The Source of All Strength - Part 1 Date: 2012-04-20 Author: Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Dear Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev. The appearance day of Lord Narasimhadev is fast approaching and it is very purifying to medidate on the most unique transcendental pastimes of the Supreme Lord Narasimhadev and His pure devotee Prahlad Maharaj as much as possible. Prahlad Maharaj was considered as the foremost of pure devotees by all the exalted vaishnavas. He had many unique qualities and the foremost of those qualities is that he was the best preacher among the devotees. He was the best preacher because, 1. He was very respectful of all the living entities from Brahma down to the smallest ant and even to his own father who was completely inimical towards his worshipable Lord Hari. In spite of all the threats and curses of his own father, he was very respectful of him till the end. He was respectful to his teachers Shanda and Amarka also even though they were not teaching him the meaningful subject matter of Krishna. 2. He practiced what he was preaching. He was completely absorbed in the glorification of the Supreme Lord Hari. 3. He was completely fearless in character. He did not fear even the most powerful demon Hiranyakashipu and his cohorts. He kept preaching to them at every available opportunity. 4. He had complete faith in the Supreme Lord and was completely surrendered to His lotus feet. 5. He was extremely compassionate to even the lowest of mankind and thus he compassionately delivered all the sons of the demons by teaching them the science of pure devotional service. He was in fact most compassionate to his own father, for whom he requested for a boon from Lord Narasimhadev to liberate him from the material entanglement. There are many more unlimited transcendental qualities of Prahlad Maharaj which we can see in the next few days, Krishna willing. To begin with, we can see one of the last verses spoken by Prahlad Maharaj to his father before Narasimhadev came and killed him. Hiranyakashipu was extremely enraged upon seeing that all the plans he made to kill Prahlad failed and in fact Prahlad is making the entire world Krishna conscious. When we are caught up in a counteracting spirit, then every time our counteraction fails, we lose our intelligence and device a more filthy plan to counteract. Hiranyakashipu decided to kill his own son, which no father would dare to do at least in the other yugas. He asks Prahlad in extreme anger, "Where did you get the power to oppose me who is the controller of the universe." Prahlad Maharaj was very respectful to his father even at this critical juncture where the sword is going fall on his head any time. It is frightening to imagine ourselves being in that position. We won't even be able to think properly, what to speak of telling something sane to change the mind of a demon. Nothing other than accepting him as the Supreme controller is going to satisfy Hiranyakashipu. Our real preaching spirit is tested when we are put in the most challenging and life threatening situation when we go out to preach the message of God. Prahlad Maharaj replies in SB 7.8.7 very beautifully that are full with meanings but unfortunately Hiranyakashipu could not get it, śrī-prahrāda uvāca na kevalaṁ me bhavataś ca rājan sa vai balaṁ balināṁ cāpareṣām pare ’vare ’mī sthira-jaṅgamā ye brahmādayo yena vaśaṁ praṇītāḥ Prahlada Maharaja said: 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. 1. We can see the first beautiful quality of Sri Prahlad Maharaj in this verse (and a few other verses before this as well). He was very respectful to his father in spite of all the hatred Hiranyakashipu had on his beloved son. He respectfully tells Hiranyakashipu that the Supreme Lord is the source of all the strengths including the strength of Hiranyakashipu himself. That is the most irritating thing to hear for the atheists but just like a doctor who injects the medicine to the patient even though he protests, similarly Prahlad Maharaj also kept speaking the same subject which Hiranyakashipu hated to hear. Prahlad Maharaj reveals in this verse to Hiranyakashipu and all of us that Krishna is the source of all strengths. However he spoke this with all humility and respect to his father. 2. Secondly, we can also see his expert preaching. Hiranyakashipu did not have faith in Lord Hari, however he had substantial faith in Brahma from whom he got all the supernatural boons. However, Prahlad Maharaj declares in this verse clearly that even Brahma is under the control of the Supreme Lord so what to speak of some tiny living entity like Hiranyakashipu? He will be vanquished like the ant in no time. 3. Thirdly, by telling Hiranyakashipu that the Supreme Lord is the source of his strength also and that it is only because Krishna is allowing him to do all these atrocities that he is doing, he declared to Hiranyakashipu that even if he killed him, there is no problem because if Krishna wants him to be killed, no one can save him and on the contrary if Krishna wants to kill him, then no one can protect him. This is a very bold statement to make because it is not an easy joke to preach to demons who hates even the vision of the Supreme Lord and even going to the extent of saying that the Supreme Lord is the source of Hiranyakashipu's strength also. This statement (that Krishna is the ultimate owner of all our possessions and we are only His instruments) is as much relishable to devotees as it is despicable to the non- devotees. Hiranyakashipu heard from Prahlad Maharaj what he did not want to hear - that even he (Hiranyakashipu) is acting this way only because the Lord approved of his plans (at least temporarily). Let us meditate more on the transcendental qualities of Prahlad Maharaj in the subsequent mails, Krishna willing. Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev, Kalacakra Krsna das. The Source of All Strength - Part 2 Date: 2012-04-22 Author: ​​​​​​​Kalacakra Krsna das Hare Krishna Dear Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudev. In our previous offering on this topic we saw some of the beautiful transcendental qualities of Prahlad Maharaj by which he always attracts the Supreme Lord Narasimhadev. In the verse SB 7.8.7 we saw that Prahlad Maharaj categorically rejected the mindset of Hiranyakashipu that he was the owner and controller of all the worlds. He said that the Supreme Lord is the source of all his strength and also Hiranyakashipu's strength. Then he goes further to say in SB 7.8.8 that whatever power that Hiranyakshipu thinks as his own - the power of his senses, power of his mind, power of his body, all the vital force is all the power of the Supreme Lord. With every word spoken by Prahlad Maharaj the anger of Hiranyakashipu kept increasing unlimitedly. Srila Prabhupada says in his purport to SB 7.8.11 beautifully, "If good instructions are given to a foolish person, he does not take advantage of them, but becomes more and more angry...Prahlada Maharaja's Vaishnava preaching to his demoniac father was indirectly effective, for because of Hiranyakashipu's excessive jealousy of Krishna and His devotee, he was inviting Nrsimhadeva to kill him very quickly. Thus he was expediting his being killed by the Lord Himself." Hence a devotee's preaching never goes waste. As long as the preaching is done with the motive of glorifying the Supreme Lord, elevating the consciousness of the living entities and for the welfare of the world, that preaching will never be useless. Hiranyakashipu kept thinking that Lord Vishnu and His devotees are his deadly enemy. He hated to even hear the name 'Vishnu'. So much was his enemity towards the Lord. And because Prahlad Maharaj was glorifying the Supreme Lord, he also became an enemy to Hiranyakashipu. However Prahlad Maharaj pointed to him who is his real enemy in SB 7.8.9, jahy āsuraṁ bhāvam imaṁ tvam ātmanaḥ samaṁ mano dhatsva na santi vidviṣaḥ ṛte ’jitād ātmana utpathe sthitāt tad dhi hy anantasya mahat samarhaṇam Prahlad Maharaj continued: My dear father, please give up your demoniac mentality. Do not discriminate in your heart between enemies and friends; make your mind equipoised 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 worshiping the Lord perfectly. There are a few salient points to meditate in this verse: 1. Prahlad Maharaj, the foremost of pure devotees, gives the definite conclusion that there is only one enemy for all of us in this world and that is our uncontrolled and misguided mind. Once we accept and realize this point, and make the mind as our friend (by making it listen to all our commands), then there is no way we are going to have any enemy within this world.