Fwd: Namasthe- Who was Prahlada?

May 8, 2009

Savitri Puram <savitriopuram

wrote:

Dear all,

In Bhagavad Gita Bhagavan said:

Antha kale cha smaran mukthva kalebaram ya: prayaathi sa madbhaavam

Yaathi naasthi athra samshaya:

(One who thinks of me at the time of death will attain me. This is

Beyond doubt.)

Also Bhagavan clarifies further by saying: & quot;What you are thinking at the

time of your death shapes your next janma because you would have meditated or

continuously thought about that for a long time in your life and because of that

vaasana you would be able to think only of that. & quot;

In Bhagavatham Jadabharatha's story illustrates this point. Bharatha,

son of Rishabha Deva was a great devotee of Bhagavan. But he was deeply

attached to a deer and ended up thinking of it at the time of death. He was born

as a deer and later got a human janma and got salvation.

It is interesting to note that Bhaktha Prahlada was born as an Asura, as the son

of the greatest enemy of Vishnu Bhagavan. Why such a saatvic soul was born in

the asura woman Kayadhu's womb? Here is the story behind Prahlada's birth in the

demon family.

There lived a scholar called Sivasharman. He had a son by the name

Somasharman. Somasharman was a very pious boy and was not interested in worldly

matters. So after his education, he lived in the village of Salagramam

worshipping God by doing yoga and meditation. Not far from Salagramam, a group

of asuras lived and often they made lot of noises by celebrating their

auspicious moments. They drank, danced and their loud noises polluted the

atmosphere. Somasharman ignored this disturbance and continued to live there.

Somasharman's time of death was approaching and he did meditation and

went into samadhi. At that time, these asuras started their celebrations and

unfortunately Somasharman woke up from samadhi due to the terrible noises around

him. In his death bed he was frightened by the terrible sounds made by them and

could not think of his Ishtadevatha amidst the fear and unrest. Poor Somasharman

died hearing these inauspicious and scary sounds made by the asuras.

Since he died with the fear of Asuras, he was born as an asura boy to

Demon King Hiranyakashipu. Because of his past pious life, he was fortunate to

listen to the whole of Bhagavatham from Narada Muni when he was in his mother's

womb. Even though he was born as an Asura boy he had absolutely no demonic or

aasuric nature and as we know he became the greatest devotee of Vishnu Bhagavan.

This shows that even the nearness of evil people can drag us into

unpleasant situations. Likewise, satsangam or nearness of sajjanaas

helps us to get closer to Bhagavan .

Sreekrishnaarpanamasthu.

Regards and prayers

Savitri

May 8, 2009

Respected Savithri Ji,

Jai Shri Krishna

The story of Prahlada is interesting and evergreen. But there is another

version or hidden implication behind Prahlad. Prahlad means Pra+ Aalhad= Perfect

enjoyment or total anand. When a man/woman or child or old man remains mentally

attached with the God, he has no fear from anything or even from death as he has

full faith in God and His Power. By doing so, a devotee is not bothered of all

the atrocities. Prahlad faced all such cruelities committed by his demon father

or his servants on his behalf. Determined Devotion to God allays the fear of

fire or serpents or ferocious elephants or throwing down from mountain. In

Prahalad word the suffix Pra means total or complete and Aalhad means to dance

or chant or pray in ecstacy like Chaitnya Mahaprabhu or Mira Bai or Ras Khan or

any Sufi Saints in Islam. In Shri Gita Chapter 10 Verse no. 30 God Krishna

says---Prahladashchaasmi Daityaanaam. Attraction towards God while leaving all

demoniacal instincts is

Prahlad. When a soul becomes impatient to be united with Supreme Soul that is

Krishna, such mental condition is named as Prahlad. With such Union, a devoteee

becomes Guru Nanak, Kabir Das and dances with his/her own song/hymn emanating

from his own fountain of devotion.