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Hiranyaksa (Lect., Conv. & Letters)

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Lecture on BG 1.24-25 -- London, July 20, 1973:

So why this ignorance of Arjuna, the question may be. Arjuna is guḍākeśa. He is above this material world. How he is being affected by his so-called relatives and kinsmen? He was hesitating to fight on this principle, that "They are my relatives. They are my kinsmen. They are my family members." He was always thinking. Therefore Kṛṣṇa knew it. So he has become so family-wise infected. But he is guḍākeśa. How it is possible? He is above all these things. Yes, he is above all these things. By Kṛṣṇa's desire, he is playing like that, ordinary man. Otherwise, how Bhagavad-gītā will come? Kṛṣṇa cannot talk with ordinary person. Kṛṣṇa cannot fight with ordinary person. Even the demons, when they come, just like Hiraṇyākṣa, Hiraṇyakaśipu. They were Jaya-Vijaya in the Vaikuṇṭha world. So they came here, and Kṛṣṇa asked them, that "If you become My enemy, then within three births you will come back. And if you remain friend, then seven births." So they preferred, "Oh, I shall become Your enemy, Sir, so that I can come back again after three births." So why? That Kṛṣṇa has all the propensities. Just like we sometimes want to fight, mock fight. So in the Vaikuṇṭha world there cannot be any fight. So because Kṛṣṇa wanted to exercise His fighting spirit, He sent His devotee. He became enemy and He fought. So you have to understand Kṛṣṇa in that way, as Hṛṣīkeśa. He knows that unless Arjuna becomes affected family-wise, how Bhagavad-gītā will be there? Therefore although Guḍākeśa, Arjuna, is above darkness, still, by the will of Kṛṣṇa, Hṛṣīkeśa, he played just like ordinary man, affected with his family affection.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972:

So this universe, this universe is filled up with water, half. Whatever we are seeing, this is only half, like this. The other half we cannot see. So within this water, sometimes that Hiraṇyākṣa demon drowned this whole earth within this water. So at the present moment we cannot find such demons, but there were demons like that. The whole planetary system is floating, but there may be some demon who can take one of them and put within the water. The planets are floating; that is known to everyone. We can see, actually, that such a big, gigantic mass... Even the sun, which is fourteen hundred thousand times bigger than this earth, that is also floating in the outer space. The support is ananta. They say "law of gravitation"; we say Saṅkarṣaṇa. Saṅkarṣaṇa. So He is holding every planet, and it is said that all these universes are resting on the hood of Śeṣa-nāga just like a small grain of mustard.

Lecture on SB 1.3.7 -- Los Angeles, September 13, 1972:

So demons are always disturbing. They'll create disturbance. That is... Their business is to create disturbance in the creation of the Supreme Lord. So this Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, two brothers, they were creating so much disturbances. The whole world is disturbed only for the existence of the demons, asuri. At the present moment also, the world is full of demons. The devotees, their number is very, very small. Just like our Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. We can count within the finger how many we have got, Kṛṣṇa conscious; but demons, non-Kṛṣṇa conscious, nondevotees, there is no limit. Innumerable. So when demons are too much prominent, then Kṛṣṇa comes. So in the Kali-yuga He has appeared... Just like previously He appeared in the form of hog, similarly, Kṛṣṇa has appeared in this Kali-yuga in the form of His name. There is no difference between the form and name of God. God is absolute. Nāma-rūpe, in the form of name. So those who are disturbed by the demons may take shelter of this form of God, Hare Kṛṣṇa. Then you'll be saved. Otherwise, the demon will put you within the Pacific Ocean water. Just like this demon. But Kṛṣṇa will save you. As Prahlāda Mahārāja was put into the water by his father.

