VENKATADRI NARASIMHAN

[Guest guest]

SrI ranganAtha parabrahmaNE namah.

 

Dear BhAgavatas,

 

My praNAmams to you all. Let me now right on SrI sundara narasimhar

(also yOga narasimhar) at Lord SrInivAsa's temple, Tirumalai.

 

skAnda puarANa says:

 

puNyE swAmi sarastIrE paSchimE nruharim harim

bhaktyA paramayA yuktah pUjayAmAsa Sankarah||

 

Rough translation(R T): On the bank of the pushkariNI, did Sankara worship

Lord narasimha, with utmost devotion.

 

vAmana purANa says:

 

nIlakanthastu tattIrE dhyAyan nruharimAdarAt

umayA saha viSvESah kanchitkAlamuvAsavai||

 

R T: On that bank (of the holy pushkariNI), meditating on Lord nruhari,

Siva stayed alongwith umA, for quite some time.

 

SrI vEnkatESwara ashtOttaram- vArAha purANam says:"sadbhakta

nIlakanthArchya nrusimhAya namO namah", and thus pays obeisances to Lord

VEnkatESwara worshipped in the form of nrusimha by the parama bhAgavata

Siva.

 

mArkandEya purANa says:

 

Aruhyam vEnkatam Sailam madhyE mArgam dadarSaha

narasimha guhAsthAnam lOka vikhyAta vaibhavam

lakshmI nrusimha! prahlAda varada!+anantavaibhava!

dAsAnudAsam dEvESa! mAm pAhi madhusUdana!

iti praNamya SuddhEna swAmi pushkariNIm gatah||

 

R T: Ascending the hill of TiruvEnkatam, did mArkandEya visit en route

the world-famous cave "narasimha guhA", offered the above prayer (as

mentioned in the SlOka), and left for swAmi pushkariNI, with one SUddha

(disciple of sage agastya).

 

 

Thus SrI narasimha, who appeared before Siva, had been there in a cave

for thousands of years. A temple was built for Him later. But this

nArasimhan was an ugra mUrti without pirAtti. So having Him in a

separate temple may have adverse effect on the prosperity of the temple

of SrInivAsa perumAL, presiding deity of TiruvEngadam DD. This was all

from the point of view of Agamas and allied SAstras. Hence the divine

order of BhagavdrAmAnuja was to shift Him to an upAlaya, to the north-east

of the temple of SrInivAsa, facing towards the vimAnam of the

sanctum-sanctorum.

 

rAmAnujO vijayatE yatirAja rAjah

adiyEn (meaning?)

Vishnu