There once lived a king named Hiranyakashipu. Through many years of penance he had acquired a boon that he would not die during the day or night, in his house or outside, by man or animal and by no man-made weapon. The boon gave him lots of power, so much so that he believed that he was God. His son Prahlad was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. He would chant Vishnu’s name all the time and during all his activities.
Hiranyakashipu was very angry with Prahlad’s devotion to God and wanted his son to worship no one but himself. However, Prahlad continued with his devotion to Vishnu and his father continued to harass him to change his ways.
So angry was Hiranyakashipu that he once had him thrown in a lion’s den but Prahlad came out unscathed! Another time, Hiranyakashipu had the boy thrown from a cliff, while yet another time, into a fire. Each time, God saved Prahlad from any hurt. This made the king even angrier.
One day, he asked Prahlad, “You say that your God will protect you. Can you show me where He is?” Prahlad said, “God is everywhere.” Prahlad was standing near to a very hot pillar, so the king asked, “If your God is everywhere, is He in this pillar?” Prahlad replied, “Yes.”
“Then go and embrace your God in that pillar,” he said as he pushed him close to the post. Prahalad saw an ant climbing on the pillar and felt that if an ant could survive in that heat, then he could also. As he was about to embrace the post, Shri Vishnu emerged from the pillar in the form of Narsingh, half human and half lion! It was neither day nor night (twilight time) when this happened. He lifted the king and took him to the threshold of the palace such that, they were neither inside nor outside the palace. There he placed the king on his lap and killed him with neither metal nor wood but his claws! Lord Vishnu had saved His devotee once again.
Moral: God is everywhere. If we chant His name, with love, He saves us.
