Beauty and the Beast

34

The hill was a familiar one. Right near the seashore. The one his father had ordered him to be thrown off.

He sat by the hill remembering the memory.

He was rather young. His Guru Shukracharya kept trying to warn Hiranyakashyapu that what he was doing was wrong. He would end up paying if he killed his son.

When Hiranyakashyapu ordered that Prahlada should be thrown off the cliff into the sea, his Guru felt enraged at Narayana staying aloof. "For someone who calls himself bhaktavatsala, you do nothing to save you a little devotee. This young boy puts his complete faith in you and you stay aloof in your Vaikuntha enjoying its pleasure." He shouted angrily.

"So proud you are of your beautiful form, aren't you? If my faith has been in dharma, and I have duly fulfilled all my duties with all my strength. If my tongue has spoken the truth. If my tongue had spoken the Vedas then this form of yours will not be seen by people." He cursed Vishnu.

The moment Shukracharya was cursing Vishnu, he turned into a Varaha and followed into the ocean to grab Prahlada.

When Prahlada remembered his Guru's curse, he came out of his trance-like state and began to worry. "Swami? What is this? I toil away to bring you here on this hill and you play into a curse. How fair is this to me?" He complained.

"My swami is nothing if not a follower of the words of Rishis. My brother, Shukracharya, is a great Rishi. He will not be seen in the form here." Lakshmi appeared before him and explained.

"Amma, what is this? What kind of bad fortune is mine? My father develops hatred towards me when I'm not even old enough to wear a sacred thread and start learning Vedas. Then because of me, my Guru curses my swami. What kind of fate is this?" He asks her, exhausted. He was getting old.

She took pity on him and helped him sit. "In your previous life, just like your father, you too served in Vaikuntha. When Hiranyaksha had been causing havoc on Earth, they came to Vaikuntha. To explain to my swami about the situation. You blocked their path. When you didn't allow them inside even after they tried to reason, Brahmaa cursed you to experience the same terrors from the asuras on earth. That is why you were born to Hiranyakashyapu. That is why the trouble from him was written in your fate." She explained to Prahlada.

He sighed and chuckled. "Wonderful games your swami plays with us all, Amma. Who can force him to follow a curse? He accepted Guruwar's curse. Now, he would not appear here in his form and how can anyone have darshan of him here?" He cursed his fate for choosing this particular place.

Looking at Prahlada, she smiled. "This isn't for nothing. My brother doesn't generally curse my swami like that. It isn't like him. But if he had then the reason is me." She answered. "I looked around and realized that those unfortunate people who did not have access to a Guru or Vedas would forever be inaccessible to Parabrahma. Hence, I wished to bring him so close to even the hardest and cruelest minds as humans presume, and show them the way to reach him. Following my wish, my Swami became the son-in-law of a tribal community. Bringing them closer to him."

"Is this what it is then, amma? Would he never come here?"

He sighed and felt remorseful.

"How much longer life will I have, Amma? Would I ever finish my penance if I start again?"

"You have the devotion, Prahlada. That is enough to bring him here. Gajendra did not perform any penances but still received the grace of my swami."

"You suggest then, Amma. What should I do?"

"Just trust him. If he is pleased by you, he will come. My swami is bhaktavatsala." 

Prahlada watched his loving mother sit on a rock nearby. The daughter of Bhrigu, he knew, was a great tapasvi herself. She was Narayana's tapo-shakti. He sighed softly. His old age did pose a bit of a problem. Unable to move as quickly as before.