Shloka 41
प्रह्लादचरितम् (हिरण्यकशिपोः स्वर्गापहरणं, प्रह्लादस्य विष्णुभक्तिः, उपदेशः)
हे दिग्गजाः संकटदन्तमिश्रा घ्नतैनम् अस्मद्रिपुपक्षभिन्नम् तज्जा विनाशाय भवन्ति तस्य यथारणेः प्रज्वलितो हुताशः
he diggajāḥ saṃkaṭadantamiśrā ghnatainam asmadripupakṣabhinnam tajjā vināśāya bhavanti tasya yathāraṇeḥ prajvalito hutāśaḥ
O Diggajas, guardians of the quarters, you whose tusks are dread and perilous—strike down this one who has shattered the wing of our enemy’s host. For the very forces born from him become the instruments of his ruin, as fire kindled from the araṇi-sticks consumes the wood that gave it birth.
Sage Parāśara (narrating to Maitreya)
Speaker: Parasara
Teaching: Devotional
Quality: authoritative
Concept: The very instruments raised against the Lord’s devotee become the cause of the aggressor’s downfall, like fire kindled from araṇi consuming its source.
Vedantic Theme: Dharma
Application: In crises, hold to remembrance of the Lord and refrain from retaliatory hatred; trust that adharma is self-defeating.
Vishishtadvaita: Divine governance ensures karmic retribution while protecting the bhakta, showing the Lord’s immanent oversight of moral order.
Phase: Persecution
Bhakti Quality: Unshaken śraddhā in Viṣṇu amid lethal threats; reliance on nāma-smaraṇa rather than self-effort.
Persecution: Elephants
Vishnu Form: Hari
FAQs
It teaches karmic reversal: effects arise from causes, and what one generates—like fire from araṇi—can return to consume its own source, becoming the means of one’s downfall.
Through battlefield imagery, he shows that victory and destruction are not random; they unfold through dharma and causality, where even one’s own produced forces can become agents of ruin.
Even without explicit mention, the verse reflects the Vishnu Purana’s worldview that cosmic order is upheld by the Supreme Reality (Vishnu), under whose governance moral causality (dharma/karma) operates in history and war.