Radha Krishna - Chapter 6: Prahlâda Instructs His Asura Schoolmates

(1) S'rî Prahlâda said: 'Someone intelligent should in this rarely obtained human birth from early childhood on practice the dharma of devotional service unto the Lord [as described in 7.5: 23-24]; this life, even though temporary, is ruled by that purpose. (2) Because He is the most kindhearted and beloved living being, the Master of the Soul, to approach the feet of Vishnu constitutes the path for the person to follow in this world [see also 3.25: 38 and B.G. 5: 29]. (3) By divine ordinance sensual happiness oh Daityas, is available everywhere to all embodied beings, just like the unhappiness one runs into without having asked for it. (4) There is no need to endeavor for that [material happiness], one would only waste one's life because nothing is gained that way. [You see,] the lotus feet of Mukunda [the Lord of Liberation] constitute the ultimate goal of life [that brings lasting happiness]. (5) A mindful person having a material life in a human body should therefore, for as long as he is still healthy and strong and not decrepit, go for the real benefit [of Mukunda]. (6) Of the hundred years that he has for his life a person in service of his senses spends half his time uselessly by being drowned in darkness ignorantly passing the night with sleeping.

(7) In one's childhood one is naive and in one's teens one plays and thus twenty years pass and it takes another twenty years in which one, having aged, cannot engage because of being physically incapacitated. (8) And the rest of your life you spend as a fool because you, in the grip of family matters, are bewildered by formidable lusts that can never be satisfied. (9) What man can free himself when he attached to his household, being bound by the ropes of love misses the control over his senses [see 1.2: 6-7]? (10) How can someone who thinks that making money is more important than living [in devotion and gratitude], forsake that acquiring for which a merchant, thief and public servant risks his dear life? (11-13) How can one give it up to associate privately with one's loving, pleasing and attractive wife? How can one refrain from one's love for the sons and daughters one enshrined in one's heart, from one's brothers and sisters and the care for one's needy parents? How can one be indifferent about household matters as nice furniture, a good income, pets and rows of servants and maids? By giving priority to the interest of the tongue and the genitals one fosters all kinds of desires that can never be fulfilled and thus one is engaged like a silkworm [that spins itself in its own cocoon]. How can such a massive illusion be forsaken? (14) Constantly plagued by the threefold misery of life [as caused by nature, by others and himself, see 2.10: 8] he does not regret the pleasure he derives from his family, but being materially infatuated, the maintenance of his family shortens his life-span without him ever understanding what the real purpose of life would be. That purpose he lost. (15) With a mind set on wealth he learned that it is wrong to cheat for the sake of money. Nevertheless he after having died, is tied to this material world [by Yamarâja sentenced to take another birth]. Without mastering his senses he with his insatiable lusts as a family man was guilty of theft after all [see also B.G. 16: 11-12]. (16) Despite of knowing this oh sons of Danu, someone taking care of his family does not find time for his self-realization [and the realization of the Supreme Self] as a consequence of which he, being estranged, gropes in the dark with a 'mine' and 'thine' conception of life like that of animals. (17-18) Nobody will ever, wherever or whenever, with a poor fund of knowledge excel in liberating himself. Because one, as a sexual plaything hankering after the gratification of one's lusts by that attachment founds complete families [put up with the same problem of darkness] you, my Daitya friends, in this respect have to keep yourselves far removed from seeking refuge with the demon of being addicted to sensual pleasures. One instead should approach Lord Nârâyana, the original godhead, who through the association of liberated souls chalks out the path of the liberation that you seek. (19) It is not hard to satisfy the Infallible One oh Asura sons, because He has established Himself everywhere in this world as the perfection of the self of all living beings [compare B.G. 14: 3-4]. (20-23) He is the One present within all beings high and low, beginning with the simplest plant life up to Lord Brahmâ. Within the single elements and all their transformations as also within the totality of the material energy, within the balanced state of the modes of nature as also within their perturbation, He is the one and only transcendental original source that is the Supreme Lord, the Controller who is free from decay Himself. Considering the original position of His inner presence and His outward personal manifestations, He is both the pervaded that can be described and the undifferentiated, all-pervading Supreme Transcendence that defies description. He is the changeless and undivided One [Consciousness] in the form of bliss and understanding; He is the Supreme Controller about whose unlimited opulence one is mistaken because He is hidden from view by the illusory energy that is ruled by the modes of material nature. (24) Be therefore merciful towards all living entities. When you with a friendly attitude give up the Asura mentality [of friends opposing enemies] you will satisfy the Lord beyond the Senses [see also B.G. 12: 13-20]. (25) With Him, the Eternal and Original One, being satisfied nothing is out of one's reach. Why would those who are thus of service in this world that is ruled by the modes, have to work for a sense of duty [regulating the lusts, the economy and the religion] that follows automatically [from this devotion]? Would we, having risen above the modes, be of desire when we are singing about His feet? (26) The prescribed threefold of dharma, kâma and artha, the knowledge of the soul, of the three Vedas, of the logic, of law and order and of the different professional identities, I all consider to be the [surface] truth of the lesson to be learned, but it is one's full surrender to the Supreme Friend that leads to the [deeper realization of one's personal relationship with the] transcendental person [the svarûpa, compare 1.2: 8]. (27) This knowledge free from material contamination is most difficult to attain. It was explained to Nârada by Lord Nârâyana, the friend of all men, for the sake of all souls who are exclusively of surrender to Him, the Supreme Lord. That understanding is possible for those who do not care [anymore] for material possessions and bathed their bodies in the dust of the lotus feet. (28) I received this spiritual knowledge concerning the bhâgavata dharma [of devotional service unto the Lord in nine aspects, see 7.5: 23-24] together with its practical application from Nârada who does not care about a material life and only has eyes for the Lord.'

(29-30) The Daitya sons said: 'Prahlâda, you and we have no other teachers but the two sons of S'ukrâcârya, they are the schoolmasters for us children. But you remaining in the palace could have such a difficult to acquire association with a great soul like Nârada. Please dispel the doubts we have about this dear friend, so that we can believe you.'