Vamana Purana — Prahlada's Victory through Bhakti, Shloka 40
Prahlada’s Defeat in Battle and Victory through Bhakti (Nara-Narayana Episode)
असौ यद्यजयो देव त्रैलोक्येनापि सुव्रतः न स्थातुं त्वत्प्रसादेव शक्यं किमु करोम्यज
asau yadyajayo deva trailokyenāpi suvrataḥ na sthātuṃ tvatprasādeva śakyaṃ kimu karomyaja
Même s’il est invincible, ô Dieu—même pour les trois mondes, ô toi au vœu excellent—sans ta grâce il n’est pas possible même de se tenir debout ; que puis-je donc faire, ô Inengendré ?
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FAQs
The verse expresses radical dependence: even basic stability (‘to stand’) is attributed to divine grace. Ethically, it undermines pride and reframes agency as cooperative with dharma and the divine will.
Vamśānucarita/Carita with a strong didactic overlay—devotional theology embedded in the historical-mythic account of deva–asura power shifts.
‘Unconquerable even by the three worlds’ highlights the limits of collective worldly power; ‘without grace one cannot even stand’ symbolizes ontological dependence. In the Vamana–Bali arc, it prefigures surrender as the true ‘victory-condition’.