Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.29

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṅa: Translation: "O the unlimited reservoir of transcendental qualities, my Lord, You have killed my father, Hiraṅyakaśipu, and saved my life from the sword of my father. And he said very angrily, 'If there is any other supreme controller than myself, then let Him save you. I shall now separate your head from the body.' Therefore, for both reasons, I consider that You have acted at present just to prove the words of Your devotee truthfully, and there is no other cause."

Prabhupāda:

mat-prāṅa-rakṣaṅam ananta pitur vadhaś ca manye sva-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum khaḍgaṁ pragṛhya yad avocad asad-vidhitsus tvām īśvaro mad-aparo 'vatu kaṁ harāmi [SB 7.9.29]

So before Hiraṅyakaśipu was killed by His Lordship Nṛsiṁhadeva, Prahlāda Mahārāja never addressed his father as "father," pituḥ. Now, after his death, he is addressing pituḥ, "my father." Because before his death he was demon. Everyone knows. But if a demon is killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he becomes liberated—either demon or anyone. Demons are generally killed by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. They enter into the impersonal Brahman. Therefore there is a verse—I don't remember exactly now—that "The monist and the demons, they go to the same place: impersonal Brahman." And what to speak of devotees? Devotees never enter to that impersonal Brahman. Devotees enter directly in the Vaikuṅṭha planet. Mām eti. Mām eti. Kṛṣṅa said, tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma naiti mām eti [Bg 4.9].

[One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.]

Yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāmaṁ paramaṁ mama [Bg 15.6].

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

If you enter the Vaikuṅṭha planets... There are innumerable Vaikuṅṭha planets, and above them there is the Goloka Vṛndāvana planet, Kṛṣṅaloka. So in either of them if you enter, then that is not impersonal. Personal. Impersonal Brahman is outside. Although impersonal Brahman is also spiritual existence, but it is outside the Vaikuṅṭha planets.

So the demons and the impersonalists, they cannot enter into the Vaikuṅṭha planet. And because they cannot enter into the Vaikuṅṭha planet, they again fall down, again fall down in this material world. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

Patanty adhaḥ. Adhaḥ means in this material world. Those who are impersonalists, they may enter into the Brahman effulgence, āruhya kṛcchreṅa, with severe execution of penance and austerities. The Māyāvādīs, they perform severe austerity. Those who are actually Brahmavādī, their mode of life is very, very strict and severe also. So even after severe penances and austerities one enters into the Brahman effulgence, there is no security. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ. Why they come down? Now, anādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ: "Because they did not get the information about Your lotus feet." That means person. When we speak of "feet" or "hand," that means the Supreme Person, a person. But they do not accept the person. That is their difficulty. They'll never accept that the Absolute Truth is person. Therefore they fall down again and again. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19].

So Prahlāda Mahārāja says, mat-prāṅa-rakṣaṅam ananta pitur vadhaś ca. The two things are there. When Kṛṣṅa incarnates there are two things. What are they? Paritrāṅāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām [Bg 4.8].

[In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I advent Myself millennium after millennium.]

Two things. So here two things are being done. One thing is to save Prahlāda Mahārāja, paritrāṅāya sādhunam, and another thing is vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām yuge yuge sambhavāmi. So actually vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, it doesn't require the presence of the Supreme Lord. The nature's arrangement is so strong that anyone can be finished within a second—anyone. There is no need of Kṛṣṅa's taking so much trouble to come here. But He comes especially for deliverance of the devotee, bhakta-vatsala, and side work, to kill the demons. That is not His business. The Māyā, Durgādevī, is sufficiently powerful to kill any demon within a second. There is no difficulty. Simply by ordering Māyā... Or Māyā does not wait the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. She can understand what the Lord wants. Simply little indication, she can kill hundreds and thousands of demons in one stroke. Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā [Bs 5.44].

[The external potency Māyā who is of the nature of the shadow of the cit potency, is worshiped by all people as Durgā, the creating, preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. I adore the primeval Lord Govinda in accordance with whose will Durgā conducts herself.]

Sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya. She can do that.

So it is not the business of the Supreme Personality of Godhead to come to take this botheration. But why Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva appeared? He appeared... One thing is that mat-prāṅa-rakṣaṅam. This is one business. Another business was this. What is that? Sva-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum. Sva-bhṛtya. Brahmā, he is bhṛtya, servant of Kṛṣṅa. So he did something very, I mean to say, obnoxious by offering all the benediction to Hiraṅyakaśipu. He was a very cunning materialist. First of all he asked for becoming immortal, but when he learned that that is not possible, then he thought, "I am very intelligent diplomat. I can screw out my fulfillment of desire in a indirect way." So all these people in this material world, they have got a cheating propensity. Out of four deficiency, one deficiency is cheating. Every wants... One wants to cheat his fellow man, man or beast, everyone. Even the dog, cats, they are also. You know the story. The dog wanted to take another flesh from the mouth of another dog, reflection, and he lost both. So this cheating, this misuse of intelligence, is going on, but that is never successful. It will never be successful because Kṛṣṅa is always more than you. If you are a cheater, but Kṛṣṅa can cheat you more than what you know. That Kṛṣṅa knows. Otherwise how Kṛṣṅa can be...? "God is great." So if you want to cheat Kṛṣṅa, He can cheat you more than what you know. So that is not possible. Therefore this Hiraṅyakaśipu thought himself to be very intelligent and wanted to cheat Kṛṣṅa and His servant, but he was cheated actually.

