Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.9.3

Pradyumna: Translation: "Thereafter Lord Brahmā requested Prahlāda Mahārāja, who was standing very near him: My dear son, Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva is extremely angry at your demoniac father. Please go forward and appease the Lord."

Prabhupāda:

prahrādaṁ preṣayām āsa brahmāvasthitam antike tāta praśamayopehi sva-pitre kupitaṁ prabhum [SB 7.9.3]

So Nṛsiṁhadeva was very, very angry. Now the atheist class of men, who do not know what is the nature of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they will say, "Why God should become angry?" So God, why He should not be angry? God must have everything; otherwise how He is God complete? Pūrṅam. The anger is also another quality of living symptom. The stone does not become angry, because he's stone. But any living being, he becomes angry. That is a quality. And why God should not be angry? They imagine God; not they have got any factual conception of God. They imagine that "God must be like this. God must be nonviolent. God must be very peaceful." Why? Wherefrom the anger comes? It comes from God. Otherwise there is no existence of anger.

Everything is there. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. That is the definition of Brahman. Whatever we have got in experience and whatever we haven't got in experience... We haven't got everything in experience. Just like about Nṛsiṁhadeva it is said Lakṣmī also had no experience that the Lord can become half lion, half man. Even Lakṣmī, what to speak of others. Lakṣmī, she is constant companion of the Lord. So it is said, aṣruta. What is that? Adṛṣṭa. Adṛṣṭa aṣruta pūrvatvāt. She became afraid because she also never saw such gigantic form, and half lion, half man. God has so many forms: advaita acyuta anādi ananta-rūpam [Bs 5.33].

[I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, who is inaccessible to the Vedas, but obtainable by pure unalloyed devotion of the soul, who is without a second, who is not subject to decay, is without a beginning, whose form is endless, who is the beginning, and the eternal puruṣa; yet He is a person possessing the beauty of blooming youth.]

Ananta-rūpam; still, advaita. So in the Bhāgavata it is said that God's incarnations are exactly like the waves of the river or the sea. Nobody can count. You'll be tired if you want to count the number of waves. It is impossible. So God's incarnations are as many as there are waves. So you cannot count the waves; therefore you cannot understand how many incarnations He has got. Even Lakṣmī, even Anantadeva, they haven't got. So our experience—very limited. Why should we say that "God cannot have this, God cannot have..." like that? This is godlessness. They make section. They say... Even in our so-called Vedic Ārya-samājī, they assert that God cannot take incarnation. Why? If God is all-powerful, then why He shall not be able to accept incarnation?

Therefore we should not take lessons of God from these rascals. We should take lessons of God from śāstra, from guru and from sādhu—one who has seen God, tattva-darśina. Tad viddhi praṅipātena paripraśnena sevayā, upadekṣyanti tad jñānam [Bg 4.34].

[Just try to learn the truth by approaching a spiritual master. Inquire from him submissively and render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge unto you because he has seen the truth.]

Tad jñānam means spiritual knowledge. Tad-vijñānam.

tad-vijñānartham sa gurum evābhigacchet samit-pāṅiḥ śrotriyaṁ brahma-niṣṭham [Muṅḍaka Upaniṣad 1.2.12]

[To understand these things properly, one must humbly approach, with firewood in hand, a spiritual master who is learned in the Vedas and firmly devoted to the Absolute Truth.]

So tad-vijñānam, you cannot imagine, speculate. That is not possible. You have to learn it from a person who is tattva-darśinaḥ, who has seen God. Even by seeing, you cannot... Just like Lakṣmīdevi, she is seeing every moment, constantly. Even she does not know. Asruta-purva. Adrstāsruta-purva. So whatever we see or we do not see, everything is there. Ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg 10.8].

[I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who know this perfectly engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.]

Kṛṣṅa says, "Whatever you see, whatever you experience, I am the origin of everything." So anger must be there. How you can say that "God should not be angry. God should not be like this. God should not..."? No. That is not fact. That is our inexperience.

