Narasingha Pranati

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Narasingha Pranati

 

Q & A with Swami B. V. Tripurari

 

"We find the worship of Narasingha Bhagavan in Sri Caitanya

Mahaprabhu's adi and madhya lilas, but it is for the most part absent

in his antya-lila. His antya-lila is filled with exclusive worship of

Govinda in the bhava of Radha."

 

Q. I was told that after Srila Prabhupada became ill he established in

his temples the chanting of the Narasingha pranati (Prayer to Lord

Narasingha) because it is a very powerful mantra for the protection of

the spiritual master. On the other hand certain devotees have told me

that one should not chant this mantra because in their words, "It sends

Radha and Krsna far away." What then is the implication of Srila

Prabhupada establishing such worship in his temples?

 

A. During my membership in Iskcon, Narasingha prayers were chanted

after every arati ceremony, which in major temples were held six times

daily. According to the book Prabhupada Lilamrta, our Srila Prabhupada

established the chanting of the Narasingha Pranati in May 1967, after

he had what appeared to be a heart attack. Therein it is written:

 

"Devotees entered the front room of the apartment, and Prabhupada told

them to chant Hare Krsna. Then he told them to pray to Krsna in his

form of Narasinghadeva. [satsvarupa said:] Swamiji said we should pray

to Lord Narasingha and the prayer should be 'My master has not finished

his work.' [Jadurani said:] He taught us the prayers to Lord

Narasinghadeva. He said the words one by one, and I wrote them down. I

called up the temples in San Francisco and Montreal and told them the

prayer. Swamiji said, 'You should pray to Krsna that, my spiritual

master has not yet completed his work, so please let him finish.'"

 

The mantra Srila Prabhupada instituted in his society at that time is

the Narasingha pranati that Mahaprabhu himself uttered in Puri Dhama

along with a verse from Sri Jayadeva's Dasa Avatara Stotram, which is

found at the beginning of his book Gita Govinda, a very high rasa

sastra. Apparently, Jayadeva was not worried about disturbing the

divine couple when he prefaced his book with this stotram, a poem that

under scrutiny speaks of "krsnas tu bhagavan svayam" while glorifying

ten of Krsna's avataras.

 

Neither was Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu disturbed by the worship of Sri

Narasinghadeva. In Caitanya-caritamrta it is written, "After seeing the

Deity of Lord Narasingha in the temple, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offered

his respectful obeisances by falling flat. Then, in ecstatic love, he

performed various dances, chanted, and offered prayers." All glories to

Narasinghadeva, who is the Lord of Prahlada Maharaja and, like a

honeybee, is always engaged in beholding the lotus-like face of the

goddess of fortune."

 

In Vrndavana-lila, the inhabitants worship Narasingha, as well as

Narayana and his other avataras, for the protection of Krsna. Sri

Narahari is also prominent in Gaura-lila, which is our approach to raga

bhakti. There he is worshiped for the protection of Sri Krsna

nama-sankirtana. As was done in Gaura-lila, Srila Prabhupada worshiped

him for the protection of his movement. With regard to the raga-marga,

Thakura Bhaktivinoda offers the following prayers to Sri Narasinghadeva

in his Navadvipa-bhava Taranga:

 

e dusta hrdaye kama adi ripu chaya kutinati pratisthasa sathya sada

raya hrdaya-sodhana ara krsnera vasana nrsimha-carane mora ei to'

kamana

 

Within my sinful heart the six enemies headed by lust perpetually

reside, as well as duplicity, the desire for fame, plus sheer cunning.

Residing at the lotus feet of Lord Narasingha, I pray that he will

mercifully purify my heart and give me the desire to serve Lord Krsna.

 

kandiya nrsimha-pade magibo kakhana nirapade navadvipe jugala-bhajana

bhaya bhaya paya yan'ra darsane se hari prasanna hoibo kabe more daya

kari

 

Weeping, I will beg at the lotus-feet of Lord Narasingha for the

benediction of worshipping Radha and Krsna in Navadvipa, perfectly safe

and free from all difficulties. When will this Lord Hari, whose

terrible form strikes fear into fear itself, ever become pleased and

show me his mercy?

 

yadyapi bhisana murti dusta-jiva-prati prahladadi krsna-bhakta-jane

bhadra ati kabe va prasanna ho'ye sa krpa-vacane nirbhaya karibe ei

mudha akincane

 

Even though Lord Narasingha is terrifying toward the sinful souls, he

offers great auspiciousness unto the devotees of Lord Krsna headed by

Prahlada Maharaja. When will he be pleased to speak words of compassion

unto me, a worthless fool, and thereby make me fearless?

 

svacchande baiso he vatsa sri-gauranga-dhame jugala-bhajana hau rati

hau name mama bhakta-krpa-bale vighna jabe dura suddha citte bhajo

radha-krsna-rasa-pura

 

He will say, "Dear child! Sit down freely and live happily here in Sri

Gauranga-dhama. May you nicely worship the divine couple, and may you

develop loving attachment for their holy names. By the mercy of my

devotees, all obstacles are cast far away. With a purified heart, just

perform the worship of Radha and Krsna, for such worship overflows with

sweet nectar."

