Some additional thoughts on "adbhuta kesari" posting.

[Guest guest]

The very interesting write-up of SrI Sadagopa Iyengar brought back

some memories of some additional anubhavam-s that I had come across

during the sahasra nAma write-up for this nAma. I have made some

modifications to the original posting, and am including the re-

written material below. I request SrI M. K. Krishnaswamy and Smt.

SrImati Raja to update the write-up for this nAma in the web pages

that they maintain.

 

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

 

21. nArasimha vapuh

 

He Who is possessed of a body of man and lion combined.

 

SrI BhaTTar captures several thoughts about this incarnation of

bhagabvAn in one sentence in his commentary: sva-bhaktyantarAya

nivAraNam bhkata-bhayApaha tadapekshA samakshaNa pratipannayathA

kAma divya mahA-nRsimha samhananh.

 

1. This incarnation shows a removal of impediments to devotion

to Him.

2. He takes incarnations at will.

3. His incarnations are divine.

4. They remove the fear of His devotees .

5. The incarnations are assumed the moment the request is made.

 

SrI rAdhA kRshNa SAstri elaborates on these, and add his own anubhava-

s. Among his additional thoughts are:

 

6. This incarnation shows that when it comes to bhagavAn,

our "normal" rationalization should not be applied to anything

associated with Him. For instance, we know that man is the best

evolved species in the thinking capability (brain power). Similarly,

lion is the most evolved in physical strength. Its strength is

located in its body and its powerful nails. So, in order to destroy

a powerful asura such as hiraNya kaSipu, it would have made a lot

more sense if bhagavAn had taken a form with the head of a human

being (with the associated highly evolved brain), and the body of a

lion (the most evolved with respect to physical strength). BhagavAn

does exactly the opposite - the head of a lion, and the body of a

human being. This is a simple illustration of the point that He is

beyond our capabilities of analysis.

 

BhagavAn does whatever it takes to fulfill the request of His

devotee, irrespective of whether it shows Him in the best light or

not. ANDAL refers to His varAha incarnation as "mAnam ilAp panRi" -

the shameless boar with dirt dripping from all over its body, to go

after another rAkshasa, hiraNyAksha, the brother of hiraNyakaSipu.

 

7. Anyone who observes a scene of an ausra being torn to pieces with

its nails by a lion-faced form with a human body, will be terror-

stricken. And yet, we see prahlAda standing in great reverence,

unperturbed, and pleased at having the divya darSanam of the Lord.

But seeing the same form, hiraNya kaSipu was terror-stricken as the

half-man-half-lion form emerged from the pillar. Thus, at the same

time, with the same form, bhagavAn was pleasing to the eye of the

devotee, and causing terror to the devotee's enemy. This is another

revelation of the greatness of bhagavAn – that simultaneously He is

endowed with all opposites at the same time.

 

8. In addition to the aspect of His being able to induce fear or love

at the same time, there is the beauty aspect to His form of half-man

half-lion. Just for a moment, think of some human form with the head

of a lion appearing in front of us, and imagine the aversion that

this sight will induce in us. Not so with Lord nRsimha. He was

absolutely beautiful in this form, as SrI BhaTTar elaborates in the

next nAma – SrImAn – because He is always associated with SrI or

Lakshmi.

 

9. In normal course of life, something that came from breaking a jaDa

form such as the pillar should be expected to be another piece of the

same jaDa form. One should expect a live form to be originating only

from another life form. Here, the narasimha avatAram illustrates the

unusual, which can happen only because BhagavAn is the divya purusha,

and in matters relating to Him, we should not be applying normal

logic as we are used to do.

 

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha does not support the interpretation that

bhagavAn had an actual mixed body consisting of some aspects of man

and some aspects of lion. Instead, he suggests that the nAma means

that He took a normal form that possessed the best aspects such as

the strength of a lion, and the best aspects of man such as the

ability to think. We will not go into the merits of this

interpretation. Only the interesting philosophical aspect that he

brings out is dealt with here. He sees in this nAma the illustration

that neither karma alone, nor j~nAna alone, are sufficient in the

fulfillment of any undertaking, and that both are needed. He quotes

from the Srtuti-s in support:

 

idam me brahma ca kshatram ca ubhe Sriyam aSnutAm (yajur. 32.16)

 

yatra brahma ca kshatram ca samya'ncou caratah saha |

tam lokam puNyam pra~jnesham yatra devAh sahagninA || (yajur.

20.25)

 

As a lesson to take from this nAma, SrI vAsishTha makes the point

that whatever action one undertakes, this should be done after fully

analyzing and understanding the consequences associated with this

action. One can also extrapolate from this the thought that it is

not enough to have the ability to use force, but also along with

that, one should know how to use this force, when to use this force,

etc., in order for the force to have beneficial effects.