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.
巴利大王说：唯有我的祖父普拉赫拉达大王明了自身真正的利益。其父希兰亚卡西普被诛后，主那罗辛哈德瓦欲赐普拉赫拉达父王之国，甚至赐解脱（mokṣa），但普拉赫拉达两者皆不受。他认为解脱与物质富贵皆为奉爱服务（bhakti-sevā）之障碍；因此不求业（karma）与智（jñāna）之果报，只祈求得以成为主之仆的仆，恒常事奉。
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.