of the feet of great souls) happens will the buddhi remember the feet of Śrī Hari without effort. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 6)

The thirteen attempts to kill Prahlāda

Hiraṇyakaśipu’s rage at his son’s steady bhakti grew, and he tried one cruel method after another. All failed:

Piercing his vital points with śūlas (spears). It had no effect.
Trampling by great elephants. It had no effect.
Bites of poisonous snakes. It had no effect.
Black magic (abhichāra). It failed.
Throwing him from mountain peaks. He was not hurt.
Māyā tricks. They could not touch him.
Shutting him in cave prisons. He stayed free in his awareness.
Many poisons. They had no effect.
Starvation. It could not weaken him.
Leaving him in freezing cold. He was not affected.
Casting him into storm winds. He was not hurt.
Throwing him into fire. He was not burned.
Rolling boulders onto him. They crushed nothing.

Every method broke against the shield of Bhagavān Vishṇu’s presence within him. Prahlāda had fixed his mind on Parabrahman Śrī Hari, who lives as the ātmā in all beings. The text says the attacks were like the great efforts of a man without fortune. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 5 and 8)

Hiraṇyakaśipu was bewildered and more and more worried. He thought to himself: “This child freed himself from all my methods by his own tejas (power). His strength is beyond my imagining. He fears nothing. He has no death. I may die through my enmity with him, perhaps.”

The last confrontation and the pillar

In his final fury Hiraṇyakaśipu called Prahlāda before him. He said: “You fool! You depend on a power other than me. Where is that Vishṇu? Is he in this pillar?”

Prahlāda answered calmly: “Śrī Hari is everywhere. He is in the pillar, in you, in me, in all beings.”

Hiraṇyakaśipu was enraged and struck the pillar with his fist. A sound came from inside the pillar like the roar of the dissolution of the universe. The pillar split open. Out of it came Bhagavān Narasiṃha. He was neither man nor lion, neither the one nor the other, but beyond both.

The form was terrible and glorious. He had a lion’s head with blazing eyes and a man’s body of boundless strength. His mane blazed like the sun at the dissolution of the world. His nails were like thunderbolts. He came at the meeting of day and evening, so it was neither day nor night. He was neither on the earth nor in the sky. He took hold of Hiraṇyakaśipu at the threshold of the hall, so it was neither inside nor outside. He laid him across his thighs, which are neither earth nor sky. With his own nails, and no weapon, he tore open the chest of the asura. Every part of Brahmā’s vara was met, and none was broken. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 8)

After the killing: the stotras

When Hiraṇyakaśipu was killed, the beings who had gathered burst out with stotras and flowers from the sky. They were devas, maharshis, siddhas, pitṛs, nāgas, gandharvas, vidyādharas and apsarasas. But the fury of Bhagavān Narasiṃha had not cooled. He sat on Indra’s throne with blazing eyes. The blood of the asura was on his nails, and the moonlight shone on his mane.

No one could go near him. Bṛhaspati and the devas sent Brahmā to calm him. Brahmā sent Śiva. Even Śrī Lakshmī, brought forward by the devas, stopped at the sight of that form unlike any seen before, and she could not go near. The devas sang stotras from a safe distance. Brahmā sang his stotra, Śiva sang his stotra, Indra sang his stotra, and each group of those who had gathered praised Bhagavān Narasiṃha in turn.

At last Brahmā sent Prahlāda himself to Bhagavān Narasiṃha. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 8–9)

Prahlāda calms Narasiṃha

Prahlāda came forward without fear, with folded hands, and fell flat at the feet of Bhagavān Narasiṃha. When Bhagavān Narasiṃha saw his devotee, his heart at once filled with karuṇā (compassion). He lifted Prahlāda and placed his lotus-like hand on the boy’s head. By that touch all the aśubha-vāsanās (bad habits of mind) that Prahlāda had gathered were washed away. At that moment Prahlāda had paramātma-sākshātkāra, direct experience of Parabrahman. His hair stood on end and tears of joy filled his eyes. He meditated with a single mind on the lotus feet of Bhagavān Narasiṃha.

Then, with a calm inner mind and a voice choked with love, Prahlāda offered his stotra.

Bhagavān Narasiṃha was very pleased. He told Prahlāda to ask for any vara he wished. Prahlāda was always free of wishes. He answered that a merchant bhakta, who comes to Bhagavān Vishṇu seeking goods, is not a true bhakta. He is only trading. Prahlāda said he would not bring desire into the field of bhakti. When Bhagavān Narasiṃha pressed him, Prahlāda asked only this: “May I never develop the merchant’s mind in bhakti.” (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 9)

Prahlāda’s coronation

When Bhagavān Narasiṃha was fully calm, Brahmā crowned Prahlāda king of the daityas and of all three worlds. Prahlāda ruled with dharma and gave all his work to Śrī Hari. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 9–10)

Nishkāma bhakti: the last teaching

In Chapter 10, Bhagavān Narasiṃha offered Prahlāda many varas: long life, health, rule, the place of Indra, anything he wished. Prahlāda refused them all with a smile. He said:

“Do not tempt me with these varas, for I am by nature tied to kāmanas. I have vairāgya (freedom from desire). Kāmanas are the roots of saṃsāra (the cycle of birth and death) and the knots in the heart. You tested me, a bhakta, by offering kāmanas, only to see the marks of a bhakta. But I will not accept. May I never, even in a dream, wish for anything from You except bhakti.”

