Text 45] Hiranyakasipu Terrorizes the Universe 211

wish; veditum—to know; tava—from you; su-vrata—having the deter-
mination for spiritual advancement; yat—because; dtma-jaya—unto his
own son; sSuddhdya—who was pure and exalted; pita—the father,
Hiranyakasipu; adét—gave; sddhave—a great saint; hi—indeed;
agham—trouble.

TRANSLATION

Maharaja Yudhisthira said: O best of the saints among the
demigods, O best of spiritual leaders, how did Hiranyakasipu give
so much trouble to Prahlada Maharaja, the pure and exalted saint,
although Prahlada was his own son? I wish to know about this sub-
ject from you.

PURPORT

To know about the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the charac-
teristics of His pure devotee, one must inquire from authorities like
Devarsi Narada. One cannot inquire about transcendental subject matters
from a layman. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (3.25.25), satam
prasangan mama virya-sarnvido bhavanti hrt-karna-rasdyanah kathah:
only by association with devotees can one authoritatively understand the
position of the Lord and His devotees. A devotee like Narada Muni is ad-
dressed as suvrata. Su means “good,” and vrata means “vow.” Thus the
word suvrata refers to a person who has nothing to do with the material
world, which is always bad. One cannot understand anything spiritual
from a materialistic scholar puffed up with academic knowledge. As
stated in Bhagavad-gita (18.55), bhaktya mam abhijanati: one must try
to understand Krsna by devotional service and from a devotee. Therefore

Yudhisthira Maharaja was quite right in wanting to learn further about
Prahlada Maharaja from Sri Narada Muni.

TEXT 45

FAM ataKerLary AA: FAIA: |
stead fiend Fe TA esl

putran vipratikilan svan
pitarah putra-vatsalah
