The child was brainwashed. We know this as a fact. While the child was still in its mother’s womb, Narada, who is the greatest teacher of Bhaktiyoga, entered the mother’s womb and imparted the first lessons of the path of devotion to the baby who was yet to take birth. Now psychologists have told us the importance of sensual information acquired at pre-natal stage. I know you are thinking of Abhimanyu. Or probably Shukadev. That conditioning framed the child’s mindset for a lifetime. And as children have Himalayan faith — all children — Prahlad couldn’t have helped his actions. It is not the question whether Narada’s preachings were right or wrong, or whether the path of devotion is the only appropriate way; the question is whether Narada and all gods were justified in involving a child in their battle against demons. Shouldn’t they rather have kept the child out of it, as Krishna centuries later so vehemently propounded on the final day of the great war (when Ashvatthama killed Parikshit, the latter being still in mother’s womb)? Were the gods really scared to such a degree that they had to resort to such means to achieve victory?

Prahlad knew that the Lord would protect him, and in case of any casualty, would save him. He had unshakeable faith. He had left the matter completely into the Lord’s hands, and was only concerned with his own prayers and doing what he felt to be right, or rather what he was taught to be right. He did not know how the Lord would achieve it. But he knew it with certainty and beyond any doubt that He will. “Neither day nor night, neither indoors nor outdoors, neither on Earth nor in the sky, neither human nor animal, no weapons . . .” and you know how the Lord achieved it. The Divine will always find a way to salvage you. No matter how complicated your situation be, no matter how difficult your problems are, the Lord with always save you — do not for a moment doubt it. Parents, friends, teachers — you can doubt anybody or everybody, but not for a moment doubt the Divine Grace. Only a heart which carries innocence of a child can carry such faith. Wherever there is faith, there is no fear. If you are afraid, it means you do not have faith. The gods were afraid of Hiranyakashyap because they didn’t have complete faith in the Lord. Note the irony — the gods who themselves didn’t have faith, resorted to brainwash a child in order to achieve their objective, and the child in turn went on to attain unshakeable faith! Here we see a student surpassing his teacher! Had the gods themselves believed in the teachings which they were imparting to the child, all this drama would not have taken place. Hiranyakashyap would have been killed anyway, though not necessarily in an identical manner. May be some other way, we do not know. Strange are the ways of the Divine. But it always has a way.