Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.17

daiteya-candana-vane

jāto 'yam kantaka-drumah

yan-mūlonmūla-paraśor

vishnor nālāyito 'rbhakah

SYNONYMS

daiteya — of the demoniac family; candana-vane — in the sandalwood forest; jātah — born; ayam — this; kantaka-drumah — thorn tree; yat — of which; mūla — of the roots; unmūla — in the cutting; paraśoh — who is like an axe; vishnoh — of Lord Vishnu; nālāyitah — the handle; arbhakah — boy.

TRANSLATION

This rascal Prahlāda has appeared like a thorn tree in a forest of sandalwood. To cut down sandalwood trees, an axe is needed, and the wood of the thorn tree is very suitable for the handle of such an axe. Lord Vishnu is the axe for cutting down the sandalwood forest of the family of demons, and this Prahlāda is the handle for that axe.

PURPORT

Thorn trees generally grow in deserted places, not in sandalwood forests, but the seminal brāhmanas Shanda and Amarka compared the dynasty of the Daitya Hiranyakaśipu to a sandalwood forest and compared Prahlāda Mahārāja to a hard, strong thorn tree that could provide the handle of an axe. They compared Lord Vishnu to the axe itself. An axe alone cannot cut a thorn tree; it needs a handle, which may be made of the wood of a thorn tree. Thus the thorn tree of demoniac civilization can be cut to pieces by the axe of vishnu-bhakti, devotional service to Lord Krishna. Some of the members of the demoniac civilization, like Prahlāda Mahārāja, may become the handle for the axe, to assist Lord Vishnu, and thus the entire forest of demoniac civilization can be cut to pieces.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness