Srimad Bhagavatam – 1.12.25 by HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj @ ISKCON Chennai on 24 Jan 2025
dhṛtyā bali-samaḥ kṛṣṇe
prahrāda iva sad-grahaḥ
āhartaiṣo ’śvamedhānāṁ
vṛddhānāṁ paryupāsakaḥ
Translation
This child will be like Bali Mahārāja in patience, a staunch devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa like Prahlāda Mahārāja, a performer of many aśvamedha [horse] sacrifices and a follower of the old and experienced men.
Purport
Bali Mahārāja: One of the twelve authorities in the devotional service of the Lord. Bali Mahārāja is a great authority in devotional service because he sacrificed everything to please the Lord and relinquished the connection of his so-called spiritual master who obstructed him on the path of risking everything for the service of the Lord. The highest perfection of religious life is to attain to the stage of unqualified devotional service of the Lord without any cause or without being obstructed by any kind of worldly obligation. Bali Mahārāja was determined to give up everything for the satisfaction of the Lord, and he did not care for any obstruction whatsoever. He is the grandson of Prahlāda Mahārāja, another authority in the devotional service of the Lord. Bali Mahārāja and the history of his dealings with Viṣṇu Vāmanadeva are described in the Eighth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (Chapter 11-24).
Prahlāda Mahārāja: A perfect devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa (Viṣṇu). His father, Hiraṇyakaśipu, chastised him severely when he was only five years old for his becoming an unalloyed devotee of the Lord. He was the first son of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and his mother’s name was Kayādhu. Prahlāda Mahārāja was an authority in the devotional service of the Lord because he had his father killed by Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, setting the example that even a father should be removed from the path of devotional service if such a father happens to be an obstacle. He had four sons, and the eldest son, Virocana, is the father of Bali Mahārāja, mentioned above. The history of Prahlāda Mahārāja’s activities is described in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.
HH Bhanu Swami Maharaj :
So here, the child Pariksit is compared with other great devotees. And these devotees are very famous, so famous that whole sections of the Bhagavatam are devoted to their pastimes. So Bali is described in the eighth canto of Bhagavatam, as it says here from chapter 11 to 24. And Prahlada Maharaj is described in many chapters of the seventh canto of Srimad Bhagavatam. So Srimad Bhagavatam’s main topic is, of course, ultimately glorification of the Lord and glorification of Krishna. But it also is a glorification of various devotees. So the wonderful qualities of the Lord are manifested when the Supreme Lord interacts with the devotees. So in the ninth canto, there is a verse that says, it is not such a glory that Rama killed so many asuras or built the bridge to Sri Lanka.
Of course, many poets will describe these activities with great astonishment. But that is not the actual glory and fame of Ramachandra. His real glory is his interaction with his devotees.
So not only for Krishna, but all the forms of the Lord, their major activity is to relate to the devotees in the spiritual world, there is no demons there. When the Lord comes to the material world, then there is plenty of opportunities for the Lord to kill demons. In doing so, the Lord displays his skill and his powers. And certainly, he is unequalled in the skill and powers. So we should appreciate that.
But as Prabhupada also explains in Bhagavad Gita, the real purpose of Krishna is not simply to come into the material world and destroy the demons. The principle activity of the Lord is to interact with devotees, out of which the Lord gets bliss and the devotees get bliss. In the spiritual world, no demons are there, so His activity with the devotees is very, very prominent. When the Lord comes to the material world, then we have so many demons, so therefore, the Lord displays all of His powers.
However, this display of these powers is nothing for the Supreme Lord. And he would rather interact with His devotees. So, we see in the case of Prahlada, Nrsimhadeva appeared out of anger, because Hiranyakasipu was harassing his devotee, Prahlada. And then he killed Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyakasipu was a great demon, he had great powers, but the Lord did not have to bother too much. So in the Bhagavatam it is compared to Garuda catching a snake. So Garuda catches the snake very easily, then he will let it go, and the snake will hiss, then he will catch it again, and very easily Garuda can kill the snake. So the Lord displays his powers, very easily he can kill Hiranyakasipu. So of course, the display of powers is part of the nature of the Supreme Lord, He has all powers. And thus, the Lord partakes of these pastimes, and he also gets bliss.
