Narasimadeva Appearance {3rd May 2004 Mon}

[sudhaya]

 

Nrsimha Caturdasi: Appearance of Lord Nrsimhadeva

(Fasting till dusk)

Nrsimha Caturdasi Katha

 

 

Glories of Bhakta Prahlada

Glories of Nrsimha Caturdasi from Nrsimha Purana

Prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva's eight lotus hands

Nrsimha-lila answers

Verses

Other works online

 

 

Glories of Bhakta Prahlada (Romapada Swami)

 

When Hiranyakasipu, the demoniac father of Prahlada, had decided to

personally kill him, he strongly chastised him with many insulting

words. However, the acaryas have revealed that at the time, by the

mercy of Goddess Sarasvati, he actually glorified his son.

Hiranyakasipu calls him "durvinita" or impudent. But the Sanskrit term

can also be broken into, "duh" (miseries as in the material world),

"vi" (specifically) and "nita" (bought in). Hiranyakasipu also calls

him "mandatman" meaning "stupid fool". However "manda-atman" also

means "those who are spiritual slow." Unknowingly Hiranyakasipu

revealed the real reason for the advent of Prahlada... to relieve the

miseries of the spiritually weak entities in the material world by

giving them Krishna consciousness. The life and instructions of

Prahlada, reveal the inner most aspects of pure devotional service and

how it is conducted.

 

Devotional service is completely independent

 

Prahlada took birth in a family of demons. His father was a greatly

atheistic person who abhorred the name of Lord Vishnu. Even at the

young age of five, Prahlada became fully absorbed in meditating on the

Lord. He showed that bhakti or devotional service is independent of

any material considerations like family lineage, caste, race, birth,

age or any material circumstances. While there may be factors that are

conducive to devotional service, they are by no means essential, since

bhakti is supremely independent.

 

Mercy of a devotee

 

When Prahlada instructed his young classmates in the process of

devotional service, they wondered where he got this knowledge from. At

this time Prahlada reveals that he heard these instructions from the

great sage Narada while still in the womb of his mother. Devotion is

thus the property of a devotee and can only be given by him. However

the mercy of a devotee in itself is not enough. One has to make a

conscious effort to receive that mercy by accepting and acting on the

instructions. While both Prahlada and his mother had received these

instructions from Narada Muni, Prahlada assimilated them into his

life, while his mother quickly forgot them once she got back into the

association of her atheistic husband.

 

Dealings with materialistic persons

 

When speaking with his father or with his teacher, Prahlada would

discuss devotional service them in a general way. At one point when

his teachers specifically inquired about the source of his knowledge,

he tells them of the reasons why one may perceive some one as a friend

and another as an enemy. Later when his father made the same inquiry,

Prahlada discussed the plight of men too engrossed in materialistic

activity. It may seem that Prahlada was avoiding the question, but in

reality he was explaining the reasons why they would not be able to

grasp the answer even if he gave it. He thus bought forth the

qualities fundamental for making spiritual progress, getting beyond

the material conception of life. He also showed that one must protect

the intimate details of devotional service for people who are envious

of the Lord. However when the classmates of Prahlada inquired, he

understood that though they were non-devotees, they were innocent and

non-envious, and so he readily revealed the details of his experience

with Narada Muni.

 

The reactions of Hiranyakasipu towards his son also reveals how

worldly men will react to devotees. Initially he is amused,

contemptuously dismissing the devotion of his son to some passing

"bad" influence. Then he becomes angry at the obstinacy of his son and

finally when he discovers that he is unable to harm Prahlada, the

anger turns into deadly fear. Since Hiranyakasipu was an avowed

atheist, the fear culminated in his death. But to one not so fixed in

materialism, the anger could also give way to respect, emulation and

glorification.

 

Qualities of Prahlada

 

Prahlada is described as being humble, obedient, respectful, gentle

and compassionate. Even though he understood that his father was

demoniac, he gave him full respect worthy of a father. He followed the

instructions of his teachers in studying the various arts of politics

and economic, even though he had no interest in these mundane

subjects. Even when he disagreed, he did so with great humility and

respect. He showed that becoming a devotee naturally enhances all good

qualities of a person. His compassion for his father grew in

proportion to the atrocities that he perpetrated, so much so that

finally all he would ask from Lord Nrsimhadeva was mercy for his

father.

 

Completely dependant on the Lord"s mercy

 

Prahlada never specifically asked the Lord for protection, even when

he was being tormented by his father in so many ways. He simply

continued doing what he always did, meditating on the Lord. He

exemplified the attitude of a devotee, naturally expecting the mercy

of the Lord, in any way and form, in any situation, whether it is

favorable or not.

 

In the final moments of the pastime Lord Nrsimhadeva having killed

Hiranyakasipu wanted to grant Prahlada a boon. However, Prahlada at

this time is confused and hurt, He says that, "You are naturally my

master, and I am naturally Your servant. We have no other

relationship."

