Hari Om Parents,
This week we started with our opening prayers and discussed about the Lord's greatest child devotee, Prahlad.
After obtaining boons from Lord Brahma, Hiranyakashipu conquered the three worlds and made everyone a slave of him. At the time of him performing the penance, his wife was pregnant with his son. Fearing that some bad might happen to her, Sage Narada took her to his ashram and kept her safely with him. Since he was a great devotee of the Lord, he kept on chanting the Lord's name. This was constantly heard by the child in the womb and from birth the child became a great devotee of the Lord. His name was Prahlad.
Now this concerned Hiranyakashipu a lot. He was a sworn enemy of the Lord, and his son was a great devotee. If it was someone else Hiranya would have killed him. But this was his own son. What a concern! He sent Prahlad to the school where the teachers taught him how to be a great king and all shastras. When he came back, Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlad what the greatest thing in the world is. He thought Prahlad would answer that he was the greatest. But Prahlad answered this:
Saravanam (Listening to the Lord's stories)
Kirtana (Singing the Lord's glories)
Smarana (Remembering Him always)
Padasevanam (Serving him)
Arcana (Worshiping him)
Vamdanam (Paying obeisance to Him)
Daasyam (Being a servant to Him)
Sakhyam (Loving the Lord as a friend)
Atmanivedhanam (Surrendering to Him).
Enraged Hiranyakashipu ordered the Daityas to kill Prahlad. Various attempts were made to kill him but all in vain. Nothing happened to him because he had utmost faith in the Lord. Hiranyakashipu ordered to bring Prahlad to him. He furiously asked where the Lord was. Prahlad answered him very quietly that the Lord was present in every place. There is not a single place where he is not present. Furiously Hiranyakashipu asked if he was present in the pillar too. Prahlad said YES. Enraged Hiranyakashipu broke open the pillar.
Guess who emerged out of the pillar. THE LORD AS NARASIMHA. NARA-MAN, SIMHA-LION. MAN-LION AVATAR OF SHRI VISHNU. He caught hold of the Daitya king and tore him open apart with his sharp lionlike nails sitting on the doorway of the hall during the evening time with the Daitya placed on his lap. Hiranyakashipu is dead but Narasimha was still angry. So, the devas asked Prahlad to pacify the Lord. Prahlad sang glories to the Lord and pacified him that the Lord was pleased and transformed into his original four handed form.
Prahlad requested for bhakti to the Lord. The Lord blessed him and made him the king of the Daityas and blessed him that he will attain the lotus feet of the Lord when time comes.
We informed parents about Surabhi event which is going to happen from Dec 7 to Dec 15.
Hope you all are writing Rama Nama. The link to contribute to Surabhi event is open in our Chinmaya Vrindavan website. You can contribute as much as you can. If you have any questions regarding this event, you can surely contact us 3rd grade teachers. We request every one of you to make this event a great success. This is open to everyone. You can inform your friends, relatives, Neighbours and anyone who are interested. Your cooperation only will make this event a great success.
See you all next week.
Hari Om
JAI SHRI RAM
Saratha Arthanari
Malathy Balasubramanian.
