Re: Other Pastimes of Shrila Prahlada Maharaja

Respected Swamiji and Vaisnavas,

   Nityananda Gauranga Hare Krishna! Please accept my respectful obeisances!

   The Madhva sampradaya holds slightly different views on Prahlada Maharaja.

   In addition I would like to quote something that is very actively propounded by the Madhvacharya sampradaya on Prahlada. According to them, he initially served Brahma in Satyaloka with the name of Sankukarna and he was assigned the duty of collecting flowers for the worship of Lord Visnu. One day he was late in returning from his service and hence Brahma was angry that the worship of Visnu had been delayed. Hence Brahma cursed him to be born in a family of daityas.

   The Madhva Sampradaya also states that Prahlada Maharaja appeared twice in their sampradaya, as Vyasatirtha and Raghavendra Tirtha. They substantiate this stating that it had been declared by Goddess Sarasvati. They also state that he took one more appearance as Bahlika Maharaja (in the Mahabharata, he was killed by Bhima while fighting on the side of the Kauravas, because he wanted to have a glimpse of Lord Krishna.)

   There are some different views on Prahlada Maharaja in this manner. How do we reconcile them?

   Oh and it is said that Prahlada's qualities declined after Indra asked to become virtuous like him. How can this be understood since Prahlada was such a great maha-bhagavata devotee full of transcendental qualities? How could he lose them simply because Indra wanted to become like him? He incarnated as Haridasa Thakura. How can that happen to a devotee. Or is this only something to bewilder faithless souls like us?

    The same Prahlada incarnated with Lord Brahma as Haridasa Thakura, the great namacharya who got such special mercy of Lord Caitanya. His spiritual master was Lord Advaita Acharya. Daily he chanted atleast 300000 names in a day. By his mercy even a prostitute became a tri-lakshesvari. He was actually the spiritual master of Mayadevi herself and could not be distracted despite all her efforts -- not all of us can conceive of his greatness. He was the crest jewel of all devotees and he is the only one to whom Mahaprabhu personally carried out the funeral services. The glories of Haridasa Thakura cannot be expressed with millions of mouths. So great was he that the Chaitanya Bhagavata and Caitanya Caritamrta have devoted entire chapters simply to his glories. Simply by praising the glories of the namacharya one can see a dramatic improvement in chanting. It is as though the holy names come to forcibly give us mercy by glorifying the devotees. Jaya Haridasa Thakura! Vaishnava Vijaya!

Surrendering to the feet of the namacharya,

Srinath

Comment on this Post