 

Prahlada thus revealed the highest form of relationship between a

devotee and the Lord. The devotee has no other desire but to render

service to the Lord, and accepts what ever the Lord gives, be it good

or bad, as His mercy.

 

When Krishna protects

 

Hiranyakasipu was the ruler of the entire universe. He was so feared

that just by seeing the movements of his eyebrows great demigods would

tremble. Yet with all his strength, his army, his mystical powers he

could not harm Prahlada, who was under the protection of Krishna. On

the other hand, Hiranyakasipu himself had made all plans for

immortality. By performing severe austerities he had secured boons

from Lord Brahma that all but made his death impossible. Yet when the

time came, Krishna killed him with great ease.

 

Prahlada thus showed that "rakhe Krishna mare ke mare Krishna rakhe

ke." He whom Krishna protects, no one can kill, but if Krsna wants to

kill someone, no one can give him protection.

 

Nine processes of devotional service explained by Prahlada (SB

7.5.23-24)

 

sri-prahrada uvaca

sravanam kirtanam visnoh

smaranam pada-sevanam

arcanam vandanam dasyam

sakhyam atma-nivedanam

 

iti pumsarpita visnau

bhaktis cen nava-laksana

kriyeta bhagavaty addha

tan manye 'dhitam uttamam

 

Prahlada Maharaja said: Hearing and chanting about the transcendental

holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Visnu,

remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the

Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering

prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's

best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words,

serving Him with the body, mind and words) - these nine processes are

accepted as pure devotional service. One who has dedicated his life to

the service of Krsna through these nine methods should be understood

to be the most learned person, for he has acquired complete knowledge.

 

 

Glories of Nrsimha Caturdasi from Nrsimha Purana

 

(part of the lecture by Suhotra Swami from Wroclaw, 27-03-98,

SB.7.7.16)

 

"Before Prahlada Maharaja appeared in the womb of his mother, in his

previous life he was a great sensualist, attached to sense

gratification. And something happened. He didn't know about it but it

was the day of Nrsimha Caturdasi. On that day he met one of his

girlfriends on the site of an old Nrsimha temple. In other words it

was a secret ground when there once had been an opulent temple but

everything had broken down and the temple was no longer in use. It was

a lonely place. There he met one of his girlfriends. Actually she was

a prostitute. So they met and they wanted to talk and enjoy themselves

there in this lonely place. But the temple was very dirty. There was a

lot of garbage, leaves and branches. So first thing they did, planning

for their sense gratification, they cleaned the temple. That service,

done on the Nrsimha Caturdasi on the actual holy site of the Nrsimha

temple had an extremely powerful effect. Not only that. After cleaning

the temple, they sat down together to talk and because the lady was

the prostitute and wanted money, one of the topics of discussion was

the price. They couldn't agree on that. So the talk changed into an

argument and at the end the lady got up and walked away. Prahlada, in

his former life, was so upset that he just sat there for the rest of

the day and the night. He didn't eat, he didn't sleep. He was just

sitting and thinking: "This woman wanted too much money. I will never

talk to her again. In this way he observed Nrsimha Caturdasi very

nicely, even not knowing what he was doing. Still the Lord in the

heart accepted this as a devotional service so that in his next life,

in the womb of his mother, when Narada Muni instructed his mother on

Srimad Bhagavatam, the Lord in the heart by his mercy fixed the mind

of the unborn child on those instructions."

 

 

Prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva's eight lotus hands

 

(Adapted from the 53 paragraphs of Mahanidhi Swami's prayers to Lord

Nrsimhadeva written at Mayapura on Nrsimha Caturdasi 1997.)

 

Conch

 

O Lord Nrsimhadev! May I always hear Your conchshell reverberating

within my heart sounding its message: 'My devotee will never be

vanquished!' O Conchshell, at Kuruksetra when the Pandavas heard you,

they regained their strength and fought lust like lions. Please give

me the strength to be determined in the battle against Maya.

 

Club

 

O Lord Nrsimhadeva, the elephant of sinful lust has entered the garden

of my devotion. My Lord, please use Your club to chastise this

elephant and drive him away.

 

Shield

 

O Lord Nrsimhadeva! I surrender to You. Please protect me with Your

shield and give me your mercy.

 

Cakra

 

O Lord Nrsimhadeva! My rascal mind produces many such magical

illusions, and like a ruffian he shouts cruel slogans like 'Go ahead!

You can enjoy. Forget about Krsna and your guru. Just be natural, be

yourself.' Please scatter these mystic illusions with Your sudarsan

cakra and fix my mind on Your lotus feet.

