Text 51] Prahlada, the Saintly Son of Hiranyakasipu 287

tatha—in this way; iti—thus; guru-putra-uktam—advised by Sanda
and Amarka, the sons of Sukracrya; anujAdya—accepting; idam—this;
abravit—said; dharmah—the duty; hi—indeed; asya—unto Prahlada;
upadestavyah—to be instructed; rajidm—of the kings; yah—which;
grha-medhinam—who are interested in householder life.

TRANSLATION

After hearing these instructions of Sanda and Amarka, the sons
of his spiritual master, Hiranyakasipu agreed and requested them
to instruct Prahlada in that system of occupational duty which is
followed by royal householder families.

PURPORT

Hiranyakasipu wanted Prahlada Maharaja to be trained as a diplomatic
king in ruling the kingdom, the country or the world, but not to be ad-
vised about renunciation or the renounced order of life. The word
dharma here does not refer to some religious faith. As clearly stated,
dharmo hy asyopadestavyo rajiam yo grha-medhinam. There are two
kinds of royal families—one whose members are simply attached to
household life and the other consisting of rdjarsis, kings who govern with
ruling power but are as good as great saints. Prahlada Maharaja wanted
to become a rdjarsi, whereas Hiranyaksipu wanted him to become a king
attached to sense enjoyment (grha-medhinam). Therefore in the Aryan
system there is varnadSrama-dharma, by which everyone should be edu-
cated according to his position in society’s division of varna (brahmana,
ksatriya, vaisya and Sidra) and dsrama (brahmacarya, grhastha,
vanaprastha and sannydsa).

A devotee purified by devotional service is always in the transcenden-
tal position above the mundane qualities. Thus the difference between
Prahlada Maharaja and Hiranyakasipu was that Hiranyakasipu wanted to
keep Prahlada in mundane attachment whereas Prahlada was above the
modes of material nature. As long as one is under the control of material
nature, his occupational duty is different from that of a person not under
such control. One’s real dharma, or occupational duty, is described in
Srimad-Bhagavatam (dharmam tu saksad bhagavat-pranitam). As de-

scribed to his order carriers by Dharmaraja, or Yamaraja, a living being
