Srimad Bhagavatam — Panchama Skandha, Shloka 25
Rāhu, Eclipses, Antarikṣa, and the Seven Subterranean Heavens
Bila-svarga
यस्यानुदास्यमेवास्मत्पितामह: किल वव्रे न तु स्वपित्र्यं यदुताकुतोभयं पदं दीयमानं भगवत: परमिति भगवतोपरते खलु स्वपितरि ॥ २५ ॥
yasyānudāsyam evāsmat-pitāmahaḥ kila vavre na tu sva-pitryaṁ yad utākutobhayaṁ padaṁ dīyamānaṁ bhagavataḥ param iti bhagavatoparate khalu sva-pitari.
バリ・マハーラージャは言った。「祖父プラフラーダ・マハーラージャこそ、真の自己利益を悟った唯一の者である。父ヒラニヤカシプが滅ぼされた後、主ナーラシンハデーヴァは父の王国、さらには解脱（モークシャ）さえ授けようとされたが、プラフラーダはどちらも受け取らなかった。解脱も物質的栄華もバクティの奉仕の妨げと見て、カルマやジュニャーナの果を求めず、ただ主の僕の僕として仕える務めを乞うたのである。」
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has instructed that an unalloyed devotee should consider himself a servant of the servant of the servant of the Supreme Lord ( gopī-bhartuḥ pāda-kamalayor dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ ). In Vaiṣṇava philosophy, one should not even become a direct servant. Prahlāda Mahārāja was offered all the blessings of an opulent position in the material world and even the liberation of merging into Brahman, but he refused all this. He simply wanted to engage in the service of the servant of the servant of the Lord. Therefore Bali Mahārāja said that because his grandfather Prahlāda Mahārāja had rejected the blessings of the Supreme Personality of Godhead in terms of material opulence and liberation from material bondage, he truly understood his self-interest.
FAQs
This verse states that the truly fear-free abode is granted by Bhagavān and is attained through humble service (anudāsya), not through worldly power or inherited status.
Because he valued only service to the Supreme Lord, knowing that the Lord alone gives the highest, fear-free destination—especially meaningful since Prahlāda’s own father was hostile to the Lord.
Prioritize devotional service and spiritual integrity over prestige, control, or “inheritances” of identity and advantage, remembering that lasting fearlessness comes from surrender to Bhagavān.