 

Lotus

 

Lord Nrsimhadeva! Please touch me with Your padma so that the lotus

bud of my consciousness will unfold and bloom with brilliant sattvika

ecstasies in devotional service. By seeing your lotus flower, O Lord

Nrsimhadeva, please increase the greed for nectar in my bee-like mind.

As bees live inside a lotus flower, may the bee of my mind always be

sheltered in your padma.

 

Sword

 

O Lord Nrsimhadeva, as a king immediately takes out his sword to

protect the citizens from irreligion and sinful deeds, please be ready

at any moment to protect me from acting sinfully. My mind is extremely

sinful and lusty - being sometimes happy and sometimes distressed, so

please, O Lord Nrsimhadeva, cut out with Your sword the roots of sin

and protect the tiny creeper of Bhakti we are trying to grow there."

 

Hands

 

Lord Nrsimhadeva, You are the deliverer and protector and You are very

affectionate to Your devotees. Once, in ecstatic affection, You picked

up Prahlad, put him on Your lap and placed Your lotus hand on his

head.

 

But, my Lord, Your hand is most inconceivable! The palm of Your hand

is very soft and pleasing just like a lotus flower. But Your nails are

ferocious, razor sharp, piercing and harder than thunderbolts! With

these amazingly wonderful fingernails You tore apart the demon

Hiranyakasipu and annihilated the hordes of his demoniac friends.

 

Simply by the touch of Your hand (Bhagavat darsa) Prahlad Maharaja

became immediately free from all material contaminations and desires,

and achieved brahma-jnana, transcendental knowledge. His heart became

full of love, and all the symptoms of ecstasy manifested in his body.

Then Prahlad offered prayers to You in full spiritual knowledge and

full of devotional ecstasy...

 

Previously, my Lord, the lizard Nrga gave up his ugly body and

received the beautiful body of a demigod by the touch of Your hand.

Gajendra the elephant became free from all ignorance and attained

sarupya-mukti by Your touch.

 

By catching hold of Rukmini's hand, You saved her from being

contaminated by the hands of Sisupala and his company.

 

Akrura journeyed to Vrndavana with great expectations of receiving

benedictions from Your supreme hands.

 

With Your lotus hand You wiped the pearl like drops of perspiration

from the faces of the gopis, and they immediately felt refreshed by

Your touch. With Your two hands You held a flute and played the

sweetest most enchanting music to satisfy all of Your devotees.

 

Please Lord Nrsimhadeva, pick me up from the deep dark well of

ignorance with Your lotus hands. Please free me from this ugly body

full of insincerity and wicked, worldly desire. Award me a pure

spiritual body and always keep me protected in Your loving embrace.

Never again let me be touched by maya. Hold me in Your hands as Your

instruments of service, and engage me in sweet ways to please all of

Your devotees.

 

Lord Nrsimhadeva, Your heart is as soft as lotus petals for Your

surrendered devotees. As Gajendra offered a lotus to You in

submission, I put the lotus of my heart in my hands and surrender to

you. With Your hands You accept whatever is offered to You. O my Lord

Nrsimhadeva, I offer You my very self and beg for this benediction in

return: please may I see Your hand in everything and always remember

You. O Lord Nrsimhadeva, please protect me and give me Your mercy."

 

 

Nrsimha-lila answers (Romapada Swami)

 

Q. After we worship Lord Krishna, why do we only glorify Lord

Nrsimhadeva and no one else like Lord Rama, Vishnu, Venkateshvara

etc.?

 

A. Vaishnavas adore and worship Lord Nrsimhadev as the destroyer of

all obstacles on the path of one's devotional service and protector of

one's devotion, for He came specifically to protect His devotee

Prahlada from his demoniac father. Therefore, devotees offer specific

prayers to Him, at the end of worship begging Him to please forgive

any offenses that might have been committed unknowingly during the

worship, and to remove all obstacles in one's attempts to worship and

seeking protection.

 

Q. It is stated that all the Vishnu forms are eternal. Are there

separate lokas for the Kurma, Matsya, Varaha, Nrsimha, Rishabhadev,

Parasurama forms? If so why does the Bhagavatam say that the form of

Nrsimha was never seen by anybody before? And also what about the form

of Lord Caitanya? If He is eternal, where is His planet?

 

A. Yes, there are innumerable Vaikuntha planets and the various forms

of the Lord preside in each of those planets. Srimad Bhagavatam

describes that when Lord Nrsimhadev appeared even the Goddess of

Fortune had never seen that form before, as one of the Lord's

lila-avatars. This refers to the fiery form of half-man and half-lion

that the Lord exhibited to kill Hiranyakasipu. Lord Nrsimha's form as

Lord Narayana in Vaikuntha, exhibiting four arms holding the symbols

of Visnu, exists in the spiritual world.

 

Our Vaishnava acaryas have described that within the innermost whorls

of the Goloka Vrindavana planet, which is shaped like a lotus, is

situated the spiritual counterpart of Sri Navadvipa dhama and Lord

Caitanya eternally manifests His pastimes there.

