There once lived a king named Hiranyakashyapu. Through many years of penance he had acquired a boon that he would not die either during the day or night, either in his house or outside, by assault from either man or animal and by no weapon made of either metal or wood. The boon gave him a lot of power so he lived recklessly and ruled ruthlessly.

His son Prahlada, was Lord Vishnu’s devotee. Prahlada was different from other children of his age. He spent the whole day thinking & singing the Lord’s name. But father Hiranyakasipu was not happy. He believed that he was greater than God & so his son should not worship anybody else. On his son’s fifth b’day, he said, ”Son, I want you to learn to be a great prince with power & money. You will have special teachers to teach you.”

The child was not interested & said, ”Please father, I don’t want to be a king like you. There is nothing more for me to learn. Lord Vishnu is my teacher. He is my protector. I find him all around him & no one can separate me from my Lord.”

Hiranyakasipu did not give up. He tried to shake his son’s faith in the Lord. ”Make sure he does not mix with Vishnu’s devotees. The less he worships Lord Vishnu, the sooner he can learn the kingly arts” he told the teachers.

After few days, Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlada again, ”Tell me son, what did you learn from your teacher today”. Prahlada replied,” Surrendering everything that one has to be with the Lord is the lesson I learnt today”. The furious father lost his patience & he ordered the asuras to hurt Prahlada, but all failed.

Holika, the sister of Hiranyakasipu, was blessed in that she could not be hurt by fire. Hiranyakashipu finally put Prahlada on the lap of Holika as she sat on a pyre. Prahlada prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. Astonishingly Holika burned to death while Prahlada was unscathed. This event is celebrated as the Hindu festival of Holika Dahan (the night before the festival of colors-Holi) where Hindus light up a bonfire to celebrate Bhakta Prahlada’s victory.

So the enraged father asked his son,” Where is your Lord Vishnu, Lord of the Worlds you speak so highly of? Is he here in this pillar?” he asked, smashing the pillar. Just then a frightening thunder sound was heard. Lord Vishnu, in the form of Narasimha stepped out, half human and half lion! It was neither day nor night (twilight time) when this happened. He lifted the king and took him to the threshold of the palace so that, they were neither inside nor outside the palace. There he placed the king on his lap and killed him with neither metal nor wood, but with his claws. Prahlada went to Narsimha Avatar, who showed his true form as Lord Vishnu & blessed him with long life.

The story of Prahlada teaches that:

 Faith in God is important.  God saves his devotees.  Devotion can be practiced at any time. Age does not matter.  Evil will be punished.  God is everywhere