Lord Narasimhadeva
Krishna Himself, Merciful to His Devotees
In this day and age of Kali Yuga, one may ask who is Lord Nrsimhadeva? According to scripture, He is Krishna himself: “Kesava dhrta narahari rupa”. Like Kesava (Krishna), he has fine hair and He represents Krishna’s chakra (wheel-shaped weapon). The Cakra who saved Ambarisa Maharaj and who killed Sishupala is Nrismhadeva Himself.
Nrsimhadeva is very merciful to his devotees who turn to Him in times of trouble or distress. He responds to their call and comes and saves them just as he saved the young devotee Prahlada. Devotees pray:
In this day and age of Kali Yuga, one may ask who is Lord Nrsimhadeva? According to scripture, He is Krishna himself: “Kesava dhrta narahari rupa”. Like Kesava (Krishna), he has fine hair and He represents Krishna’s chakra (wheel-shaped weapon). The Cakra who saved Ambarisa Maharaj and who killed Sishupala is Nrismhadeva Himself.
Nrsimhadeva is very merciful to his devotees who turn to Him in times of trouble or distress. He responds to their call and comes and saves them just as he saved the young devotee Prahlada. Devotees pray:
oḿ namo bhagavate narasiḿhāya, namas tejas-tejase
āvir-āvirbhava vajra-nakha vajra-daḿṣṭra karmāśayān
randhaya randhaya tamo grasa grasa oḿ svāhā;
abhayam abhayam ātmani bhūyiṣṭhā oḿ kṣraum ( SB 5.18.8 )
“O my Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demon-like desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive away from our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence in this material world”.
Thus, devotees can invoke His mercy to get rid of unwanted things (anarthas) in their lives and He’ll come and remove them. It is also said that the devotees of Lord Nrsimhadeva are so exalted that they do not think or care about saving themselves; so the Lord appears to save them. Indeed, as the pastime goes, Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared in the form of half-lion and half-man to protect his devotees and annihilate the demons.
The Story of Lord Nrsingha
When we read the pastime of Lord Nrsimhadeva in the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam (7th Canto), we hear a nectarean and moving story: Once upon a time in Vaikunthaloka, there were two gatekeepers named Jaya and Vijaya who mistakenly had committed an offense by disallowing Lord Brahma’s sons from entering Visnu’s planet, thinking them to be small children. The Brahmanas cursed them to go to the material world and take birth in a family of most sinful demons. Although cursed, its duration was for only 3 births after which they would return as doorkeepers to Vaikuntha.
Jaya and Vijaya took their first birth as the two sons of Diti, Hiranyakasipu (elder) and Hiranyaksa (younger). They had grown up to be well respected among the families of the demoniac species when Hiranyaksa would commit a major offense. As Lord Visnu was delivering planet earth, which had fallen in the Garbhodaka Ocean, Hiranyaksa tried to hinder Him. The Lord, being displeased, appeared in the incarnation of a boar, as Varaha, and killed Hiranyaksa.
After Hiranyaksa’s annihilation, his sons and elder brother Hiranyakasipu became grief-stricken and angry. Hiranyakasipu derided Lord Vishnu for having appeared as a boar to kill his brother and agitated the other demons to interfere with religious practices on earth. Although he consoled Hiranyaksa’s family members and relatives with knowledge of the truth of life, he remained envious of Vishnu and pledged to avenge his brother’s death. He undertook severe mystic austerities and received a benediction from Lord Brahma to not meet death by any living entity, within any residence or outside, during the day or at night, neither on the ground nor in the sky.
Having acquired seemingly unlimited powers from Lord Brahma, Hiranyakasipu misused them by conquering all the planets in the three worlds, terrorizing the universe. The demigods being frightened by his brutal rule appealed with prayers to Lord Vishnu who assured them not to fear and promised to help them at an opportune moment.
Although benedicted with unusual powers, Hiranyakasipu would commit an offense (vaisnava-aparadha) to a great devotee that would get his days numbered. That great devotee was his own son named Prahlada, the best among four sons, who was a reservoir of transcendental pleasure. Although born in a family of asuras (demons), Prahlada was not an asura, but an unalloyed devotee of Lord Nrsimha, who is Kesava, Krishna himself. At the tender age of five, he was a rare soul, a maha-bhagavata, not interested in playing with other boys but always absorbed in thoughts of Krishna.
Once Hiranyakasipu affectionately seated his son Prahlada on his lap and inquired from him what he had learned from his teachers. Prahlada, instead of narrating mundane knowledge, spoke in exalted Vaisnava philosophy propounding how one achieves the perfection of life by dedicating everything to the service of Krsna (Vishnu). Upon hearing this, Hiranyakasipu being envious of Vishnu, threw Prahalda off his lap and onto the ground, ordering his servants to kill him.
His servants tried to kill Prahlada but it was all in vain. Thereafter Hiranyakasipu planned a campaign to kill his son by throwing him beneath the feet of big elephants and among snakes, starving him, administering poison, and even hurling him from the top of a mountain. But Prahlada, being a devotee of the Lord, remained protected and unharmed.