 

Q. Avatar means to descend. That means all avatars exist in various

Vaikuntha lokas. Do all avatars exist in the form in which they

descend. For example does Lord Nrsimhadev exist in the form in which

we worship him, or He exists as a four armed Vishnu form. If Vishnu

form then why is it that Lord Krishna and Rama are in the same form in

which they descend?

 

A. We know that the goddess of fortune, had never before seen the form

of Lord Nrsimhadev. This means that He exists in the spiritual world

in a four-armed form, identified with the four symbols of Visnu held

in a particular sequence. Likewise, when Rama returned to the

spiritual region, His Visnu form was that form by which others knew

Him. When Krishna descends, we also know that He manifested His four

armed form in the prison house of Kamsa, but then His original svayam

bhagavan Krishna form was manifest in Gokula.

 

Verses

 

Nrsimha-tapani Upanisad mantra:

 

sri nrsimha, jaya nrsimha, jaya jaya jaya sri nrsimha/om hrim ksraum

ugram viram mahavisnum

jvalantam sarvato-mukham

nrsimham bhisanam bhadram

mrtyu-mrtyum namamy aham

 

om hrim ksraum-Nrsimha bija mantra; ugram-terrible; viram-heroic;

mahavisnum-Maha Visnu; jvalantam-effulgent; sarvato-mukham-having

faces everywhere; nrsimham-half-man, half-lion; bhisanam-astounding,

terrible; bhadram-auspicious; mrtyu-mrtyum-death personified, or death

to death itself; namamy aham-I offer my humble obeisances.

 

I offer my respectful obeisances to Lord Nrsimhadeva,

Who is seated beside Laksmi, Who is the all powerful great Visnu;

His face is on all sides, everywhere;

He is very peaceful and gentle.

He can protect everyone from death.

 

This mantra was given by Nrsimhadeva to Lord Brahma of the previous

creation in the same way that our Lord Brahma received the Gopal

mantra after performing tapasya. This mantra is the main subject of

the Nrsimha-tapani Upanisad.

 

 

CC Madhya-lila 8.5:

 

sri-nrsimha, jaya nrsimha, jaya jaya nrsimha

prahladesa jaya padma-mukha-padma-bhrnga

 

All glories to Nrsimhadeva! All glories to Nrsimhadeva, who is the

Lord of Prahlada Maharaja and, like the honeybee, is always engaged in

beholding the lotus-like face of the goddess of fortune.

 

PURPORT

 

The goddess of fortune is always embraced by Lord Nrsimhadeva. This is

mentioned in Srimad-Bhagavatam in the First and Tenth Cantos by the

great commentator Srila Sridhara Svami. The following verse was

composed by Sridhara Svami in his commentary on Srimad-Bhagavatam

(10.87.1).

 

vag-isa yasya vadane

laksmir yasya ca vaksasi

yasyaste hrdaye samvit

tam nrsimham aham bhaje

 

"Lord Nrsimhadeva is always assisted by Sarasvati, the goddess of

learning, and He is always embracing to His chest the goddess of

fortune. The Lord is always complete in knowledge within Himself. Let

us offer obeisances unto Nrsimhadeva."

 

Similarly, in his commentary on the First Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam

(1.1.1), Sridhara Svami describes Lord Nrsimhadeva in this way:

 

prahlada-hrdayahladam

bhakta vidya-vidaranam

sarad-indu-rucim vande

parindra-vadanam harim

 

"Let me offer my obeisances unto Lord Nrsimhadeva, who is always

enlightening Prahlada Maharaja within his heart and who always kills

the nescience that attacks the devotees. His mercy is distributed like

moonshine, and His face is like that of a lion. Let me offer my

obeisances unto Him again and again."

 

CC Madhya-lila 8.6:

 

ugro'py anugra evayam

sva-bhaktanam nr-kesari

kesariva sva-potanam

anyesam ugra-vikramah

 

"Although very ferocious, the lioness is very kind to her cubs.

Similarly, although very ferocious to nondevotees like Hiranyakasipu,

Lord Nrsimhadeva is very, very soft and kind to devotees like Prahlada

Maharaja."

 

PURPORT

 

This verse was composed by Sridhara Svami in his commentary on

Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.9.1).

 

 

Other works online

 

Nrsimha Kavaca:

http://www.hknet.org.nz/narasimha%20kavacha.htm

 

Miscellaneous Nrsimha and other prayers in various formats:

http://www.hindunet.org/stotras/stotras2.htm

http://www.geocities.com/RodeoDrive/1415/sanskrit.html

http://www.hknet.org.nz/nrsimha-page.htm

 

Nrsimha sites:

http://narasimha.avatara.org

http://narasimha.nols.com

http://www.iskcon.net/sacramento/nrsimha.html