Originally in the story, Hiranyakasipu was in the spiritual world, he was one of the doorkeepers. But then, as a doorkeeper he was thinking, I know that the Lord has this desire to fight, by which he can become blissful, but nobody in the spiritual world to fight. So maybe I should become a big demon, and then I can fight with the Lord, and he will be pleased, this way I will give him bliss [Laughs].
So of course, there is bliss in the Lord when he does this, because he is protecting the devotee. He also gets to display secondary rasas, like virya rasa, which is his courageous, heroic nature. And of course, Nrsimhadeva is famous for anger. But these are, of course, in the spiritual world, they are there as secondary rasas. But in the spiritual world, no demons.
So how do you display the secondary rasas? So the primary way of displaying secondary rasas is with devotees. Of course, it’s not real anger. It’s not real tamasic anger, everything is spiritual. And when this is displayed against demons, it’s not considered real rasas, secondary, because it’s not devotees [Laughs]. So the Lord’s main interaction is with devotees, and that’s how he gets his main bliss. So all the rasas, primary and secondary, in the spiritual world, are displayed in relation to devotees. And that is much more pleasurable for the Lord than displaying some sort of rasa with a demon.
So though Nrsimhadeva was completely absorbed in fighting and showing his prowess and being angry at Hiranyakasipu, when he saw Prahlada, suddenly, no more anger. So his absorption with a demon was replaced by absorption in a devotee. Of course, his absorption in killing Hiranyakasipu is directly related to his affection for Prahlada. So after killing Hiranyakasipu, when Prahlada appeared, then Nrsimhadeva showed his great affection for Prahlada. And this gave bliss to Nrsimhadeva and to Prahlada. And thus, the devotees are very prominent in the pastimes of the Lord.
The Ananda or bliss of the Lord is experienced through pastimes. And the pastimes are in relation to devotees. So thus, when we glorify the Lord, we also have to glorify and describe the devotees of the Lord. So a lot of these chapters describing the pastime of Nrsimhadeva are involved in glorifying Prahlada. So Bali Maharaj also, actually he came in a demon family, same as Prahlada’s family, descended from Hiranyakasipu, but he became a great devotee also.
And he is so famous that he is an example of Atma-nivedana, offering everything to the Lord. So not only he offered all his possessions, he also offered himself. So this, in spite of the fact that he came in a demon family, and he actually is a demon, he got control of heavenly planets, etc., still, he was a great devotee, so he gave everything to the Lord. And the Lord was very pleased with this. And thus he gave him a kingdom in Sutala Loka.
So both these devotees are profusely glorified in the Bhagavatam. Here it says that Bali Maharaj is famous for his patience or ‘dhrti’. What was his ‘dhrti’, what was his forbearance? His Guru Sukracharya said ‘Don’t give anything to [laughs] Vamana, he is cheating you.’ But whatever arguments Sukracharya gave, Bali Maharaj didn’t listen, and he gave everything to Vamana Deva. And similarly, Prahlada, he is a great devotee. Why is he a great devotee? Because in spite of all of the obstacles created by Hiranyakashipu, he did not waver in his devotion.
So in the nine types of devotional service, Prahlada is given as an example of smaranam, always remembering the Lord. Of course, in bhakti we have many different processes. But three primary ones are Sravanam, Kirtanam and Smaranam. And Prahlada is a great example of Smaranam.
So, Pariksit Maharaj is predicted here by the Brahmins to get all the wonderful qualities of these great personalities including these very great devotees. So, many qualities are mentioned, the most important quality is that he is a great devotee. Similarly, like Bhagavad Gita, many different qualities of the devotees are given, but the primary quality is to be a devotee of the Lord. And naturally, all wonderful qualities will follow after that one quality.
Hare Krishna.
No Q & A