Zitat von Vedanta am 28. April 2018, 16:23 Uhr

 

Narasimha Caturdasi

On this day a long, long time ago (probably millions of years ago) Shri Bhagavan appeared as a half-man half-lion, Nara-Simha, in his mighty, furious form.

Yes, Shri Bhagavan can also get angry when his dear devotees and admirerers are treated badly by envious and malicious people. And besides, He also loves to fight sometimes! All these qualities come to Him, from where else? Babaji Maharaja explained in a lecture on Madhurya-kadambini that Shri Krishna is very generous when it comes to fulfilling all possible wishes of people and especially his devotees. But Krishna is very miserly when it comes to giving pure bhakti to someone. And Babaji humorously added that also miserlyness naturally has its origin in God, but He shows this usually only in relation to pure Bhakti - otherwise Krishna is as said infinitely generous. He gives us everything at any time and in every respect. And if we should have any special wishes, he even fulfils them, sometimes only in the next or the next but one life. After all, these things have to be coordinated harmoniuously with the countless wishes of other living entities.

But back to today's topic. Shri Narasimha came to protect the little boy Prahlad from his own cruel father. Prahlada was a fervent devotee of Vishnu, but his father hated Vishnu with all his heart. That couldn't have gone well in the longrun. The tensions between father and son increased more and more and finally, his father with the melodious name Hiranyakashipu (Hiranya=Gold, Kashipu=Pillow) finally decided to kill Prahlad. This in turn incited in Shri Vishnu - the eternal, invisible witness of all events - blazing anger, who then, accompanied by an infernal blast and piercing lion roar, jumped out of a bursting palace column. This was followed by an unprecedented duel that could not have been more exciting! On the one hand Hiranyakashipu, blessed with all the mystical yoga powers (he had acquired them in thousands of years of asceticism and pranayama; his pranayama was so energetic that flames shot out of his head), and on the other hand the almighty Shri Bhagavan as Narasimha Avatar. While Hiranyakashipu fought very doggedly and with all his strength and tricks, for Shri Narasimhadeva this fight was comparable to a cat's playful hunt for a mouse, the proverbial cat-and-mouse game. In the end, Shri Narasimha laid Hiranyakashipu on His lap, opened his abdominal wall with His sharp fingernails and ripped out his intestines. A clear victory for Shri Narasimha!

But the problem was not over yet, or rather it was now a different one. For Shri Narasimha was still angry without end and nothing and no one could calm his anger, not even His consort Shri Lakshmidevi. Brahma ji, the head of the Devas, then got the inspiration to send Shri Prahlad forward to soothe Shri Narasimha with prayers. This strategy proved to be successful. The heart of Shri Narasimha melted immediately when He saw the little boy at His feet and heard prayers offered. Two of these prayers were as follows (translation into English by HH Bhanu Swami):

manye dhanābhijana-rūpa-tapaḥ-śrutaujas-tejaḥ-prabhāva-bala-pauruṣa-buddhi-yogāḥ
nārādhanāya hi bhavanti parasya puṁso bhaktyā tutoṣa bhagavān gaja-yūtha-pāya

I think that wealth, family, beauty, austerity, learning, power of the senses, splendor, power, strength of the body, effort, intelligence, karma, jnana or ashthanga yoga cannot satisfy Shri Bhagavan. Shri Bhagavan was satisfied with the king of the elephants Gajendra, by his devotion to Shri Bhagavan.

- Shri Bhagavata Purana 7.9.9

viprād dvi-ṣaḍ-guṇa-yutād aravinda-nābha-pādāravinda-vimukhāt śvapacaṁ variṣṭham
manye tad-arpita-mano-vacanehitārtha-prāṇaṁ punāti sa kulaṁ na tu bhūrimānaḥ

I consider a dog-eater who has dedicated everything – mind, words, activities, wealth and life – to Shri Bhagavan superior to a brahmana who has all the twelve previously mentioned items, but who his averse to the lotus feet of Shri Bhagavan. He purifies his whole family, whereas the so-called respectable person does not.

- Shri Bhagavata Purana 7.9.10

Comment by Shri Vishvanatha Chakravarti Thakur:

What else needs to be said? One should consider absence or presence of bhakti. I consider a dog-eater superior to a brahmana without bhakti, what to speak of others, even if endowed with the twelve items mentioned in the previous verse. What to speak of brahmanas with only seven or eight, or three or four of those items. And what to speak of brahmanas with none of those qualities. [...]

Jai Shri Narasimhadev!!