Lecture on SB 1.8.29 -- Los Angeles, April 21, 1973:
Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa wants to fight, who will fight with Him? Some of His devotee, great devotee will fight with Him. Not ordinary. Just like a king, if he wants to practice mock fighting, some very exalted fighter, wrestler will be engaged. Similarly... That is also service. Because Kṛṣṇa wants to fight, therefore some of His devotees come down to become His enemy. Just like Jaya-Vijaya. This Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa. Do you think they are ordinary living entity? If... That... Nṛsiṁhadeva, God Himself has come to kill him. Do you think they're ordinary? No, they're not ordinary. They're devotees. But Kṛṣṇa wanted to fight. In the Vaikuṇṭha world there is no possibility of fighting because everywhere there, everyone there is engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service. With whom He'll fight? Therefore He sends some devotee in the garb of enemy and Kṛṣṇa comes here to fight with Him. At the same time, to teach us that becoming enemy, enemy of Kṛṣṇa is not very profitable. Better become friend. That will be profitable. Therefore it is said that: na veda kaścid bhagavaṁś cikīrṣitam. "Nobody knows what is the purpose of Your appearance and disappearance." Tava īhamānasya nṛṇāṁ viḍambanam. "You are in this world just like ordinary human being. This is bewildering." Therefore ordinary man cannot believe. "How God can become ordinary person like...?" Kṛṣṇa is playing. Although He was not playing ordinary person. He was playing as God.
Lecture on SB 7.5.1, Pandal Lecture -- Bombay, January 12, 1973:

So this child, Prahlāda Mahārāja, from, in the womb of his mother he learned spiritual instruction and he became Kṛṣṇa conscious. Therefore from his birth he was chanting this Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, and his father was very, very much unhappy: "What kind of child is born? He is Kṛṣṇa conscious." Because he is, he was very much against Viṣṇu. Because Lord Viṣṇu killed his brother Hiraṇyākṣa, so Hiraṇyakaśipu always considered Viṣṇu as the enemy. So he did not like that his son Prahlāda Mahārāja should become a Vaiṣṇava. Vaiṣṇava means viṣṇur asya devatā iti vaiṣṇava. One who has taken, accepted Lord Viṣṇu... That is the Vedic instruction, to take shelter of Lord Viṣṇu. Oṁ tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padaṁ sadā paśyanti sūrayaḥ. This is Ṛg mantra, Ṛg-veda mantra. Viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. Those who are sūraya, sūri or devatā, they are always aiming at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. Tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṁ padam. That is the highest perfection of life. Other demigods, they are not our goal of life. That is also condemned in the Bhagavad-gītā. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ yajante anya-devatāḥ (BG 7.20). Anya-devatāḥ. Who are the worshipers of the anya-devatā, other demigods? Those who are lost of their senses. Kāmais tais tair hṛta-jñānāḥ. These are the statements. In the Bhāgavata also it is said, na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇum (SB 7.5.31). People generally, they do not know that their goal of life should be to take shelter of Viṣṇu. Viṣṇu-tattva and Kṛṣṇa-tattva the same thing.

Lecture on SB 7.9.11 -- Mayapur, February 18, 1976:

Just like we are in need of so many things; therefore we require others' help. But Kṛṣṇa does not require anyone's help. Then why He accepts worship? That is the... That is for the benefit of the devotee, not for His personal benefit. Just like Lord Rāmacandra. He... His one wife Sītādeva was kidnapped by Rāvaṇa. Of course, Rāvaṇa cannot kidnap. It was externally, Māyā Sītā. Still, taking for exception Sītā was kidnapped, so Lord Rāmacandra could have possessed many millions of Sītā by His will, but for one Sītā He had to fight with Rāvaṇa and finish the whole dynasty, because Rāmacandra is the ideal king. It is the king's business to chastise such rogues and ruffians. That is king's business. That is for the benefit of Rāvaṇa. Rāvaṇa means the same Hiraṇyakaśipu. Kumbhakarṇa-Rāvaṇa. First they became Hiraṇyakṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, the next, Kumbhakarṇa and Rāvaṇa, and the next, they became Śiśupāla and Dantavakra. In this way, because Kṛṣṇa wanted to give them liberation again back to home, back to Godhead, so this killing of Rāvaṇa, killing of Hiraṇyakaśipu, killing of Śiśupāla, is for the benefit of the persons, not for Kṛṣṇa's benefit. He killed them for their benefit.

