Hiraëyakaçipu had four wonderful, well-qualified
sons, of whom the one named Prahläda was the best. Indeed, Prahläda was a
reservoir of all transcendental qualities because he was an unalloyed devotee
of the Personality of Godhead.
Purport by Srila Prabhupada:
yasyästi bhaktir bhagavaty akiïcanä
sarvair guëais tatra samäsate suräù
"In one who has unflinching devotional faith
in Kåñëa, all the good qualities of Kåñëa and the demigods are consistently
manifest." (SB 5.18.12)
Prahläda Mahäräja is praised herein for having all
good qualities because of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Therefore, a pure devotee, who has no motives, has all good qualities, material
and spiritual. If one is spiritually advanced, being a staunch, liberal devotee
of the Lord, all good qualities are manifest in his body. On the other hand,
haräv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guëäù: if one is not a devotee, even if he has some
materially good qualities, they have no value. That is the verdict of the
Vedas.
It is interesting that
here Srila Prabhupada uses the adjectives staunch and liberal in the same line.
Sometimes in the material dealings staunch and liberal are opposite; for
example, being staunch follower of an idea often narrows down one’s perspective
and as a result he becomes unable to appreciate others’ views. One of the
reasons might be that the so-called staunch follower is not so convinced about
his allegiance after all. Deep conviction, or realisation, comes from proper
application of knowledge in day to day live. If one does not apply his
professed philosophy in all aspects of his life as a result it will remain on
the surface as a theoretical understanding.
Karl Jung uses the term
“persona” to signify a similar phenomena when an idea possesses a man, instead of a man possessing an idea. When this is the case it is hard to be liberal and
appreciative of others’ ideas because the very existence of the “otherness”
threatens your identity or even your existence. For example you and your friend
honor prasadam at Govinda’s restaurant. If you have asked for rise, dahl and
subji, and your friend has ordered pizza and French fries, this might result in
an enjoyable dinner with lively Krishna conscious discussion. However, it might
also trigger a reaction based on insecurity. Confronted with a choice different
from your own, you might become doubtful about your won choice of pizza and
fries. Such insecurity can also manifest as an assault against the choice of
your friend.
Being a stanch follower of
something usually implies that you staunchly reject everything else. But an
advanced devotee is staunch in his commitment to Krishna and in his
presentation of the Bhakti - Vedanta philosophy, and at the same time he is
liberal with all other opinions because he sees them in their natural positions
as stages that are meant to lead one to Krishna. A devotee should not just
reject the materialistic ideas, ideally he should be able to point out how they
are actually connected to Krishna. In logic this is called upanaya, you
demonstrate how the Vaisnava siddhanta is superior to all other philosophies by
including them and resolving perfectly their inherent contradictions. Thus the
devotee is able to be staunch and liberal, firm and soft, resolute and
compassionate at the same time. Just like Stila Prabhupada, who himself gave
the example of the Guru being soft as a rose and hard as a thunderbolt.
The advanced devotee has
heard, understood and applied the knowledge in his life and as a result he has realised it fully. Therefore he is never insecure or doubtful about his
position or the position of devotional service. Therefore he can face the “otherness”
with understanding and compassion. Being a staunch devotee actually means being
liberal.
In the verse it is stated
that Prahläda Maharaja was a reservoir of all transcendental qualities because
he was an unalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead. Srila Prabhupada
writes in his purport that a pure devotee, who has no motives, has all good
qualities, material and spiritual. This is also an interesting concept. One has
all the good qualities because he is a pure devotee of the Lord, not vise versa,
because this person seemingly has all the good qualities, he must be a great
devotee of the Lord. The good qualities, as everything else, are a property of
the Lord. The Lord, by His sweet will, decides to bestow good qualities to His
devotees. If somebody is not a devotee and appears to have many good qualities
we should know that, yes, it is just an appearance. One experiences the results
of his activities by being situated in the different modes of nature, which are
constantly changing and fighting for supremacy. When one experiences the
results of pious acts he might temporarily manifest the rare qualities in the
mode of goodness. But this will soon be replaced by display of qualities in the
modes of passion and ignorance. Therefore the nondevotees do not actually “own”
their so-called good qualities. It is just a manifestation of their karma which
they can’t keep from changing.
