You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - May 2003

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00064 May 2003

 
May 2003 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


Dear friends,

The asterism of 'swAti' will dawn on us tomorrow. The 'jayanti' of
the 4th avatAra of Vishnu will arrive! It is the avatArA of
Lakshmi-nrsimhan?the man-lion form in which
the Almighty appeared before his beloved devotee, the child PrahlAda,
and rescued him from the tyranny of the evil 'asura', Hiranyakassipu.

The story of the Nrsimha-avatAra is related in the ancient purAnA of
our land, the Srimad BhAgavatam, in the 7th 'skanda'. Today is an
especially appropriate day to re-read the "prahlAda-charitram" and
recount/recollect/re-live the experience of this unique avatAra of
the Lord Almighty.

The Nrsimha-avatara is 4th in the line of Vishnu's 'dasAvatAra' and
the first in a form akin to human kind. The 'avatAra' of half-lion
half-man became necessary because the evil of Hiranyakassipu was so
overpowering that it could be destroyed by neither human nor animal
agency alone... It required a Divine Force combining within itself
the awesome ferocity of raw animality ("ugram") and the marvellous
capacity of human genius ("agatita-ghaTana-sAmarthyam") to outwit and
root out the scourge of Evil from earth.

Hiranyakassippu, the personification of evil, and the Lord's
child-devotee, Prahlada, were father and son. (The purAnA intends us
to understand from this fact that good and evil in this world often
reside together). The father by dint of years of penance and effort
had attained extraordinary powers and had become the lord of all the
worlds. So powerful did he become that he came very near claiming
immortality and omnipotence.

Pride soon made arrogate to himself the status of God Almighty. He
saw all the world to be but his own creation... and he saw nothing
beyond the world of which he had become undisputed ruler.

Prahlada though born of his father's flesh was of entirely different
character. Even as a child his soul tended toward utter devotion to
God. And as he grew in years Prahlada became more and more
immersed in the consciousness and worship of the Almighty.

This infuriated the father who could'nt tolerate his son bowing to a
Being other than himself.

When neither fatherly persuasion nor threats could succeed in turning
Prahlada away from contemplation of God, Hiranyakassippu subjected
his son to untold misery.... He had his courtiers throw the boy into
a
pit of serpents; they fed him to the lions; they tried sinking him in
the sea; they hurled him from a steep cliff; they tried poisoning
him...

However hard they tried, none could do harm to Prahlada who came out
unscathed from every ordeal almost miraculously. The Lord's
protection was upon him in full measure.

Finally, Hiranyakassipu could stand it no more. In a terrible rage
one evening he confronted his little son and challenged him to reveal
the whereabouts of the God he worshipped. "Show me where your Vishnu
is and I shall show you who I am!", he thundered. "PrahlAda, I am the
Lord of the World, I am unmatched.. I am invincible... No man or
being on earth can overpower me... Death cowers in my presence... Day
and night, the earth and the skies shudder in my presence... No
weapon on earth, sword, mace or axe.. can smite me... Who is this
Supreme Being Narayana you are talking about?! Show him to me! And
you shall know who is truly supreme!".

Prahlada quietly retorted, "My father you ask me to show you where
the Lord Vishnu is? How can I? He resides everywhere! He resides in
my heart as much as He does in yours! There is no place in all of
Creation where his Presence is absent! He is "sarva-vyApi". He is
"vsihvAtmA", the inner soul of everything! He is the Witness of
everything... and everything witnesses Him... He is
"avyaya:purusha-sAkshi"!".

When he heard this almost laconic reply of his son, Hiranyakassipu
became incensed. In a paroxysm of mad temper he gathered his great
mace and said, "If your great Vishnu resides everywhere let him show
himself up in this pillar here! If your Vishnu is brave enough to
stand up to Hiranyakassipu, he should show up here!".

So saying the Emperor of Evil took up his massive mace and brought it
down on one of the great pillars in the palace-hall...

The earth trembled. The walls crumbled. The wind suddenly howled. The
day passed suddenly into night... and a strange, macabre event
unfolded itself!

>From within the pillar rent asunder by Hiranyakassippu emerged a
strange, hideous form that was half-man and half-lion. It had long
manes, blazing, fiery eyes... It had massive leonine jaws and gaping
fangs... It stood tall... taller than anything around the palace...It
emerged out of the debris with a spine-chilling roar... It strode
towards Hiranyakassipu, towering over him like a colossus, casting
its eerie shadow of death upon him like a malevolent predator lurking
in the darkness of the night...("bheekara-bheekara kareendra...")

NammAzhwAr in his famous 'tiruvoimOzhi' sang of this scene in
brilliant Tamil images:

pozhuthu melintha pUn sekkaril vaan thisai
suzhum ezhunthu uthirap-punalA malai
kizhuthu-piLantha singam othathAl appan
aazh thuyar seyydu asurarai kollumArE ! (7.4.6)

The above verse has been very beautifully translated into English by
A.K.Ramanujam as follows:

"At the red hour of sunset,
there was blood
on the heavens and the eight directions.

Our Lord
plunged the demon into despair
and slaughtered him:

a lion
tearing open
a mountain under his claws."


It was a ghastly sight indeed... and it is described very vividly by
the great SriVaishnava poet-philosopher, Swami Vedanta Desika (14th
CE) too in his famous 'stOtra' "kAmAsikAshtakam" in praise of Lord
Nrisimha:

"saTa-paTala bheeshanE sarabha-sAta hAsoTbhaTe
spuradh-kruti sphutat brukuti-kEpi krutE..." etc.