So Brahmā, Lord Brahmā, he is supposed to be the first living being within this universe. Lakṣmī became afraid; Brahmā also became very afraid. Therefore Brahmā requested Prahlāda Mahārāja that "You go forward, my dear son, and appease the Lord. You can do because for you He has appeared in this fierceful feature. Your father offended Him in so many ways by teasing you, by punishing you, by putting you into difficulty. Therefore He has appeared in very angry. So you can appease Him. We cannot. It is not possible." Prahlāda preṣayām āsa brahma avasthita antike. So Prahlāda Mahārāja, being very exalted devotee, he could appease the Lord. Bhaktyā, by bhakti, you can control the Supreme Lord. That is the only way. Bhaktyā maṁ abhijānāti [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

The understanding is also through bhakti, and through bhakti you can control God. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabha ātmā-bhaktau. You cannot understand God by studying Vedas. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabha ātmā-bhaktau. But for His devotees, He is very, very easily available. Therefore bhakti is the only source. Bhaktyām ekayā grāhyam. Only through bhakti you can approach, you can talk with God on equal level just like friend. The cowherd boys, they were treating Kṛṣṅa on the same status: "Kṛṣṅa is like us." But they loved Kṛṣṅa very, very intensely. That is their qualification. Therefore Kṛṣṅa sometimes agreed to take the cowherd boys on His shoulder. So this is the... Kṛṣṅa wants that, that "My bhakta... Be My bhakta and control Me. Everyone worships Me with awe and veneration. I want somebody should come forward and control Me." That He wants. Therefore He has accepted Mother Yaśodā to control Him. How God can be controlled? Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

He's the supreme controller. Who can control Him? It is not possible. But He agrees to be controlled by His pure devotee. He agrees, "Yes, mother, you control Me. You bind Me. You show Me your stick so that I may be afraid."

So everything is there. Don't think that God is zero, no, śūnyavādi. He is everything. Janmādy asya yataḥ [SB 1.1.1]. Athāto brahma jijñāsā. You are inquiring about Brahman. Paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān [Bg 10.12].

[Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala, and Vyāsa proclaim this of You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me.]

So there must be anger, not that God should be always peaceful. But the difference is His anger and His peaceful attitude produces the same result. Prahlāda Mahārāja, a devotee... He is very satisfied with Prahlāda Mahārāja, and He is very much dissatisfied with his father, but result is the same: both of them got liberation. Although a devotee becomes associate, whereas the demon who is killed by God, he does not become an associate—he is not qualified—but he enters into the spiritual kingdom. He gets liberation from this material bondage. So why a devotee should take the same position? Therefore, māṁ eti. Tato māṁ tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram [Bg 18.55].

[One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God.]

They viśate, enters, enters in the spiritual kingdom. Everyone who is liberated, he is entered.

brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu mad-bhaktiṁ labhate... [Bg 18.54]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

But those who are devotees, they are allowed to enter into the planet, Vaikuṅṭha planet or Goloka Vṛndāvana planet. In this way one gets his original position. But if we do not take to bhakti, then we may enter into the Brahman effulgence, but there is chance of falling down. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yusmad-aṅghrayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

So those who are impersonalist, they may enter into the spiritual kingdom. That is called paraṁ padaṁ. Padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ na teṣām [SB 10.14.58].

[For those who have accepted the boat of the lotus feet of the Lord, who is the shelter of the cosmic manifestation and is famous as Murāri, the enemy of the Mura demon, the ocean of the material world is like the water contained in a calf's hoof-print. Their goal is paraṁ padam, Vaikuṅṭha, the place where there are no material miseries, not the place where there is danger at every step.]

But there is also chance of falldown. Āruhya kṛcchreṅa. After severe austerities and penances one can enter into the Brahman effulgence. But unless one gets information of the paraṁ padaṁ—samāśritā ye pada pallava plavam—there is chance of falling down. In the material world there is bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19].

But in spiritual also, if you enter into the spiritual kingdom, from there also, even sometimes it so happens. Of course, that is by God's desire. Just like Jaya-Vijaya. They were personal associates. But the explanation is Kṛṣṅa wanted that "They should go..., the Hiraṅyakaśipu..., these two, Jaya-Vijaya, they should go to the material world, and I must fight with them." Because that fighting, to become angry, that tendency is there. Where He will exhibit? In the Vaikuṅṭha there is no chance of exhibiting this anger and fighting. That is not possible. Therefore He induces His devotee to "Go to the material world and become My enemy, and I shall fight. I shall become angry," because in the Vaikuṅṭha, spiritual kingdom, there is no chance. Everyone is serving; everyone is friendly. Some relation... Where is the question of fighting? But fighting spirit is there; anger is there. Where He shall exhibit? And therefore Kṛṣṅa incarnates, He becomes angry, and a devotee becomes enemy, and this is Kṛṣṅa-līlā, nitya-līlā. It is going on.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya! Haribol! [end]