PURPORT

The living entities wandering within the jurisdiction of the 8,400,000 species of life get the opportunity for self-realization in the human form and gradually in such other elevated forms as those of the demigods, Kinnaras and Caranas, as will be described below. In the higher statuses of life, beginning from human life, the main duty is tapasya, or austerity. As Rsabhadeva advised His sons, tapo divyam putraka yena sattvam suddhyet. To rectify our material existence, austerity (tapasya) is absolutely necessary. However, when people in general come under the control of a demon or a demoniac ruling power, they forget this process of tapasya and gradually also become demoniac. All the saintly persons, who were generally engaged in austerity, felt relieved when Hiranyakasipu was killed by the Lord in the form of Nrsimhadeva. They realized that the original instruction concerning human life-that it is meant for tapasya for self-realization-was reaffirmed by the Lord when He killed Hiranyakasipu.