Vishnu emerged instantly in such a strange and marvellous form
("nArasimha-vapu:) and picking up Hiranyakassipu, He laid him upon
His lap and snapped his spine like a twig. The fury of the Lord was
unbounded. Nrsimha cracked open the mighty chest of the Evil Emperor
as if it were a nut-fruit; and with with His Nails
("nakkAgrE-shakali-chakrE") gouged out the entrails of His devotee's
tormentor and wound it around his neck like a garland...

It was gory spectacle that the purAnA describes... It all happened in
the flash of an instant... in that nether hour of twilight when day
is not far gone and night too is not far away...And it happened right
on the doorsteps of the Emperor's palace ? The death of he who
had claimed lordship over the entire world was dealt by nothing more
lethal than a pair of feline claws...

Lord Nrisimha's fury did not however abate. The Man-Lion continued
his mayhem ... roaring, gnashing his talons, eyes spewing fire and
sheer terror... The 'purAnA' tells us that such was the terrible,
irrepressible mien of this avatArA, even the presence of His Consort,
Goddess Lakshmi, who hurriedly appeared on the scene, could not douse
the mighty fires of rage emanating from "jwAla-narasimhan"! The
Goddess gave up trying to pacify Her Lord saying, "Maybe this
creature here is not My Lord at all!!".

Finally, the 'devAs' and gods who had gathered there pleaded with
PrahlAda to himself approach the raging form of the Man-Lion and
somehow mollify it. The child boldly strode forth and sang a peaean
to the Lord... "prahlAda-stuthi".... on hearing which Nrisimhan's
"ugram" waned. Goddess Lakshmi once again seated herself beside Her
Lord and together with the assembled Deities there, gave audience to
devotees in the auspicious form of "sri.mAlOla"...

The world was rid of evil... the devotee Prahlada was rescued and
peace once again reigned in all the worlds.

**** ***** ******

Lord Nrsimhan was celebrated by another AzhwAr also.

Tirumangai-AzhwAr hailed Him as "nammudaiya nam-perUmAn" meaning,
"The God who is our own... our very, very own!". The AzhwAr's simple
phrase is extraordinarily eloquent. What it means is that of all
other "avatAra-s" of NarAyaNa, it is the "nrsimha- avatAra" alone
that appeals to one and all. The following facts clearly attest to
it:

Both Rama and Rudhra bowed before our Lord Nrisimhan; one praised him
with the "panchAmruta-stOtra" found in the "Hari-Vamsha"; the other
sang the "mantra-raja-pada-stOtra" found in the "ahirbudhnya-
samhita".

Our Lord of SingavEzh-kunram (Ahobilam) was the darling of all
"vEdAntAchAryA-s", as beloved to AdiSankara as He was to Adivan-
SatagOpan!

Our Lord was an inspiration to a mere, dumb pillar as much as he was
to a great musical composer ("vAggEyakAra") like AnnamAchAryA (a
disciple of Adivan-Satagopan)!

And today too the Lord of Prahlada adorns the Sringeri-Mutt as
royally as He presides over the Ahobila-Mutt!

The purAni-c lore of Lord Lakshmi-narasimha lives eternally in the
hearts of millions of people in India. There are many temples in the
states of Andhra Pradesh and T.Nadu where this deity is worshipped
ardently to this day.

Ahobilam near Kurnool is the most famous where "nava-nrsimhan" or the
nine different forms of the Lord are found in 9 shrines at various
spots on the great, verdant hills of Ahobilam. This Ahobilam is a
great place of pilgrimage for millions of devotees from all over the
country. According to the 'hari-vamsha purAna" Lord Rama Himself
worshipped the deity here in Ahobilam through the hymn titled
"narasimha-panchAmruta stOtra".

There are beautiful temples of Lakshmi-nrsimhan also in Vishakapatnam
(simhAchalam), Yadagirigutta (near Hyderabad), Mangalagiri,
SingaperumAl koil (near Madras), Simhacholapuram (or Sholinghur, near
Madras), Vellukai (near Kanchipuram), Namakkal (T,Nadu), VedAdri,
Wadapalli and Mattapalli (all on Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh).

The devotees of Ahobilam by and large also belong to the famous
Ahobila Mutt headed by the holy pontiff, Sri.Azhagiyasingar Jeer.

The worship of Lakshmi-narasimha is popular amongst all sects of
Saivites, Vaishnavites and MadhvAs since all the great AchAryas of
the Vedic tradition have worshipped this Deity. In the
'ahirbudhnya-samhita" it is written that Lord Siva himself worshipped
Narasimhan through the famous 'stOtra' called
"mantra-rAja-pada-stOtra'. Adi Sankara sang the famous
"lakshmi-nrsimha-karAvalamba-stOtra' in praise of this Deity. The
Sankara Mutt also has a special shrine for this Deity in Sringeri.
Many MAdhvAs worship this Deity in their homes as "kula-deivam". For
millions of SriVaishnavas who belong to the lineage of the 15th
century saint Sri.Adivan Satagopa Muni, Lakshmi-nrisimhan is one of
the foremost deities in their traditional pantheon.

Lord Nrsimhan is thus a universally acknowledged God celebrated as
the Mighty One who rushes instantly to the succour of His dear
devotees just as He rushed to save His beloved PrahalAda.

***** ***** *****

Today is 'nrsimha-jayanti'. Let us all in our hearts beseech the Lord
to shower His Blessings on one and all.

"tvayi rakshati rakshakai: kimanyaihi
tvayi chAraskhati rakshakai kimanyaihi
iti nishrutadheehi srayAmi nityam
nruharE vegavati tatAshrayam mAm"
(Verse 8 of "kAmAsikAshtakam" of Swami Vedanta Desika)

"If You deigned to protect me,
Who else do I need appeal!
But if You should turn away, alas,
What use is it beseeching anyone else?".

dAsan,
Sudarshan

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com




[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list