Therefore he said that tad-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum. Ṛṣi-vākya. Even the devotee or the servant of Kṛṣṅa says something, even it is wrong, Kṛṣṅa upholds this. Kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ pranaśyati [Bg 9.31].

[He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.]

So even it is wrongly done, still, Kṛṣṅa fulfills because He thinks that "My servant has promised; it must be fulfilled." Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja, in the previous verse he has said, tava bhṛtya-pārśva. So to serve the servant of Kṛṣṅa is better than to serve directly Kṛṣṅa, because if the servant of Kṛṣṅa promises something, if the servant of Kṛṣṅa says, "I'll take you to Kṛṣṅaloka," you must go there. Even Kṛṣṅa cannot do that. He can; I mean to say that He does not say very easily. But if a servant... Yasya prasādād bhagavat-prasādaḥ. Therefore our philosophy is to please the servant of God, tad-bhṛtya, bhṛtyasya bhṛtya. Then it is very nice. The success is...

So here it is said that sva-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum. So Brahmā gave him benediction. He asked, "Sir, I'll not die at night." "Yes, that's all right." "I'll not die in daytime." "That's all right." "I'll not die in the sky." "That's all right." "On the land." "That's all right." "On the water." "That's all right." "No animal can kill me." "That's all right." "No man can." "That's all right." So he thought, "Now I am secure. There is no death." But Kṛṣṅa is so intelligent that He killed him not at night, not in day, not in the sky, not on the land, not on the water, not by animal, not by man—all things, ṛtam; yes, everything kept. Still, he was killed. He was killed in the evening, which you cannot say it is day or night. He was killed on the lap of the Lord. You cannot say it is sky, land or water. He did not kill him with the open weapon, but He killed with His nails. In this way you'll find that He kept everything intact, what benediction was given by Lord Brahmā, ṛtaṁ vidhātum: "Yes." At last, of course, He little chastised Brahmā, that "You should not give such benediction in future. This is botheration for Me." [laughs] [laughter] But still, He kept His servant's promise intact. The demon was also killed, and the promise given by..., benediction given by Brahma, everything... That is the action of the Supreme Personality. In one stroke He is doing so many things. He's saving Prahlāda Mahārāja, He's killing Hiraṅyakaśipu, He's keeping intact the promise of Brahmā—everything. That is God's intelligence. Our intelligence, however diplomat we may be, if we want to do anything, another thing is not managed nicely. But Kṛṣṅa... That is called all potency. When He does something, in a moment He can adjust everything. Even opposite actions He can adjust. That is Kṛṣṅa. Therefore He's called all-powerful. We cannot do that.

So mat-prāṅa-rakṣaṅam ananta pitur vadhaś ca manye sva-bhṛtya-ṛṣi-vākyam ṛtaṁ vidhātum: "So Your incarnation is there for fulfilling so many objectives. And especially there was challenge by my father, taking his sword." Khaḍgaṁ pragṛhya yad avocad asad-vidhitsuḥ. Asad-vidhitsuḥ: "I shall kill you." This is asat-vidhitsuḥ, to say like that, "I shall kill you." Nobody can kill anyone. This is asat. "I shall give you," "I shall kill you," "I shall protect you"—no, you cannot do anything. Bālasya neha śaraṅaṁ pitarau [SB 7.9.19]. Nobody can do anything unless it is sanctioned by God. You don't promise anything. Therefore a devotee always says, "If Kṛṣṅa desires, it will be done." That is the fact. That is the fact. So when Hiraṅyakaśipu was very much proud, unnecessarily challenging Prahlāda that "You are not accepting my philosophy that I am God. You are searching after another God. All right, let me kill you and I'll see how your God can give you protection..." That was his challenge. Yes.

So Prahlāda Mahārāja knew it, that "Unless Kṛṣṅa desires, you cannot kill me." Therefore it is asat-vidhi. If one is very much proud and challenges the authority of the Supreme, that is asat; that is not sat. Rākhe kṛṣṅa māre ke, māre kṛṣṅa rākhe ke. Prahlāda Mahārāja knew it, that "You may challenge me, but I know you cannot kill me." He was confident devotee. "All right, I am... He is also... I am also challenging. I am standing here. Let me be killed by you." That is not possible. Asad-vidhitsus mad-aparo 'vatu kaṁ harāmi. And so it was challenged by the Hiraṅyakaśipu that "You are searching after another God than me. Now I shall kill you. Let me see how another God..." This is demonic. The demonic means atheist and unnecessarily, falsely, very much proud of their knowledge. This is demonic. This morning as I was talking, falsely, the so-called scientists, they are falsely proud and challenge, "There is no God. Everything..." That is demonic.

So in the Kali-yuga the demonic spirit is very, very prominent. Everyone is thinking "I am God." So it is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's mercy to cure all these madmen. Madmen.

piśācī pāile yena mati-cchanna haya māyār grasta jīvera haya se dāsa udaya [Prema-vivarta 1]

[When a living entity is conditioned by material nature, he is exactly like a person haunted by a ghost.]

Piśācī, ghost-haunted. A man is ghost-haunted, he speaks all nonsense. So in this age, Kali-yuga, they are mostly like that. They speak all nonsense. So we should be careful not to accept their proposal. We shall stick to Kṛṣṅa consciousness. We shall accept what Kṛṣṅa says and reject everything. Then we'll be saved.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Prabhupāda. Haribol. [end]