God will protect faithful devotees

CHENNAI, MAY 19. The study of religious literature and various sacred texts should enable a person to take up devotional disciplines even from early days of his life. For, human birth, in which alone such exercises can be practised, is extremely rare and it is absolutely uncertain how long life will last. Before appearing as a man (or woman), he ought to have gone through innumerable appearances as plants, worms, insects, birds and beasts. Only at the final stage, due to Divine grace and his past deeds, he should have been conferred this privilege. Having thus been granted this boon, he should utilise it to the best of his ability instead of frittering it away and going about aimlessly. Even if he tries his best, he cannot extend the time limit of his life by a second.

Therefore, one who is entangled in worldly activities, if he is intelligent, should in every way, strive for the attainment of the Divine before the fall of this human body while it is in its full vigour and power. Granting that a man lives for 100 years at the most, half of this span will go towards his sleep. Of the remaining, 20 years will be for his childhood and playfulness. Then a major part will have to be allotted to domestic life. His faculties will fail during the last few years. It is therefore necessary for one to cultivate detachment, develop devotion and acquire spiritual knowledge and seek shelter in Lord Narayana.

It may surprise one to know that these wise statements were made by a child, who unlike others of his age, was born as God's devotee, having heard philosophic dissertations even while he was growing in his mother's womb. His mind remained totally absorbed in the Lord. But his father, a member of the demon race, who had secured a special boon not to die under normal circumstances, declared ``I am God'', and commanded all his subjects not to recognise anyone else as God. His child, Prahlada, however, defied him and refused to bow before anyone excepting God. The enraged father persecuted his own son but the latter was totally firm in his belief that when the Lord is pleased with His devotee, anything will be attainable by him.

In a discourse on ``Narasimha Jayanthi'' Sri B. R. Nagaraja Rao said when all the atrocious acts of the father unleashed on his child turned ineffective, he had the audacity to ask him to show God. To make true Prahlada's confident declaration that ``God is everywhere'', He took a special man-lion form and emerged from a pillar and destroyed the tyrant. Prahlada's prayers addressed to the Lord later refer to His readiness to protect any devotee who reposes his total faith in His powers and mercy.

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