Bhagat Prahlaad Ji

Worshipping Harnaakash

Many centuries ago, before the Gurus came to this world, there lived a King called Harnaakash.
Harnaakash would meditate to the Hindu Gods for many hours a day. One day, Lord Shiva appeared in front of Harnaakash and told him “You have meditated for a long time, I am very impressed. You may ask for a wish and I will grant it for you”.
Harnaakash’s wish was to never die by a man nor an animal, never die in the day nor in the night, never die inside nor outside and never die on land nor in the sky. Lord Shiva granted this wish.
Harnaakash thought to himself “No one can kill me now! I will never die! I am Akaal Purakh (Immortal being)!”. King Harnaakash got a lot of ego.
In those days, people would chant ‘Raam’, which is another name for Vaheguru.
However, King Harnaakash decided that since no one can kill him, he was God so he told everyone “I am God, you will chant my name now! Harnaakash! Harnaakash! Harnaakash!”.
Anyone that was caught chanting ‘Raam’ instead of ‘Harnaakash’ was killed. Many of the helpless villagers began to worship the evil King Harnaakash. Harnaakash enjoyed this and forced everyone to see him as God.

Narsingha kills Harnaakash

Prahlaad was the son of King Harnaakash. He had a lot of love for Vaheguru. He would chant ‘Raam’ all day.
Harnaakash sent Prahlaad to school and told the teachers to teach him that he is God. Instead, Prahlaad would tell the teachers “I only want to learn about Raam, write the name ‘Raam’ in my book”. The teachers told Harnaakash about what Prahlaad would do.
One day, when Prahlaad was only 8 years old, Harnaakash asked Prahlaad “What is the best thing in life?”. Prahlaad replied “To forget about the world and worship only Raam”. Harnaakash heard this and got really angry.
Harnaakash shouted at Prahlaad “Who is this Raam? Do you not know that I am God? Do you not respect me?”. Prahlaad replied “I do respect you father but you are not God, you are a creature of God. Raam is God and he is my protector”.
Harnaakash told Prahlaad that if he did not change his mind then he will be killed. That night, Prahlaad’s mother talked to him. She told Prahlaad “I love Raam too, but your father will kill us if we don’t agree with him”. Prahlaad said “I will worship no one other than Raam”.
The next day, Prahlaad was called to the Darbar of King Harnaakash. Harnaakash asked Prahlaad “So Prahlaad, who is God, me or Raam?”. Prahlaad replied “You are the King of this country father but Raam is the King of the universe. Raam is God”.
King Harnaakash shouted in anger “Let’s see how your Raam protects you! Guards kill this boy! He must not live!”. The guards ran towards Prahlaad to attack him. Prahlaad started chanting ‘Raam’ and, with this, the guards could not attack Prahlaad.
After this, Prahlaad was put in a cell full of poisonous snakes. Raam protected Prahlaad and the snakes did not bite Prahlaad.
Elephants were then brought in to trample on Prahlaad. This did not work either. King Harnaakash then threw Prahlaad off a cliff but even then no harm came to Prahlaad.
Prahlaad’s aunt was then called by Harnaakash. She had the power to sit in fire without being burnt. She held Prahlaad and jumped into the fire. Everyone was shocked as Prahlaad’s aunt burnt to death but no harm came to Prahlaad.
After this, Harnaakash shouted at Prahlaad “Who is protecting you?!”. Prahlaad replied “It is Raam, the lord of the universe”. Harnaakash said “Where is this Raam, he’s fake I cannot see him”.
Prahlaad laughed and said “Raam is everywhere, he is inside me and you. Only those that worship him and have faith in him can see him”.
Harnaakash grabbed Prahlaad and tied him to a pillar. Harnaakash laughed and said “Where is your Raam now, inside this pillar?”. Prahlaad said “Yes, Raam is inside this pillar too”. Harnaakash got really angry and swung his mace to smash Prahlaad’s head.
As Harnakaash swung his mace, the pillar holding Prahlaad broke. Narsingha emerged from the broken pillar. The lower part of Narsingha’s body was that of a human but the upper part of his body was that of a lion.
Narsingha grabbed Harnaakash and took him to the entrance of the palace. Narsingha said to Harnaakash “You were full of ego thinking you were immortal. You are not immortal. I can kill you”.
Narsingha sat Harnaakash on his laps and roared “I am neither a man nor an animal, it is neither day nor night, you are neither outside nor inside, you are neither on land nor in the sky”. Harnaakash cried out for help as he knew that he was not immortal.
It was too late to ask for forgiveness as Narsingha ripped through Harnaakash’s body with his sharp nails until Harnaakash died. Prahlaad bowed in front of Narsingha and thanked Raam for protecting him.

Note: Vaheguru had come to earth in the form of Narsingha to destroy Harnaakash.

Note: We remember Prahlaad’s story every day at the start of Rehraas Sahib…
“The lord killed the wicked Harnaakash and saved Prahlaad” ~ SGGS Ji (Ang 451)

Morals of Story:

Never worship anyone other than Vaheguru.
When you are given power, use it to help people not to hurt people.
When you are given power, be thankful and don’t let your ego control you.
By chanting the Naam ‘Vaheguru’ nothing can hurt us.
People that do bad actions will always be punished.
Vaheguru themselves come to save their Sikh.

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