Fearless Devotion - The Prayers and Preaching of Prahlāda Mahārāja

This compiled article presents a thematic survey of the verses spoken by Prahlāda Mahārāja. It organizes the profound teachings found in the comprehensive Vaniquotes category Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam Verses Spoken by Prahlāda Mahārāja. Prahlāda is unique among the mahājanas (great authorities) because he preached in the most hostile environment imaginable—a school for demons run by atheists—and pacified the Supreme Lord in His most ferocious form, Nṛsiṁhadeva, when even the demigods trembled.

Instructions to Schoolmates: The Futility of Material Life

Prahlāda Mahārāja utilized his time in school not to learn politics, but to enlighten his demoniac friends about the temporary nature of material happiness.

Value of Human Life

  • "The human form of life affords one a chance to return home, back to Godhead. Therefore every living entity, especially in the human form of life, must engage in devotional service."
  • "One who is sufficiently intelligent should use the human form of body from the very beginning of life - in other words, from the tender age of childhood."
  • "While in material existence (bhavam āśritaḥ), a person fully competent to distinguish wrong from right must endeavor to achieve the highest goal of life as long as the body is stout and strong and is not embarrassed by dwindling."
  • "The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can perform devotional service."
  • "Since the opportunity of human life is temporary, what benefit can these material opulences give to a sensible man who has understood himself to be eternal?"

Waste of Time

  • "In the tender age of childhood, when everyone is bewildered, one passes ten years. Similarly, in boyhood, engaged in sporting and playing, one passes another ten years. In this way, twenty years are wasted."
  • "Every human being has a maximum duration of life of one hundred years, but for one who cannot control his senses, half of those years are completely lost because at night he sleeps twelve hours."
  • "In this way, my Lord, You appear in various incarnations as a human being, an animal, a great saint, a demigod, a fish or a tortoise, thus maintaining the entire creation in different planetary systems and killing the demoniac principles."

Illusion of Family and Household Life

Silkworm Analogy
  • "The attached householder is like a silkworm, which weaves a cocoon in which it becomes imprisoned, unable to get out."
  • "One who is too attached cannot understand that he is wasting his valuable life for the maintenance of his family."
  • "Money is so dear that one conceives of money as being sweeter than honey. Therefore, who can give up the desire to accumulate money, especially in household life?"
  • "How can a person who is most affectionate to his family, the core of his heart being always filled with their pictures, give up their association? Specifically, a wife is always very kind and sympathetic and always pleases her husband in a solitary place."
  • "Who could give up the association of such a dear and affectionate wife? Small children talk in broken language, very pleasing to hear, and their affectionate father always thinks of their sweet words. How could he give up their association?"
Blind Well
  • "My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, because of my association with material desires, one after another, I was gradually falling into a blind well full of snakes, following the general populace."
  • "The mind entraps the living entity in unlimited varieties of desires to be fulfilled by the Vedic directions of karma-kāṇḍa."
  • "One's riches, beautiful wife and female friends, one's sons and daughters, one's residence, one's domestic animals like cows - indeed, even the lifetime in which one can enjoy all these material opulences - are certainly temporary and flickering."

Critique of Material Happiness

  • "In this material world, every living entity desires some future happiness, which is exactly like a mirage in the desert."
  • "A materialistic person, thinking himself very advanced in intelligence, continually acts for economic development. But again and again, as enunciated in the Vedas, he is frustrated by material activities, either in this life or in the next."
  • "Although life on the heavenly planets is hundreds and thousands of times more comfortable than life on earth, the heavenly planets are not pure."
  • "Happiness is very difficult to obtain, but because they (living entities) are unable to control their senses, they run after the so-called happiness of the material world."

Science of the Soul (Sāṅkhya)

Prahlāda teaches that true intelligence involves analyzing the difference between the body and the self.

Analyzing Spirit vs. Matter

  • "An expert geologist can understand where there is gold and by various processes can extract it from the gold ore. Similarly, a spiritually advanced person can understand how the spiritual particle exists within the body."
  • "Sober and expert persons should search for the spirit soul with minds purified through analytical study."
  • "As one can understand the presence of the air by the aromas it carries, so, under the guidance of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one can understand the living soul."
  • "One must find the soul by analysis, saying, 'This is not it. This is not it.' Thus one must separate spirit from matter."

Nature of the Body

  • "A living entity desires comfort for his body and makes many plans for this purpose, but actually the body is the property of others."
  • "As for this body, what is its value? It is merely a source of various diseases."
  • "Since the body itself is ultimately meant to become stool or earth, what is the meaning of the paraphernalia related to the body, such as wives, residences, wealth, children, relatives, servants, friends, kingdoms, treasuries, animals and ministers?"

Prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva

Upon the death of his father, Prahlāda offered prayers that are famous for their purity, lack of selfishness, and deep philosophical insight.

On Fear and Fearlessness

  • "I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails."
  • "My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun or Your frowning eyebrows."
  • "O most powerful, insurmountable Lord, who are kind to the fallen souls, I have been put into the association of demons as a result of my activities, and therefore I am very much afraid of my condition of life within this material world."
  • "My dear Lord, O infallible one, my position is like that of a person who has many wives, all trying to attract him in their own way."
  • "Please (Nṛsiṁhadeva) appear in our hearts and drive away our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless."

Universal Compassion

  • "I (Prahlāda Mahārāja) see that there are many saintly persons indeed, but they are interested only in their own deliverance. Not caring for the big cities and towns, they go to the Himalayas or the forest to meditate with vows of silence (mauna-vrata)."
  • "I do not wish to be liberated alone, leaving aside all these poor fools and rascals."
  • "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."
  • "May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified."

Pure Devotion vs. Business

  • "A servant who desires material profits from his master is certainly not a qualified servant or pure devotee."
  • "One who desires some material benefit in exchange for devotional service cannot be Your pure devotee. Indeed, he is no better than a merchant who wants profit in exchange for service."
  • "O my Lord, best of the givers of benediction, if You at all want to bestow a desirable benediction upon me, then I pray from Your Lordship that within the core of my heart there be no material desires."
  • "If a brāhmaṇa has all twelve of the brahminical qualifications but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than a devotee who is a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything to the Supreme Lord."

Source of Knowledge: Nārada Muni

Prahlāda attributes his exceptional qualities entirely to the mercy of his guru and the association of Vaiṣṇavas.

  • "Nārada Muni delivered his instructions both to me, who was within the womb, and to my mother, who was engaged in rendering him service."
  • "My mother has forgotten all those instructions because of the long duration of time that has passed and because of her being a woman and therefore less intelligent; but the great sage Nārada blessed me, and therefore I could not forget them."
  • "Your servant Nārada Muni kindly accepted me as his disciple and instructed me how to achieve this transcendental position."
  • "Unless they smear upon their bodies the dust of the lotus feet of a Vaiṣṇava completely freed from material contamination, persons very much inclined toward materialistic life cannot be attached to the lotus feet of the Lord."

Dive Deeper into Srila Prabhupada's Vani

This article is a thematic compilation of the direct words of Prahlāda Mahārāja as presented in the Vaniquotes category Bhagavatam Verses Spoken by Prahlada Maharaja. We invite you to visit the link to read the complete collection of verses in their original context.

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