page_title: Bhagavata Purana
section_title: Seventh Canto
hierarchical_section_title: Bhagavata Purana / Cantos / Seventh Canto
caption_attribution_description: This photo has been taken in the country: India
context_page_description: Bhagavata Purana also known as Śrīmad Bhāgavata Mahā Purāṇa, Śrīmad Bhāgavatam or Bhāgavata, is one of Hinduism's eighteen great Puranas. Composed in Sanskrit and available in almost all Indian languages, it promotes bhakti to Krishna integrating themes from the Advaita philosophy of Adi Shankara, Vishishtadvaita of Ramanujacharya and Dvaita of Madhvacharya.
  The Bhagavata Purana, like other puranas, discusses a wide range of topics including cosmology, astronomy, genealogy, geography, legend, music, dance, yoga and culture. As it begins, the forces of evil have won a war between the benevolent devas and evil asuras and now rule the universe. Truth re-emerges as Krishna, – first makes peace with the demons, understands them and then creatively defeats them, bringing back hope, justice, freedom and happiness – a cyclic theme that appears in many legends.
  The Bhagavata Purana is a revered text in Vaishnavism, a Hindu tradition that reveres Vishnu. The text presents a form of religion that competes with that of the Vedas, wherein bhakti ultimately leads to self-knowledge, salvation and bliss.
context_section_description: Consisting of 15 chapters, the seventh canto continues with the dialogue between Sukadeva Gosvami and Pariksit on the banks of the Ganges river. A notable additional layer of dialogue is between Narada and Yudhishthira about Prahlada, the devotee-son of the demon-King Hiranyakasipu (brother of Hiranyaksa, destroyed by the Varaha avatar in the third canto; the demonic brothers are incarnations of Jaya and Vijaya). Prahlada, protected by Krishna, survives multiple attempts to kill him until the arrival of the Nrsimha avatar to destroy his father, who could not be killed by any weapon, by any man or beast, or in the water, air, or on land. Topics covered include the:
  Vow of demon-King Hiranyakasipu to destroy Vishnu, his austerities to become invincible, and conquering of the entire universe
  Birth, abuse, and teachings of the devotee Prahlada, son of Hiranyakasipu, protected from death by Krishna
  Arrival of the Nrsimha avatar to destroy Hiranyakasipu, later pacified by the prayers of Prahlada
  Perfect society in the form of the four social and four spiritual classes or orders
  Behaviour of a good person, ideal family life, and instructions to be civilised
  Exposition that the absolute truth is a person - Krishna - who is the master and controller of all
  Previous incarnations of Narada, and that Krishna lived with the Pandavas like an ordinary human being
  SB 7.14.9 original Sanskrit:
  मृगोष्ट्रखरमर्काखुसरीसृप्खगमक्षिका: ।
  
  आत्मन: पुत्रवत् पश्येत्तैरेषामन्तरं कियत् ॥ ९ ॥
  Swami Prabhupada translation:
  One should treat animals such as deer, camels, asses, monkeys, mice, snakes, birds and flies exactly like one’s own son. How little difference there actually is between children and these innocent animals.
  — Canto 7, Chapter 14, Verse 9
  J.M. Sanyal translation:
  A householder should look upon deer, camels, donkeys, monkeys, mice, serpents, birds, and bees and all that enter his house or cornfield for eating the eatables stocked there, as his own sons, because between sons and those there is but very little difference.
  — Book Seven, Chapter XIV, Verse 9
caption: Nrsimha and Prahlada (R).
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