Festival Lectures

Nrsimha-caturdasi Lord Nrsimhadeva's Appearance Day -- Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.22-34 -- Los Angeles, May 27, 1972:

Hiraṇyakaśipu became bitterest enemy of Viṣṇu because his brother Hiranyakṣa, he was killed by Viṣṇu taking the shape of Varāha. You know the story. Since then, Hiraṇyakaśipu was bitterest enemy. "Oh, He has, Viṣṇu has killed my brother. So He is my greatest enemy." So he won't hear anything about Viṣṇu. Any Viṣṇu devotee, he will punish him, even his own son. That was his policy. So he immediately called him, the teachers, and addressed him,

brahma-bandho kim etat te
vipakṣam śrayatāsatā
asāraṁ grāhito bālo
mām anādṛtya durmate

So here... Teachers are generally brāhmaṇas. Not generally. To become teacher is the business of the brāhmaṇas. Brāhmaṇa means they have got six kinds of... Everyone must have livelihood. This material world is that you must work; otherwise you cannot get your livelihood. That is the law, whatever you may be. So the brāhmaṇas' means of livelihood, six things: paṭhana pāṭhana yajana yājana dāna pratigraha. Paṭhana means he must be a very learned scholar, study the Vedic literature, and must teach others also. That is brāhmaṇa's business. And in that way, whatever the disciples bring, that is his income. No salary, no contract, that "If you pay me hundred dollars or five hundred dollars weekly, then I can teach you." No. There is no such contract. Teaching is free. It is the business of a brāhmaṇa to give free education to everyone.

Varaha-dvadasi, Lord Varaha's Appearance Day Lecture Dasavatara-stotra Purport -- Los Angeles, February 18, 1970:
The universe which we are seeing, it is only half. The other half is filled with water, and in that water is Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu lying. So one demon, Hiraṇyākṣa, he pushed this earthly planet within that water, and Lord Kṛṣṇa delivered this earthly planet from water in the shape of a boar. So that auspicious day is today, Varāha-dvadaśī. This is called Varāha-dvadasi. So on this day it is better to sing, to glorify the different incarnations of Lord within this universe. The first incarnation is the fish form. So these prayers were offered by Jayadeva Gosvāmī. One Vaiṣṇava poet advented about seven hundred years before Lord Caitanya's appearance. He was a great devotee, and his specific poetry, Gīta-govinda, is very famous all over the world. Gīta-govinda. Gīta-govinda is the subject matter of Kṛṣṇa playing on flute about Rādhārāṇī. That is the subject matter of Gīta-govinda.

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Prabhupada Comments on Prahlada Maharaja Slides - August 25, 1968, Montreal:

Prabhupāda: In the material world everyone wants to be the lord, everyone wants to be God. So therefore there is fight. The fighting here takes place because everyone wants to lord it over the material nature. So there is difference of interest. I want to be lord, you want to be lord: now there must be fight. But in the Vaikuṇṭha world there is one Lord and all others servitors. Therefore there is peace. So fighting was not possible in the Vaikuṇṭha world; therefore these two doorkeepers were sent to the material world by the plan of the Supreme Lord so that they could fight as Hiraṇyakaśipu and Hiraṇyākṣa with the Lord. That is stated in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Now the spiritual spark is entering into the material world, penetrating seven layers. This is called avyakta, nonmanifested. Just like in the sky there are nonmanifested and manifested things. If you go high, some 25,000, fifty thousand miles up, you'll simply find in the sky nothing manifested. But if you go still higher, higher, higher, you will find some other planets existing. So the part which is nonmanifested is called avyakta, and the part which is manifested, that is called vyakta. So these two souls from Vaikuṇṭha, they are coming into this material world.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 7, 1974, Bombay:

Yaśomatīnandana: Did Kaṁsa also achieve the grace? He was immediately transferred to the spiritual planets after he was killed?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break)

Girirāja: ...being killed by Viṣṇu in his previous life he wasn't transferred?

