Prahlada Employs Agneyastra on Devas

A terrible battle between Matsarasura’s army of asuras and the devas under Lord Ganesha in his Vakratunda avatara was going on.

Many had died on both sides. Many had lost their limbs—severed, crushed, fractured. Rivers of blood were flowing all through the battleground. The whole land had turned red, drenched in blood.

Fighting evil, eliminating evil, is not an easy task. It is a real battle. It is a long battle. It doesn’t happen by sitting in padmasana and visualizing that the evil is gone. Even for the devas, these were real, life-taking battles. And there was no guarantee about the outcome.

The devas had already fought with Matsarasura and lost.

There is a battle science as part of astrology also. It is not about prediction. It is more about increasing the possibility of victory—by choosing the right time, the right place, and who should fight whom. Still, success is not assured. These are efforts to increase the probability of success—of victory.

And yet, we have simpletons, so naïve, asking, 'I am fighting a case. Will I win or lose?'

As if it is pre-decided.

If it is pre-decided, why should there even be a fight?

Do you get it?

Why waste time, effort, and resources fighting?

The outcome of no fight can be predicted for sure. You can increase the probability of victory by considering many factors, including astrological factors.

When a battle situation arises, the king will not call his astrologer and ask, 'Am I going to win or not?'

It is not a yes or no question.

He would ask, 'How can I win?'

• Start fighting at this time; this is favorable for you.
• Attacking from this side is favorable for you.
• Try to push the enemy to this area; they will be weak there.

The king would also include these factors when making his strategies.

Those who fought on both sides—many of them were experts in warfare. They were trained to deliver lethal blows, especially on marmas.

And as we saw earlier, they kept on fighting day and night for five days.

Not like the battle of Kurukshetra, which was fought only during the day.

Here, both sides were so full of rage that they wanted to eliminate the other side.

There was no question of taking rest.

Prahlada became frustrated. The end of the battle didn’t seem to be anywhere near.

He took out Agneyastra and shot it.

See, Agni is a deva, but Agneyastra is available even to asuras. Agni is helpless. Agni cannot say, 'He is going to use it on me, so I will not work.'

Asuras had earned it through tapas or blessings or whatever.

And Agni is bound to act—even if it is against himself.

The fire that came out of Analastra or Agneyastra burned and killed a lot of devas. The devas started running helter-skelter. They started running out of the battlefield.

Look at the predicament.

Agni is with them. He is a deva.

But Agneyastra was now devastating them.

Like a self-goal, an own goal.

The massive fire burned even the vehicles of the devas.

The asuras became happy seeing all this.

Indra wanted to douse the fire.

He took out Meghastra and started mounting it on his bow.

Prahlada, with his sword, cut Indra’s bow into two.

Indra then took out Vajrayudha—the lightning—and hit Prahlada with it.

Prahlada fell.

Seeing this, Mahishasura came.

Mahishasura hit Indra with his gada on the head. Indra fell unconscious, bleeding heavily from his head.

Agni, with his flames, tried to burn Mahishasura.

But Mahishasura turned himself into water and extinguished him.

Agni’s other weapon is Shakti—a spear.

Agni deva attacked Mahishasura with Shakti.

Mahishasura broke it with his sword.

Mahishasura then became a huge buffalo—his original form—and fought with Agni.

At that time, Yama came and killed Mahishasura with his danda—his shaft.

See, these are real incidents that took place.

See the detailing.

It is not like 'Lord Ganesha went with his army and killed the asuras.'

So much detailing.

Like the account of an eyewitness.

Everybody fears Yama.

But the asura commander Virochana came and attacked Yamaraja with his sword.

Yama fell on the battleground.

Varuna deva tied Virochana up with his rope.

Virochana started cutting the rope to pieces with his sword.

He got himself released.

Andhakasura attacked Varuna and made him unconscious.

Vayu and Kubera attacked Andhaka together, and Andhaka fell. He was defeated.

Shambarasura attacked Vayu.

Virochana, who had freed himself from Varuna’s pasha, attacked Kubera.

Both Vayu and Kubera were severely wounded and fell.

At that time, Vishnu came and crushed the chest of Virochana with his gada.

And he beheaded Andhakasura with his Sudarshana Chakra.

Shambarasura was also killed by Vishnu with a shower of deadly arrows.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi