62
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 8, Ch. 19]
at not seeing Him, Hiraṇyakaśipu screamed loudly and searched the entire universe, including the surface of the earth, the higher planetary systems, all directions and all the caves and oceans. But Hiraṇyakaśipu, the greatest hero, did not see Viṣṇu anywhere.
TEXT 12
अपश्यन्निति होवाच मयान्विष्टमिदं जगत् । 
    भ्रातृहा मे गतो नूनं यतो नावर्तते पुमान् ॥१२॥
apaśyann iti hovāca 
    mayānviṣṭam idaṁ jagat 
    bhrātṛ-hā me gato nūnaṁ 
    yato nāvartate pumān
apaśyan—not seeing Him; iti—in this way; ha uvāca—uttered; mayā—by me; anviṣṭam—has been sought; idam—the whole; jagat—universe; bhrātṛ-hā—Lord Viṣṇu, who killed the brother; me—my; gataḥ—must have gone; nūnam—indeed; yataḥ—from where; na—not; āvartate—comes back; pumān—a person.
TRANSLATION
Unable to see Him, Hiraṇyakaśipu said, “I have searched the entire universe, but I could not find Viṣṇu, who has killed my brother. Therefore, He must certainly have gone to that place from which no one returns. [In other words, He must now be dead.]”
PURPORT
Atheists generally follow the Bauddha philosophical conclusion that at death everything is finished. Hiraṇyakaśipu, being an atheist, thought this way. Because Lord Viṣṇu was not visible to him, he thought that the Lord was dead. Even today, many people follow the philosophy that God is dead. But God is never dead. Even the living entity, who is part of God, never dies.  Na jāyate mriyate vā kadācit:  “For the soul there is never birth or death.” This is the statement of  Bhagavad-gītā  (2.20). Even the ordinary living entity never takes birth or dies. What then is to be said of