न्रिसिम्हा AVATAARAM

satyaM vidhAtuM nija-bhRRitya-bhAshhitaM
vyAptaM cha bhUteshh-vakhileshhu chAtmanaH /
adRRishyata atyadbhuta-rUpam-udvahan
stambhe sabhAyAM na mRRigam na mAnushhaM

सत्यम विधातुम निज -भ्र्रित्य -भाष्हितम
व्याप्तं च भुतेश्ह -वाखिलेश्हू चात्मनः /
अद्र्रिश्यता अत्याद्भुता -रूपं -उद्वहन
स्तम्भे सभायाम न म्र्रिगम न मनुश्हम

who was the favourite whose words He had to prove true? First and foremost it is the boy-devotee, Prahlada, no doubt. He asserted with the greatest confidence that God is everywhere and therefore also in the pillar. This was to be vindicated. But the vindication, simultaneously, was also of other statements. BrahmA, the Creator, had given the Asura king the unusual boon whereby he will not meet his death with either a man or an animal. That had to be proved true. Even before Prahlada was born, Narada had assured Indra, the King of the gods, when he was carrying away Hiranyakashipu’s Queen with Prahlada in her womb, that the child in the womb was not going to die at the hands of Indra but on the other hand he was going to be a great devotee of the Lord.Hiranyakashipu himself had predicted on seeing the adamance of Prahlada’s devotion to Vishnu that ‘this boy is going to bring my death if I do not kill him’, and this was to be vindicated too. Thus the words ‘satyaM vidhAtuM nija-bhRRitya-bhAshhitaM’ is pregnant with the secret of the Lord’s avatAra and substantiates that when the Lord comes, He comes not with just a single purpose, but wills that it may serve several causes.

And to vindicate BrahmA’s boon in its entire entirety, the Narasimha form of the Lord which was now striking terror in everybody in the assembly except Prahlada, jumped on Hiranya-kashipu and carried him aloft to the gate of the palace so that it was neither inside the house nor outside. All defenses of Hiranyakashipu were of no avail before the fiery Narasimha Swami,who put him on his lap, so that it was neither on the Earth nor in the sky. It was evening time so that it was neither day nor night. The nails of the man-lion pierced the chest of the Asura King, tore open the heart and put an end to his life. The end came therefore by neither the living nor the non-living, because the nails of a body can be classified as neither.

The gods and other divine beings had already assembled in the heavens to watch this scene which put an end to the longest period of humiliation for them and for the world. But the fury of Narasimha avatAra had not subsided. He fought with those warriors who rose up in defense of the King and killed them all. BrahmA the Creator and all the other Gods sang praises of the Lord but no one dared go near Him. Every one looked at Prahlada. BrahmA signed to him to go near the Lord and pacify him. Prahlada went near the Lord and prostrated before him. The Lord lifted him up and caressingly touched him on the head.

How is it possible for me, says Prahlada, who have been born in a family of asuras, to offer suitable prayers to the Lord? One may possess wealth, an aristocratic family, beauty, austerity,education, sensory expertise, lustre, influence, physical strength, diligence, intelligence and mystic yogic power, all these qualifications will not satisfy the Lord if bhakti – dedication and devotion -- is not there. Even if a brahmin has all these qualifications but is not a devotee and is averse to the lotus feet of the Lord, he is certainly lower than that devotee who may be a dog-eater but who has dedicated everything-- mind, words, activities, wealth and life-- to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee is better than a brahmin because while the devotee can purify his whole family, the so-called brahmin in a position of false prestige cannot purify even himself. My Lord Nrsimhadeva, please, cease Your anger now that my father, the great demon Hiranyakasipu, has been killed. My Lord, Iam certainly not afraid of Your ferocious mouth and tongue, Your eyes bright like the sun or Your frowning eyebrows. I do not fear Your sharp, pinching teeth, Your garland of intestines, Your mane soaked with blood, or Your high, wedgelike ears. Nor do I fear Your tumultuous roaring. But I am very much afraid of my condition of life within this material world. When will that moment come whenYou will call me to the shelter of Your lotus feet, which are the ultimate goal for liberation from samsAra?