Text 22
hiraṇyakaśipur uvāca
prahrādānūcyatāṁ tāta
svadhītaṁ kiñcid uttamam
kālenaitāvatāyuṣman
yad aśikṣad guror bhavān
hiraṇyakaśipuḥ uvāca — King Hiraṇyakaśipu said; prahrāda — my dear Prahlāda; anūcyatām — let it be told; tāta — my dear son; svadhītam — well learned; kiñcit — something; uttamam — very nice; kālena etāvatā — for so much time; āyuṣman — O long-lived one; yat — which; aśikṣat — has learned; guroḥ — from your teachers; bhavān — yourself.
Hiraṇyakaśipu said: My dear Prahlāda, my dear son, O long-lived one, for so much time you have heard many things from your teachers. Now please repeat to me whatever you think is the best of that knowledge.
In this verse, Hiraṇyakaśipu inquires from his son what he has learned from his guru. Prahlāda Mahārāja’s gurus were of two kinds — Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, the sons of Śukrācārya in the seminal disciplic succession, were the gurus appointed by his father, but his other guru was the exalted Nārada Muni, who had instructed Prahlāda when Prahlāda was within the womb of his mother. Prahlāda Mahārāja responded to the inquiry of his father with the instructions he had received from his spiritual master, Nārada. Thus there was again a difference of opinion because Prahlāda Mahārāja wanted to relate the best thing he had learned from his spiritual master, whereas Hiraṇyakaśipu expected to hear about the politics and diplomacy Prahlāda had learned from Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka. Now the dissension between the father and son became increasingly intense as Prahlāda Mahārāja began to say what he had learned from his guru Nārada Muni.