Prahlada Maharaja did not carry out the orders of his teachers, for he was always engaged in worshiping Lord Visnu. As described in this chapter, Hiranyakasipu tried to kill Prahlada Maharaja, even by having a snake bite him and by putting him under the feet of elephants, yet he was unsuccessful.

Hiranyakasipus spiritual master, Sukracarya, had two sons named Sanda and Amarka, to whom Prahlada Maharaja was entrusted for education. Although the teachers tried to educate the boy Prahlada in politics, economics and other material activities, he did not care for their instructions. Instead, he continued to be a pure devotee. Prahlada Maharaja never liked the idea of discriminating between ones friends and enemies. Because he was spiritually inclined, he was equal toward everyone.

Once upon a time, Hiranyakasipu inquired from his son what the best thing was that he had learned from his teachers. Prahlada Maharaja replied that a man engrossed in the material consciousness of duality, thinking, This is mine, and that belongs to my enemy, should give up his householder life and go to the forest to worship the Supreme Lord.

When Hiranyakasipu heard from his son about devotional service, he decided that this small boy had been polluted by some friend in school. Thus he advised the teachers to take care of the boy so that he would not become a Krsna conscious devotee. However, when the teachers inquired from Prahlada Maharaja why he was going against their teachings, Prahlada Maharaja taught the teachers that the mentality of ownership is false and that he was therefore trying to become an unalloyed devotee of Lord Visnu. The teachers, being very angry at this answer, chastised and threatened the boy with many fearful conditions. They taught him to the best of their ability and then brought him before his father.

Hiranyakasipu affectionately took his son Prahlada on his lap and then inquired from him what the best thing was that he had learned from his teachers. As usual, Prahlada Maharaja began praising the nine processes of devotional service, such as sravanam and kirtanam. Thus the King of the demons, Hiranyakasipu, being extremely angry, chastised the teachers, Sanda and Amarka, for having wrongly trained Prahlada Maharaja. The so-called teachers informed the King that Prahlada Maharaja was automatically a devotee and did not listen to their instructions. When they proved themselves innocent, Hiranyakasipu inquired from Prahlada where he had learned visnu-bhakti. Prahlada Maharaja replied that those who are attached to family life do not develop Krsna consciousness, either personally or collectively. Instead, they suffer repeated birth and death in this material world and continue simply chewing the chewed. Prahlada explained that the duty of every man is to take shelter of a pure devotee and thus become eligible to understand Krsna consciousness.

Enraged at this answer, Hiranyakasipu threw Prahlada Maharaja from his lap. Since Prahlada was so treacherous that he had become a devotee of Visnu, who had killed his uncle Hiranyaksa, Hiranyakasipu asked his assistants to kill him. The assistants of Hiranyakasipu struck Prahlada with sharp weapons, threw him under the feet of elephants, subjected him to hellish conditions, threw him from the peak of a mountain and tried to kill him in thousands of other ways, but they were unsuccessful. Hiranyakasipu therefore became increasingly afraid of his son Prahlada Maharaja and arrested him. The sons of Hiranyakasipus spiritual master, Sukracarya, began teaching Prahlada in their own way, but Prahlada Maharaja did not accept their instructions. While the teachers were absent from the classroom, Prahlada Maharaja began to preach Krsna consciousness in the school, and by his instructions all his class friends, the sons of the demons, became devotees like him.