Finally, one day, the atheist Hiranyakasipu would ask Prahlada “Where is your God?” Prahlada would reply that God is everywhere. Thereupon the atheist father angrily questioned whether God resided within one of the pillars of their place and Prahlada answered ‘yes’ he did. Hearing this, Hiranyakasipu angrily smashed one of the pillars to pieces, only to find a half-man, half-lion incarnation of the Lord as Nrsimha instantly emerges from within the shattered pillar. The Lord grabbed Hiranyakasipu, placed him on His lap, and tore the atheist king to pieces.
The moral of the story: Lord Krishna is everywhere in his creation and through His inconceivable powers can appear at any place to protect His devotee. Nrishma appeared from within the pillar not in response to the atheist king’s call but to fulfill the wish of his devotee. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says “To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium to millennium” ( BG: 4.8 ).
“O my Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demon-like desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive away from our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence in this material world”.
Thus, devotees can invoke His mercy to get rid of unwanted things (anarthas) in their lives and He’ll come and remove them. It is also said that the devotees of Lord Nrsimhadeva are so exalted that they do not think or care about saving themselves; so the Lord appears to save them. Indeed, as the pastime goes, Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared in the form of half-lion and half-man to protect his devotees and annihilate the demons.
The Story of Lord Nrsingha
When we read the pastime of Lord Nrsimhadeva in the pages of the Srimad Bhagavatam (7th Canto), we hear a nectarean and moving story: Once upon a time in Vaikunthaloka, there were two gatekeepers named Jaya and Vijaya who mistakenly had committed an offense by disallowing Lord Brahma’s sons from entering Visnu’s planet, thinking them to be small children. The Brahmanas cursed them to go to the material world and take birth in a family of most sinful demons. Although cursed, its duration was for only 3 births after which they would return as doorkeepers to Vaikuntha.
Jaya and Vijaya took their first birth as the two sons of Diti, Hiranyakasipu (elder) and Hiranyaksa (younger). They had grown up to be well respected among the families of the demoniac species when Hiranyaksa would commit a major offense. As Lord Visnu was delivering planet earth, which had fallen in the Garbhodaka Ocean, Hiranyaksa tried to hinder Him. The Lord, being displeased, appeared in the incarnation of a boar, as Varaha, and killed Hiranyaksa.
After Hiranyaksa’s annihilation, his sons and elder brother Hiranyakasipu became grief-stricken and angry. Hiranyakasipu derided Lord Vishnu for having appeared as a boar to kill his brother and agitated the other demons to interfere with religious practices on earth. Although he consoled Hiranyaksa’s family members and relatives with knowledge of the truth of life, he remained envious of Vishnu and pledged to avenge his brother’s death. He undertook severe mystic austerities and received a benediction from Lord Brahma to not meet death by any living entity, within any residence or outside, during the day or at night, neither on the ground nor in the sky.
Having acquired seemingly unlimited powers from Lord Brahma, Hiranyakasipu misused them by conquering all the planets in the three worlds, terrorizing the universe. The demigods being frightened by his brutal rule appealed with prayers to Lord Vishnu who assured them not to fear and promised to help them at an opportune moment.
Although benedicted with unusual powers, Hiranyakasipu would commit an offense (vaisnava-aparadha) to a great devotee that would get his days numbered. That great devotee was his own son named Prahlada, the best among four sons, who was a reservoir of transcendental pleasure. Although born in a family of asuras (demons), Prahlada was not an asura, but an unalloyed devotee of Lord Nrsimha, who is Kesava, Krishna himself. At the tender age of five, he was a rare soul, a maha-bhagavata, not interested in playing with other boys but always absorbed in thoughts of Krishna.
Once Hiranyakasipu affectionately seated his son Prahlada on his lap and inquired from him what he had learned from his teachers. Prahlada, instead of narrating mundane knowledge, spoke in exalted Vaisnava philosophy propounding how one achieves the perfection of life by dedicating everything to the service of Krsna (Vishnu). Upon hearing this, Hiranyakasipu being envious of Vishnu, threw Prahalda off his lap and onto the ground, ordering his servants to kill him.
His servants tried to kill Prahlada but it was all in vain. Thereafter Hiranyakasipu planned a campaign to kill his son by throwing him beneath the feet of big elephants and among snakes, starving him, administering poison, and even hurling him from the top of a mountain. But Prahlada, being a devotee of the Lord, remained protected and unharmed.
Finally, one day, the atheist Hiranyakasipu would ask Prahlada “Where is your God?” Prahlada would reply that God is everywhere. Thereupon the atheist father angrily questioned whether God resided within one of the pillars of their place and Prahlada answered ‘yes’ he did. Hearing this, Hiranyakasipu angrily smashed one of the pillars to pieces, only to find a half-man, half-lion incarnation of the Lord as Nrsimha instantly emerges from within the shattered pillar. The Lord grabbed Hiranyakasipu, placed him on His lap, and tore the atheist king to pieces.
The moral of the story: Lord Krishna is everywhere in his creation and through His inconceivable powers can appear at any place to protect His devotee. Nrishma appeared from within the pillar not in response to the atheist king’s call but to fulfill the wish of his devotee. In the Bhagavad Gita, Sri Krishna says “To deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants, as well as to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium to millennium” ( BG: 4.8 ).
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