Prahlada Hits Vishnu With Narayanastra

We saw that in the battle between Matsarasura and Lord Ganesha in his Vakratundavatara,

• It is not just the Lord who is fighting.
• All his ganas are fighting.
• All the devas are fighting along with him.

Lord Vishnu had already beheaded Andhakasura on the battlefield with his Sudarshana Chakra. Andhakasura was part of Matsarasura’s army. Then, he also killed Shambarasura with a volley of arrows.

Lord Vishnu was angry. With his chakra, he started killing the asuras in thousands. Some of the important commanders on the asura side, he made them unconscious with his gada.

Now comes a very interesting part. Prahlada, son of Hiranyakashipu—we know about him. When you talk about devotion, his is one of the foremost names that come up.

With a barrage of arrows, Prahlada killed thousands of soldiers on the deva side. With his sword, he made Garuda unconscious. He even attacked Lord Vishnu with his gada.

How is this possible? Prahlada attacking Vishnu?

Two explanations. This is what the Puranas are for—to make you understand how the world runs.

First Explanation – It Is All a Drama, a Leela

Anything can happen in a mock fight. You don’t sit and ask questions like, 'How is this possible?' Imagine a very pious, peace-loving man who comes to the city from a village. His host takes him to watch boxing. As the two participants start fighting, this man gets agitated.

'Why are they fighting? This is not good. People should not fight with each other. That is not good.'

He jumps into the ring, tries to separate them, and starts telling them, 'Don’t fight!'

Because he doesn’t understand that it is just a game. There is no place for sentiments in this game. It is just a game.

You know the most fundamental reason why the battle of Kurukshetra happened, in which millions died?

The Mahabharata says that once, the population of Swarga became very low—to the extent that the day-to-day functioning of Swarga started getting affected.

It is like how a boy I know went to Canada. He was supposed to start working there. Some of his family members were already there and had sponsored him. He would join some course, start working side by side, and then later try to get a work permit or whatever.

A very fun-loving boy with a lot of friends back home—you would never see him alone. He landed in Canada. The airport was literally empty. He looked out, and as far as he could see, the roads were also empty. This boy refused to get out of the airport.

'How will I survive with so few people around?'

In Swarga, too, it was such a situation. The devas decided, 'We should get more people to Swarga on an urgent basis.'

People can reach Swarga through tapas—it will take thousands of years. Yogis can go to Swarga. Those who perform yajnas can go to Swarga.

All these are going to take time.

What is the fastest way to get people into Swarga?

Veera Mrityu—those who die in battle go straight to Swarga. No other qualification is needed.

So, they planted seeds of animosity between the Pandavas and Kauravas, which led to the death of nearly two million soldiers. All of them reached Swarga. Swarga was repopulated.

You must have wondered—when Lord Krishna joined the Pandavas, he gave his entire army to the Kauravas. All of them died.

How could the Lord ditch his own soldiers?

No. In one go, he sent all of them to Swarga—which otherwise would have taken hundreds of births for most of them.

So, there are different perspectives to the same incident or story. The purpose of the Puranas is to expand our vision to assimilate all these perspectives.

Otherwise, why would Mudgala Maharshi even mention a fight between Prahlada and Vishnu here?

He could have avoided it. He could have said that when Prahlada saw Vishnu on the battlefield, he just put down his weapons and fell at his feet.

But he didn’t write it like that. No.

Because that is not what happened for real. He wouldn’t write untruths just to avoid controversy. Whatever happened, happened.

Another Perspective

The devas are eight Vasus, eleven Rudras, twelve Adityas, and two Vishwedevas—thirty-three in total. They are the occupants of Swargaloka.

You will find Vishnu among the eight Vasus and the twelve Adityas. That means Vishnu is not just one Vishnu.

The Vishnu who is here on this battlefield may be one among them—or both.

They are all Sri Hari Paramatma’s amshas only. Because both of them are shareeris, they both have bodies. Vishnu here is a shareeri Vishnu—not the full Sri Hari Paramatma, just a small part of him.

What Prahlada believed in was that there is nothing other than Sri Hari Paramatma.

That’s why when his father asked him, 'Is he there in this pillar?' he said, 'Yes.'

And the Lord came out from the pillar.

So, there was nothing for him to regret that he caused his own father to be killed.

For him, his father was also an aspect of Sri Hari only.

One aspect of Sri Hari eliminating another aspect of Sri Hari.

He just became an instrument—a nimitta—for that.

This was his level of understanding.

Here on this battlefield, too, one aspect of Sri Hari is standing before him as Vishnu to fight with him. And he himself is another aspect of Sri Hari.

Why shouldn’t he be a part of this exciting drama?

Does he even have a choice?

The Fight

Anyway, Vishnu took out his chakra to destroy Prahlada. As it started whirling, it beheaded thousands of asuras.

When it reached near Prahlada, Prahlada took out Narayanastra, remembered his Lord Narayana—Sri Hari Paramatma, Janardana—and shot it towards Vishnu.

Narayanastra went and hit Vishnu on his chest after overpowering the chakra on the way. Vishnu fell unconscious, motionless, as if he had lost his life.

The asuras started celebrating.

Narayanastra didn’t stop there. It started killing thousands of deva soldiers.

Seeing this, Lord Shiva took out his bow, Pinaka, and shot Pashupatastra.

Pashupatastra countered Narayanastra. They both started fighting each other in the sky.

There was no winner. Both kept on fighting.

In the meantime, Shiva took out his Trishoola and threw it at Prahlada. It hit Prahlada on his chest, and he fell as if a huge tree had been uprooted.

The Trishoola started killing asuras in thousands.

At that time, the two sons of Matsarasura, Sundarapriya and Vishayapriya, entered the battlefield to face Lord Shiva.

Ramaswamy Sastry and Vighnesh Ghanapaathi