Prahlad Feared Something

The Srimad Bhagavatam has a revealing insight into Maya, the inscrutable power of Ishvara. the inseparable power from Ishvara. [Note: You may know more about it, how it works, and why God has allowed it to overpower in another article in this blog: https://antaryamin.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/what-is-maya-by-swami-sivananda/]

In Srimad Bhagavad Gita (7:14), the Lord pronounces, "Mama Maya", i.e., "the divine illusion of Mine". The agents of Maya are the temptations of this world where we live: they come in the form of baubles, trinkets, possessions, attachments, relations, desires, inclinations, tendencies, name, fame, hatred, sense of belonging to a religion, creed, belief systems and self.

In Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 7, Chapter 9, texts 15 and 16, Prahlad Maharaj, the saintly boy, who was known for his purity, innocence and bhakti, expatiates on the enormity of Maya: He says, "naham bibjemy" of Sri Narashimha's "bhayanaka". That is, he is not afraid of the Lord's ferocious form: 

"My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun or Your frowning eyebrows. I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails, which are meant to kill Your enemies."

He continues,

"...I am, (however), very much afraid of my condition of life within this material world".

Commenting on these two verses, Srila Chidananda Saraswati, the erstwhile president of the Divine Life Society, and the direct disciple of Sri Sri Sivananda Saraswati, says in His Ponder these Truths (pg 309):

"When Lord Narasimha came to Prahlada, Prahlada trembled and said: 'O Lord, I am not afraid of You. The whole world is trembling before You because of Your terrific man-lion form–Narasimha avatara. But I am not afraid of You, I am afraid of Your maya. I am afraid of Your power of delusion, maya.' If Prahlada, who constantly thought about God, constantly uttered His Divine Name, constantly longed for Him and Him alone, says, 'I am afraid of Your maya', and that he feared maya, how much must you be cautious, how much must you fear it."

Swami Chidananda warns us, "Therefore, always endeavour to somehow or other constantly retain your direction towards God, your inner awareness of your divinity, of being a part of Him, in order that maya may not delude you completely. That is the one thing needful if you do not want to allow this delusion, this maya, to fill your heart, pervade your mind and take possession of your consciousness.

"The Lord Himself says: 'This divine maya of Mine is difficult to overcome.' But, it is not that He only brought maya into being and did not show the way out. It is not so. Mameva ye prapadyante mayametam taranti te (Those who take refuge in Me alone, they cross over this maya). The supreme Cosmic Being has very clearly indicated how She can be crossed and who can cross Her.

"The conclusive and ultimate assurance, ultimate declaration from the Gita is: 'ma suchah' – do not grieve. You have nothing to fear, nothing to worry about. I will see that maya cannot touch you. Do not grieve.” The Gita starts with grief, terrible grief and agony–the tormented soul of Arjuna. But the supreme culminating point of the Gita is: 'ma suchah–O Arjuna, do not grieve.' And grief-stricken Arjuna was no more grief-stricken.

"Our constitution gives us the right to vote. Even a beggar exercises his franchise when

"So, waking up in the morning should not merely mean waking up into this maya-bazaar, waking up into this temporary world of pain and death. It should not only mean waking up into this little, confined, outer earth awareness. It should also simultaneously mean waking up into the awareness of your divinity which has been temporarily suspended in sleep. And keep up that inner wakefulness along with your outer physical wakefulness of the senses and the mind. Keep up the inner wakefulness of your svarupa. That is the great thing needful. That is what will make your life divine. That is what will take you, day by day, higher and higher towards the Goal Supreme. And this you have to do for yourself, with wisdom.

"It is possible only if there is a keen longing for that Goal, a keen faith in your ability to reach it. Because there is the ability to reach it, God has made you educated, brought you into contact with scriptures, with great realised sages and their wisdom teachings, and brought you into an environment favourable, conducive, suitable and helpful to the unfoldment of your radiant divine nature. What has that supreme Cosmic Being not done? That Being has done everything; there is nothing that that Being has not done. We have to reciprocate, not emotionally or sentimentally, but earnestly and sincerely in life, in a living manner through jijnasa, mumukshutva and sadhana (desire to know, intense longing for liberation, and self effort, spiritual practice).

"That is our privilege, our great privilege. If we lose this privilege then great is the loss. Therefore, we must realise every day, every dawn, every moment, the preciousness of what we are, the unparalleled, unique preciousness, value, the worth of what we are. If moving away from this awareness we think of things outside as being more worthy, more important, more precious, then deplorable is our lot. If we shift our sense of values from what is within, what we are, to something that is a passing appearance, phenomenon, then great is our loss. To allow this to happen would be throwing away an unparalleled golden opportunity that the Cosmic Being is proffering to us, offering to us.

"Ponder this well. When you wake up in the morning, what do you wake up to? When you come into a state of awareness, what is that state of awareness? What is its level, what is its plane, what is its content, what purpose does it serve? Think deeply about it, and be a true jijnasu, a true mumukshu, a true seeker, a true devotee of the Supreme. Be a true part of Divinity, a true amsa of paramatma, and make your life divine. This is the greatest way in which you can bless yourself.

"Just as there is full potential within each one of you for divine perfection, even so, like all the nine gems upon a golden plate, all things necessary for the supreme attainment have also been given to you. There could be no greater good fortune. Not to recognise this good fortune and fail to utilise it–there could be no greater misfortune than that. Both good fortune and misfortune are at our finger tips, in our hands. We must recognise the difference and do what is needful. That is the important need of the moment!"