Prabhupāda: No, three times he had to take birth. Hiraṇyākṣa.

Yaśomatīnandana: Is that Jaya and Vijaya?

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Yaśomatīnandana: He was one of them?

Prabhupāda: Yes. (break) ...becomes envious of others, they take birth as dogs, snake, sarpa krūra khala krūra. So much subtle laws are working. They do not know.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 5, 1975, Mayapur:

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The planets are floating.

Prabhupāda: That is nonsense. How these planets are floating? That is also story? (laughter)

Devotee: How long would the planets float if it was put in the hands of a scientist?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Devotee: If they were in charge of enforcing the law of floating the planets...

Prabhupāda: Let them do that. See. That was done by Hiraṇyākṣa. He brought down the planet, in the ocean, but Kṛṣṇa again rescued.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes, and killed him.

Prabhupāda: And killed him.

Pañcadraviḍa: So in the Gītā verse it says that this body is a field of enjoyment.

Prabhupāda: Where it is?

Pañcadraviḍa: Thirteenth Chapter.

Prabhupāda: What does it say?

Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: The field of activities.

Prabhupāda: No, he said, "field of enjoyment." He said. What is this nonsense?

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Evening Darsana -- July 8, 1976, Washington, D.C.:

Devotee (4): I can't seem to get a grasp on this at all. If we in our original constitutional position as part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, and in that position, that original position of full knowledge and full bliss and being in our eternal nature... Now I have some experience of how strong this material energy is and how māyā works somewhat, but if I had known this and had this full knowledge, then I would have had this knowledge of how māyā works and how I might fall.

Prabhupāda: You read the life of Jaya, Vijaya, Hiraṇyakaśipu, Hiraṇyākṣa? They were Kṛṣṇa's doorkeepers. How they fell down? Did you read it? Did you read the life of Hiraṇyakaśipu or Hiraṇyākṣa?

Devotee (4): Yes, Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: So how they did fall? They are from Vaikuṇṭha. They are Kṛṣṇa's personal associates, keeping the doorkeepers. How did they fell down? Anyway, there is chance of falling down at any moment.

Correspondence

1968 Correspondence

Letter to Aniruddha -- Seattle 27 September, 1968:

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated Sept. 24, 1968, and it is very encouraging. May Krishna bless you all. I am so glad to learn that Nandarani and her husband are all so enthusiastically trying to render service to Krishna and you have got very good assistants—Harer Nama, and Varaha Murti. It is so encouraging to learn that Varaha Murti has got permission from his Hiranyaksa-father. Perhaps you know this story of Varaha Murti. Hiranyaksa put the earthly planet within the water, and Lord Varaha lifted the merged earthly planet by His big tusks. So Krishna has given you all a good chance for developing Hollywood, and I hope in the near future all the artists will take to Krishna Consciousness movement, and Hollywood shall become a holy place.

1969 Correspondence

Letter to Madhusudana -- Los Angeles 24 January, 1969:
Regarding the blood and puss from the sky during the battle between Varaha and Hiranyaksa, you should know that if Krishna desires blood, puss, fire, or whatever He desires may fall down from the sky. So far as old copies of Back To Godhead which you have enquired about, I do not know where they all are. Either they are in my room in India or they are lost.

1972 Correspondence

Letter to Jadurani -- Calcutta 18 February, 1972:

Please accept my blessings. I have received your letter of February 4, 1972, and I shall answer your questions as follows:

(1) Varaha and Hiranyaksa were fighting on the water. Brahma was observing from the sky. The earth planet is being rescued from Garbhodaka sea, and from the earthly planet many rocks are coming while being balanced on the tusks of Varaha. Yes, the demigods are present in the sky around.

(2) Lord Brahma throwing off bodies is just like if there is some dirt on my body and I throw it off, a little disgustedly. Just like if our body becomes dirty many insects gather, and we remove these insects with one hand and throw them away.

Page Title:Hiranyaksa (Lect., Conv. & Letters)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, Serene
Created:26 of Mar, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=8, Con=4, Let=3
No. of Quotes:15