He then asked for one vara for his father. He asked that the pāpas of Hiraṇyakaśipu, however great, be forgiven, because Bhagavān Vishṇu himself had killed him. One killed by the hand of Bhagavān Vishṇu surely reaches the same gati (goal) as those who meditate on him. Bhagavān Narasiṃha told Prahlāda that Hiraṇyakaśipu, and twenty-one generations of his family on both sides, had been made pure by having a mahābhāgavata (great devotee) like Prahlāda in the family. (Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 10)

The Prahlāda account in the Vishṇu Purāṇa

The Prathamāṃśa of the Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa also tells the Prahlāda account. In it Bhagavān Vishṇu appears to Prahlāda during Prahlāda’s own tapas, and Hiraṇyakaśipu in the end makes peace with his son. The details are in Chapters 17 to 21.

Hiraṇyakaśipu’s tyranny and Prahlāda’s bhakti

The Vishṇu Purāṇa gives the family line. Diti, a daughter of Daksha, bore Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyāksha. Hiraṇyakaśipu was drunk with power. He declared himself the supreme being and forbade the pūjā of Vishṇu in all his kingdom. His son Prahlāda was born with bhakti in him. It had passed to him in the womb, because his mother had received the teaching of Nārada during her pregnancy. Prahlāda taught bhakti to Vishṇu to his fellow students, and his firm devotion made Hiraṇyakaśipu furious.

Hiraṇyakaśipu put Prahlāda through every kind of torture: poison, trampling by elephants, throwing from mountain peaks, sinking in water, attack with weapons and binding with snakes. Nothing harmed Prahlāda. The presence of Vishṇu kept him safe through every trial. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapters 17–18)

Prahlāda’s tapas in the ocean

In the Vishṇu Purāṇa, Prahlāda does not wait for Vishṇu to break out of a pillar. He himself takes up tapas. He goes to the floor of the ocean. He sinks himself in the deep, piles mountains on himself, binds himself in chains of snakes, and meditates on Vishṇu from under the weight of the mountains. By going into the hardest conditions of his own will, Prahlāda shows his full surrender. He offers his body as the vessel of this extreme tapas, and he trusts Vishṇu completely. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 19)

Nṛsiṃha appears in the ocean

Vishṇu was moved beyond measure by this complete offering. He appeared in his Nṛsiṃha form (man-lion) in the great ocean. He dissolved the mountains piled on Prahlāda and set free the chains of snakes, and he came to him. He embraced Prahlāda and lifted him from the ocean floor. This appearance was not to punish Hiraṇyakaśipu. It was wholly for Prahlāda, an act of grace toward his devotee.

Hiraṇyakaśipu is not killed in this meeting. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 19)

Vishṇu grants Prahlāda moksha

Vishṇu asked Prahlāda to name his vara. Prahlāda asked for bhakti that never turns away and, in the end, for moksha. Vishṇu gave him paramapada, the highest state. Prahlāda then composed a great stotra in praise of Vishṇu. He praised him as the ātman of all, the witness beyond all guṇas, and the pure chaitanya (awareness) that lights everything. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 20)

Hiraṇyakaśipu makes peace

After Vishṇu appeared to Prahlāda and gave him moksha, Hiraṇyakaśipu saw the divine grace shown to his son. His heart changed, and he made peace with Prahlāda. He is not killed.

The Vishṇu Purāṇa then lists the main dānava, daitya and apsarā lines that come from the various daughters of Daksha. Hiraṇyakaśipu appears in these family lines as an ancestor, not as one whose story has ended. (Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapter 21)

Sources

Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 1: the question about partiality, the five ways of approaching Bhagavān Vishṇu, Jaya and Vijaya
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 2–3: Hiraṇyakaśipu’s grief and tapas, the five-part vara
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 4: the conquest of the three worlds, the voice from the sky, Prahlāda’s nature
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 5: Prahlāda’s teachers and the nine forms of bhakti
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 6: Prahlāda’s teaching to his classmates
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 7: Prahlāda’s birth and Nārada’s teaching to Kayādhu
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 5 and 8: the thirteen attempts on Prahlāda’s life
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 8: the pillar and the killing of Hiraṇyakaśipu
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 8–9: the stotras after the killing
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 9: Prahlāda calms Narasiṃha
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapters 9–10: Prahlāda’s coronation
Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, 7th Skanda, Chapter 10: nishkāma bhakti
Vishṇu Mahā Purāṇa, Prathamāṃśa, Chapters 17–21