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Two sons were born to Maharishi Kashyap and Diti.
Let’s continue with the story of Prahlaad and go to the time of Satyayuga, when two sons were born to Maharishi Kasyapa and Diti. One was named Hiranyashipu and the other was named Hiranyaksha.
Both brothers grew up and possessed immense strength. They conspired, and Hiranyaksha stole the Earth and hid it in the ocean. Lord Vishnu, in the form of Varaha, took the form of Hiranyaksha and freed the Earth. When Hiranyakashipu learned of his brother’s death, he became enraged and, seeking revenge on Lord Vishnu, left his kingdom for the Himalayas and performed rigorous penance.
And here, the gods, being gods, attack Hiranyakashipu’s kingdom and defeat him. Devraj Indra defeats Hiranyakashipu’s kingdom and takes his wife to heaven. At that time, Hiranyakashipu’s wife, Kayadhu, was pregnant. It is said that Indra’s plan was to imprison her. But something else happened. On the way, he met Devrishi Narada, who took Kayadhu to his ashram.
Birth of Prahalaad
Right now, you are living that time. Devrishi Narada is narrating to Kayadhu the Vedas, Puranas, stories, and tales related to Lord Vishnu. Then, some time later, Kayadhu gives birth to a child. He is named Prahlad. This is the child who later becomes the cause of the end of Holika and Hiranyakashipu.
While Prahlaad is slowly growing up, Hiranyakashipu continues his penance. Prahlad gradually turns five years old in the ashram and also becomes a devotee of Lord Vishnu. Meanwhile, Hiranyakashipu is performing penance to take revenge on Lord Vishnu. After some time, his penance is complete. Lord Brahma appears and asks him for a boon. Hiranyakashipu asks Brahma to grant him immortality.
But since this is not possible, Lord Brahma asks him to ask for another boon. Hiranyakashipu asks for a boon: “I will not die during the day, at night, in the sky, in the underworld, at the hands of neither man nor woman, at the hands of neither living nor dead, at the hands of any creature created by the gods.” Lord Brahma granted this boon and departed.
Hiranyakashipu’s request for a boon
Having received the boon from Lord Brahma, Hiranyakashipu considers himself immortal and returns to his kingdom. He learns of the deeds of the gods and what transpired there after his departure. Now, having become immortal due to Brahma’s boon, he invades heaven and conquers the gods. Kayadhu and Prahlad are still in the ashram. Hiranyakashipu calls them back to his kingdom.
Now Prahlaad and Hiranyakashipu are in the same kingdom, in the same palace. Their ideologies are completely different. Prahlad is a devotee of Lord Vishnu, while Hiranyakashipu has declared himself God. Now, only he is worshipped in his kingdom; the worship of Lord Vishnu is forbidden.
The distance between Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad kept increasing.
Prahlaad, a devotee of Lord Vishnu, always talks about him and refuses to accept Hiranyakashipu as God. Prahlaad abandoned his devotion to Lord Vishnu and began worshipping him. Hiranyakashipu sent Prahlaad to the ashram of demons. But something else happened there. Devotee Prahlad also swayed the other children in the ashram towards Lord Vishnu, and they too began worshipping him. Fed up with this, the teachers left Prahlad back in the palace.
Now, the two men began living in the same palace again. Their thoughts were starkly different. The differences between them grew, and so did the distance between them. Gradually, the distance grew so great that Hiranyakashipu began attempting to kill Prahlad. To kill the devout Prahlad, he had him thrown from the Himalayas, left him alone in a room infested with snakes, left him among mad elephants to be trampled by them, and kept him without food for days, hoping to either kill him or make him abandon his devotion to Lord Vishnu. But neither happened.
Holika’s Advice
Fed up with all this, he went to his sister, Holika, who had the boon of invulnerability to fire. He told Holika, “Sister, I’m fed up with your nephew. He’s making my life miserable. Please do something.” Holika advised him to take him into the fire; he would burn, but she wouldn’t, because she had the boon of invulnerability. And this was the biggest mistake of his life. Because when a boon is misused, it harms the person first. And that’s exactly what happened: Holika burned in the fire, and Prahlaad was saved once again.
Killing of Hiranyakashipu
After this incident, Hiranyakashipu’s patience broke. He became desperate to kill Prahlaad himself. When he moved forward to kill Prahlaad, Lord Vishnu, inspired by the faith of devotee Prahlaad, took the form of Narasimha and killed Hiranyakashipu.
That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed the information and the way it was presented. If you’re visiting the channel for the first time, please subscribe, comment on the video, and like it. See you in a new video, a new short. Until then, thank you, thank you, Radhe Radhe.