Skip to main content

Character is All | Story of King Prahlada | Guruji's Thoughts | 1 min.

Physical strength is necessary, but character is more important. Strength without character will only make a brute of man. Purity of character from the individual as well as the national standpoint, is the real life-breath of national glory and greatness.

There is the story of Prahlad which depicts the importance of character. As a result of his meritorious deeds, he drove away Indra and became the king of gods. Indra approached Brihaspati-the guru of gods – and said, "Sir, you know my pitiable plight. What shall I do to regain my throne?" Brihaspati said, "Dress yourself as an ordinary mendicant, go to the durbar of Prahlad at the hour of Ichhadan, i.e., when he gives away whatever the beggars ask, and ask for his sheela(character)." Indra obeyed. He went to Prahlad as a beggar and asked him his sheela.

Prahlad said, "Why are you satisfied with only my sheela?" "That is sufficient for me," replied the mendicant. "You can have it", said Prahlad. Immediately after he said this, an effulgent being came out of his body and entered the body of the mendicant. "Who are you? Why are you entering the body of the mendicant leaving my body?" asked Prahlad. "I am your sheela. As you have given me away to him. I have to enter his body now", the effulgent spirit replied. In a fraction of second another brilliant form came out. Once again Prahlad asked "Who are you? Why are you leaving my body?" I am your shaurya (prowess). I am only a servant of sheela. So long as you had sheela I served you. Now that sheela has gone away, I am also following sheela." So saying, it also entered the body of the mendicant. Like this a few more effulgent forms left Prahlad’s body. Lastly, a brilliant shining form of woman came out of him. She said, "Well, I am your Rajyashree (Goddess of Royal Glory). I too am a servant of sheela. As you have given up your sheela, I am going." As a result, Prahlad lost all his power and glory and Indra regained his throne.

The moral of the story, in a nutshell, is that if endowed with character we can achieve anything, and without character we stand to lose everything. This is as much true of nations as of individuals. Therefore, the two aspects of character, individual and national, are like the twin lungs of national glory.

Namaste!

[Source: Bunch of Thoughts]

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Attitude of Justice | Story of King Prahlad | 1 min.

A beautiful story about King Prahlad: Once, his son, Virochan, got into an argument with his Guru’s son Sudhanva. Virochan said, “I am superior to you because I am the son of a king.” Sudhanva claimed, “I am superior because I am the son of a Rishi.” They were both young, and in their impetuousness, they laid bets. Both said, “Whoever is proved superior will live while the other will have to die.” Now, who would be the judge? Sudhanva said to Virochan, “Your father, Prahlad, will be the judge.” Virochan exclaimed, “Really! But then you will complain that he has been partial.” “No, my father, Rishi Angiras, has said that your father Prahlad is perfectly just, and will never differentiate between friend and foe.” The two boys went to Prahlad. Virochan asked, “Father, am I superior or Sudhanva?” Prahlad said, “Why did this question arise?” “Father we have laid bets that whoever is proved superior will remain alive while the other will have to die.” Prahlad smiled and said, “Your friend...

The Right Books - Download

Some books by eminent Hindu intellectuals are given here. The books are classified by the name of the author. You can download them by visiting subsequent websites or by clicking on the direct links. Wherever possible, links from archive.org have been given. Ebooks can be in any format, majority of them being PDFs. Deshbhakt Vinayak Damodar Savarkar The Indian War of Independence 1857 [1.5M] Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History [6.54M] Letters from Andamans [220k] Hindu Pad-Padshahi [1.39MB] Essentials of Hindutva [230k] Hindutva - 1923 [34.7M] Historic Statements by Savarkar [900k] Inside The Enemy Camp [500k] Pu La Deshpande in Andamans [32k] Hindu Rashtra Darshan [770k] Biography of Babarao and Yesuvahini [1800k] Life of Barrister Savarkar by Chitragupta [924k] Letters by Savarkar [402KB] My Transportation for Life [2.44 MB] History of Hindu Mahasabha [24MB] In case any of these links are not working, you can download all these books plus more at the websi...

The White Widow | 1 min.

Read about a dreaded female terrorist:  Samantha Louise Lewthwaite (born 5 December 1983), also known as Sherafiyah Lewthwaite or the White Widow, is a British woman who is one of the Western world's most wanted terrorism suspects. Lewthwaite, the widow of 7/7 London terrorist bomber Germaine Lindsay , is accused of causing the deaths of more than 400 people. [9] She is a fugitive from justice in Kenya , where she was wanted on charges of possession of explosives and conspiracy to commit a felony and is the subject of an Interpol Red Notice requesting her arrest with a view to extradition .  Lewthwaite was an alleged member of the Somalia -based radical Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab . [10] She was accused of orchestrating grenade attacks at non-Muslim places of worship, [10] and is believed to have been behind an attack on those watching football in a bar in Mombasa during Euro 2012 . [11] In September 2013, there was speculation over her possibl...