Devanagari
वत्स प्रह्राद भद्रं ते सत्यं कथय मा मृषा ।
बालानति कुतस्तुभ्यमेष बुद्धिविपर्यय: ॥ ९ ॥
Verse text
vatsa prahrāda bhadraṁ te
satyaṁ kathaya mā mṛṣā
bālān ati kutas tubhyam
eṣa buddhi-viparyayaḥ
Synonyms
vatsa
—
O dear son
;
prahrāda
—
Prahlāda
;
bhadram te
—
all blessings and good fortune unto you
;
satyam
—
the truth
;
kathaya
—
speak
;
mā
—
do not
;
mṛṣā
—
a lie
;
bālān ati
—
passing over the other demon boys
;
kutaḥ
—
from where
;
tubhyam
—
unto you
;
eṣaḥ
—
this
;
buddhi
—
of the intelligence
;
viparyayaḥ
—
pollution .
Translation
Dear son Prahlāda, all peace and good fortune unto you. Kindly do not speak lies; just reply with the truth. These boys you see are not like you, for they do not speak in a deviant way. How have you learned these instructions? How has your intelligence been spoiled in this way?
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Dear boy! Good fortune you! Please speak the truth. Do not lie. How has your intelligence been changed and become different from that of the other boys?
Good fortune to you! We will give you some sweets if you tell the truth! Bālān ati means “overriding the other boys.” Tubhyam stands for tava.
Purport
Prahlāda Mahārāja was still a boy, and therefore his teachers thought that if they pacified the little boy he would immediately speak the truth, revealing the secret of how the Vaiṣṇavas came there to teach him lessons in devotional service. It was surprising, of course, that in the same school the other boys of the Daityas were not polluted; only Prahlāda Mahārāja was supposedly polluted by the instructions of the Vaiṣṇavas. The main duty of the teachers was to inquire who those Vaiṣṇavas were that came to teach Prahlāda and spoil his intelligence.