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TEXT 16
aniyatam are vetram
asmakam ayasaskarah
kulangarasya durbuddhes
caturtho syodito damah
SYNONYMS
aniyatamlet it be brought; areoh; vetramthe stick; asmakamof us; ayasaskarahwho is bringing defamation; kula-angarasyaof he who is like a cinder in the dynasty; durbuddhehhaving bad intelligence; caturthahthe fourth; asyafor him; uditahdeclared; damahpunishment (the stick, argumentum ad baculum).
TRANSLATION
Oh, please bring me a stick! This Prahlada is damaging our name and fame. Because of his bad intelligence, he has become like a cinder in the dynasty of the demons. Now he needs to be treated by the fourth of the four kinds of political diplomacy.
PURPORT
In political affairs, when a person disobediently agitates against the government, four principles are used to suppress himlegal orders, pacification, the offer of a post, or, finally, weapons. When there are no other arguments, he is punished. In logic, this is called argumentum ad baculum. When the two seminal brahmanas Sanda and Amarka failed to extract from Prahlada Maharaja the cause for his having opinions different from those of his father, they called for a stick with which to chastise him to satisfy their master, Hiranyakasipu. Because Prahlada had become a devotee, they considered him to be contaminated by bad intelligence and to be the worst descendant in the family of demons. As it is said, where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise. In a society or family in which everyone is a demon, for someone to become a Vaisnava is certainly folly. Thus Prahlada Maharaja was charged with bad intelligence because he was among demons, including his teachers, who were supposedly brahmanas.
The members of our Krsna consciousness movement are in a position similar to that of Prahlada Maharaja. All over the world, ninety-nine percent of the people are godless demons, and therefore our preaching of Krsna consciousness, following in the footsteps of Prahlada Maharaja, is always hampered by many impediments. Because of their fault of being devotees, the American boys who have sacrificed everything for preaching Krsna consciousness are charged with being members of the CIA. Moreover, the seminal brahmanas in India, who say that one can become a brahmana only if born in a brahmana family, charge us with ruining the Hindu system of religion. Of course, the fact is that one becomes a brahmana by qualification. Because we are training Europeans and Americans to become qualified and are awarding them brahminical status, we are being charged with destroying the Hindu religion. Nonetheless, confronting all kinds of difficulties, we must spread the Krsna consciousness movement with great determination, like that of Prahlada Maharaja. In spite of being the son of the demon Hiranyakasipu, Prahlada never feared the chastisements of the seminal brahmana sons of a demoniac father.
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