Ahovalam Narasimha

October 8, 1999

(From a recent Padayatra Newsletter)

In the middle cave of the temple is the self-manifest Deity of Ahovalam

Narasimha. Here the Lord is keeping Hiranyakasipu on his lap, just as any

loving father would do with his wounded son. Pilgrims often mistake the

Lord to have appeared as Ugra Narasimha, as at first glance it appears that

the Lord is tearing open the demon's abdomen. However, this place is unique

as the Lord has only two arms. The upturned palm of His right hand is

beneath the head of Hiranyakasipu and His left hand beneath the demon's

legs, indicating that the Lord has just picked up the wounded demon with His

hands and is placing him on His lap. The story goes that in the mortal

combat between Lord Narasimha and Hiranyakasipu, Lord Narasimha pushed him

down with His hand, whereupon he fell and became unconscious. It is then

that Lord Narasimha lifted him up with both hands. The Lord then sat down,

placing the wounded, unconscious demon on His lap, glanced at him with fond

affection and passed His hand over the demon, whereby Hiranyakasipu regained

his consciousness and opened his eyes. He then saw the sweet face of the

Lord. Thus Hiranyakasipu became cleansed of all his sins and became a

devotee of Lord Vishnu. It is said that after this the Lord tears open the

abdomen of the demon, but Hiranyakasipu feels no pain as he is absorbed in

the Lord's features and thus blissfully went back to Vaikuntha.

October 18, 1999

Dear Sanga Members,

PAMHO AGTSP

Could you kindly include the following in our Sanga Group.

Thank you

Narendra

>In the middle cave of the temple is the self-manifest Deity of Ahovalam

>Narasimha. Here the Lord is keeping Hiranyakasipu on his lap, just as any

>loving father would do with his wounded son. Pilgrims often mistake the

>Lord to have appeared as Ugra Narasimha, as at first glance it appears that

>the Lord is tearing open the demon's abdomen. However, this place is

>unique

>as the Lord has only two arms. The upturned palm of His right hand is

>beneath the head of Hiranyakasipu and His left hand beneath the demon's

>legs, indicating that the Lord has just picked up the wounded demon with

>His

>hands and is placing him on His lap. The story goes that in the mortal

>combat between Lord Narasimha and Hiranyakasipu, Lord Narasimha pushed him

>down with His hand, whereupon he fell and became unconscious. It is then

>that Lord Narasimha lifted him up with both hands. The Lord then sat down,

>placing the wounded, unconscious demon on His lap, glanced at him with fond

>affection and passed His hand over the demon, whereby Hiranyakasipu

>regained

>his consciousness and opened his eyes. He then saw the sweet face of the

>Lord. Thus Hiranyakasipu became cleansed of all his sins and became a

>devotee of Lord Vishnu. It is said that after this the Lord tears open the

>abdomen of the demon, but Hiranyakasipu feels no pain as he is absorbed in

>the Lord's features and thus blissfully went back to Vaikuntha.

>

____

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December 6, 1999

Hare Krishna Prabhuji

PAMHO, AGTSP

Somehow I can not access COM these days. Has the url address changed from

www.com.org. Please let me know.

Thanks

YHS

VPD

>>> "COM: Nayana-ranjana (das) (BBT Bombay - IN)" <Nayana-ranjana (AT) bbt (DOT) se> 12/05

7:45 AM >>>

[Text 2832578 from COM]