 

ei boli' kabe mora mastaka-upara sviya sri-carana harse dharibe isvara

amani jugala-preme sattvika vikare dharaya lutibo ami sri-nrsimha-dvare

 

Saying this, will that Lord delightedly place his own divine lotus feet

upon my head? I will experience sublime love for the divine couple,

Radha-Krsna, and undergo the ecstatic transformations called sattvika.

Falling on the ground, I will roll about at the door of Sri

Narasingha's temple.

 

Here at Audarya we worship a Narasingha sila with these prayers of

Thakura Bhaktivinoda and we sing Jayadeva's stotram on the appearance

days of the various avataras mentioned therein. In these prayers

Bhaktivinoda Thakura shows us how to pray to attain eligibility for

raganuga-bhakti. Having attained such eligibility--or better stated,

jata-ruci raganuga-bhakti--the worship of Narahari Bhagavan will

certainly diminish in the life of the raganuga-sadhaka as he or she

focuses exclusively on his or her ista-devata. However, in perfection

the worship of Sri Narasinghadeva may again surface in an effort to

achieve something for one's dearmost, Sri Krsna. In this case one would

be praying to God to accomplish something for Krsna while unaware, due

to the influence of yogamaya, that Krsna is svayam bhagavan. I also

personally worship Narasinghadeva with a prayer to understand the

meaning of Srimad-Bhagavatam, as he revealed its meaning to the

Sridhara Swami, whose commentary Mahaprabhu so praised. I first offered

this prayer in Jaipura, where Sri Jiva Goswami's Radha-Damodara are

served along with a Deity of Narasinghadeva.

 

All considered, I do think it is important for devotees to cultivate a

conceptual orientation to the worship of Narasinghadeva that is

appropriate for serving Krsna in the mood of Vraja bhakti.

Unfortunately, a good number of so-called devotees of Narasinghadeva

are attracted to thoughts of personally "fighting with demons" and thus

they worship him for wrong reasons. For Gaudiya Vaisnavas the right

reason to worship him is as Bhaktivinoda prays, "to beg at the

lotus-feet of Lord Narasingha for the benediction of worshipping Radha

and Krsna in Navadvipa, perfectly safe and free from all difficulties."

The best example of worship of Narasinghadeva is Prahlada, who was so

gentle. Those who actually understand this sad-aisvarya form of

Bhagavan become gentle as well.

 

As for the idea that the worship of Narasingha chases Radha-Krsna far

away, let me give you an example of the opposite occurring. It is well

documented that on the occasion of Narasingha Caturdasi Gopala Bhatta

Goswami was deeply and prayerfully contemplating the intensity of

Prahlada's bhakti and how it caused Sri Narasinghadeva to appear from a

stone pillar. He contemplated this great wonder while wishing he had

his own Deity of Krsna to offer seva-puja to and hoping that Mahaprabhu

would soon fulfill his promise to visit him in Vrndavana. When he

awoke, the Deity of Radha-Ramana, who is considered to be nondifferent

from Mahaprabhu, appeared from one of his saligrama stones. So in other

words, when Gopala Bhatta Goswami contemplated Prahlad and

Narasinghadeva, the result was not the disappearance of Radha and Krsna

but rather their appearance.

 

Worth noting here is that Srimad-Bhagavatam makes it very clear that

Prahlada's ista-devata was Krsna. In a Sanga entitled "Eagerness for

Vraja Bhakti," I cited references for this in reply to a question about

his devotion. [Ed. note: see

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_five/m224.html] The

point is that Narasinghadeva is a special manifestation of Krsna--Krsna

appearing in a form suitable to the circumstances, the protection of

Prahlada. Of course, Prahlada is a vaidhi-bhakta, so he worshiped Krsna

in vaidhi-bhakti, not raganuga-bhakti.

 

It is also interesting to note that Srila Prabhupada told us to pray in

one way in the beginning of his preaching and a different way as he

neared the end of his preaching lila. In the beginning he asked us to

petition Bhagavan Narasingha to protect his preaching--the message of

Gaura, the order of Sri Radha's handmaiden, Nayanamani (Sri

Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati Thakura). In the end he told us when we asked

if we could pray for him to pray to Krsna thus: "My dear Lord Krsna, if

you so desire, please save Srila Prabhupada." Similarly, we find the

worship of Narasingha Bhagavan in Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's adi and

madhya lilas, but it is for the most part absent in his antya-lila. His

antya-lila is filled with the exclusive worship of Govinda in the bhava

of Radha.

 

For more information related to this topic, read the following Sangas:

 

Ista Devata:

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/volume_six/m250.html

 

Narasinghadeva And Caitanya Lila

http://www.swami.org/sanga/archives/pages/vnn/ET29-3733.html

 

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Tuesday, September, 19, 2006, Vol. VIII, No. 8

 

Readership: 11,797

 

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