The Lord Appears...
from a Pillar in North Carolina
Posted June 27, 2003

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The young children go to school—the materialistic training ground that the ancient demon Hiranyakasipu sponsored. Gaining wealth and power, destroying enemies, and searching for sensory bodily pleasure are the criteria of success in this place. But the demon’s very son is Prahlad, who through the instruction and good will of the saint Narada, is a pure lover of Krishna. So begins this drama with a cast from Padma Academy’s students and teachers, with some preschoolers participating, as well.

They learned their lines in a few days, and even three-year-old Vikrama was absorbed in this dramatization from the Srimad Bhagavatam, where Prahlad not only infuriated his father with his personal glorification of Krishna, but also had the audacity to bring his little classmates to spiritual life. The incensed father ordered his demonic henchmen—here, those acting as Prahlad’s fellow scholars changed into costumes of ghouls and monsters—to torture and kill the young saint. Hiranyakasipu even gave his son poison. But Prahlad offered his food to Krishna with love and ate the poison eagerly, the only ill effect being that the young actor’s next lines were a little muffed.

Envious of his own son, Hiryanakasipu asked the child about his source of power.

"From God, who is everywhere," Prahlad replied.

When Hiranyakasipu went to kill the Supreme Lord in a nearby pillar, the Lord as Nrsimha appeared, killing the demon and taking the demon’s intestines as his garland. But for Prahlad, Nrsimha’s lap was a place of loving security.

"Prahlada Maharaja was the best among exalted devotees. Anyone who with great attention hears this narration concerning the activities of Prahlada Maharaja, the killing of Hiranyakasipu, and the activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nrsimhadeva, surely reaches the spiritual world, where there is no anxiety." (SB 7.10.47)

For more information about Padma Academy, please go to http://www.radharani.com. Our website will be completely changed soon…

© dipika.org June 27, 2003