> >In the middle cave of the temple is the self-manifest Deity of Ahovalam

> >Narasimha. Here the Lord is keeping Hiranyakasipu on his lap, just as

> >any loving father would do with his wounded son. Pilgrims often mistake

> >the Lord to have appeared as Ugra Narasimha, as at first glance it

> >appears that the Lord is tearing open the demon's abdomen. However, this

> >place is unique as the Lord has only two arms. The upturned palm of His

> >right hand is beneath the head of Hiranyakasipu and His left hand beneath

> >the demon's legs, indicating that the Lord has just picked up the wounded

> >demon with His hands and is placing him on His lap. The story goes that

> >in the mortal combat between Lord Narasimha and Hiranyakasipu, Lord

> >Narasimha pushed him down with His hand, whereupon he fell and became

> >unconscious. It is then that Lord Narasimha lifted him up with both

> >hands. The Lord then sat down, placing the wounded, unconscious demon on

> >His lap, glanced at him with fond affection and passed His hand over the

> >demon, whereby Hiranyakasipu regained his consciousness and opened his

> >eyes. He then saw the sweet face of the Lord. Thus Hiranyakasipu became

> >cleansed of all his sins and became a devotee of Lord Vishnu. It is said

> >that after this the Lord tears open the abdomen of the demon, but

> >Hiranyakasipu feels no pain as he is absorbed in the Lord's features and

> >thus blissfully went back to Vaikuntha.

The above story is either of another kalpa or is not bona-fide because it is

said in the Laghu Bhagavatamrta that Hiranyakashipu remained a lusty demon

right till the end and that is why he did not even get sayujya mukti.

Here are the relevant verses from Laghu Bhagavatamrta:

Text 42

Maitreya's question In the fourth Canto of ViSNu PurANa:

"As HiraNyakazipu and RAvaNa (this demon) enjoyed sensual pleasures

unavailable for even the great demigods, and then was personally killed by

Lord ViSNu Himself. Why did (this demon) not attain sAyujya-mukti then? Only

as zizupAla did he attain sAyujya-mukti, the liberation of merging into

eternal Lord Hari?"

Text 43

zrI ParAzara's answer:

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who maintains, creates, and

destroys the entire cosmic manifestation, manifested the unprecednted form

of Lord NRsiMha in order to kill HiraNyakazipu, the king of the demons. The

thought that Lord NRsiMha was actually the Supreme Lord ViSNu was not

manifest in HiraNyakazipu's mind. Becuase HiraNyakazipu was overwhelmed by

the mode of passion, at the time of his death he was not able to meditate on

the trascendental Personality who was kiling him. For these reasons

HiraNyakazipu did not attain liberation, but instead took birth as the demon

RAvaNa, whose sense gratification was greater than than all the pleasures in

the three worlds.

Text 55

ParAzara Muni's prose answer to Maitreya is now summarized in verse:

HiraNyakazipu could not understand that the wonderful form of Lord

NRsiMha displayed by Lord Hari was actually Lord ViSNu. HiraNyakazipu was

pious. He was sure that Lord NRsiMha was very extraordinary, but because He

was overcome with passion he could not fix his mind on Him. Because he was

personally killed by the Lord, HiraNyakazipu attained extraordinary and

rarely achieved sense-gratification and opulence in his next birth as

RAvaNa.

Text 57

Because he could not recognize Lord NRsiMha as Lord ViSNu, and because

he was not filled with hatred for Him, HiraNyakazipu was not fixed in

meditation on the Lord. If without meditating on the Lord he had hated Him,

he would have gone to hell as King VeNa had gone. Because he was killed by

the Lord's own hand, he attained great good fortune.

(Translation by H.G. Kusakratha Prabhu)

(Kindly install Sanskrit Times font on your computer.

Because there is no fun without diacritics)

Your servant,

Nayana-raJjana dAs

December 10, 1999

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

Letter COM:2832578 (79 lines) [W1]

Nayana-ranjana (das) (BBT Bombay - IN)

05-Dec-99 13:45

Dvarakadhisa (das) IDS (PL) [971]

NARENDRA GADHAMSETTY <gvnk (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> (sent: 05-Dec-99 13:51)

Cc: anuj108 (sent: 05-Dec-99 13:51)

Cc: rajit77 (AT) hotmail (DOT) com (sent: 05-Dec-99 13:51)

Reference: Text COM:2708191 by Internet: NARENDRA GADHAMSETTY

Comment: Text COM:2838727 by Dvarakadhisa IDS

Re: Ahovalam Narasimha

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