“My Lord, who are never conquered by anyone, I am 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, which makes elephants flee to distant places, or Your nails, which are meant to kill Your enemies.” (Prahlada Maharaja, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.9.15)

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नाहं बिभेम्य् अजित ते ’तिभयानकास्य-
जिह्वार्क-नेत्र-भ्रुकुटी-रभसोग्र-दंष्ट्रात्
आन्त्र-स्रजः-क्षतज-केशर-शङ्कु-कर्णान्
निर्ह्राद-भीत-दिगिभाद् अरि-भिन्-नखाग्रात्

nāhaṁ bibhemy ajita te ’tibhayānakāsya-
jihvārka-netra-bhrukuṭī-rabhasogra-daṁṣṭrāt
āntra-srajaḥ-kṣataja-keśara-śaṅku-karṇān
nirhrāda-bhīta-digibhād ari-bhin-nakhāgrāt

1. Visual

It is a half-man/half-lion. Had anyone seen such a creature before? If trying to describe the scene to one of their friends, the witness might be considered crazy. Perhaps they were hallucinating the entire time. It must have been one of those dreams that extended into the morning, after waking up. Like when you can feel the intense beating of the heart after escaping a nightmare.

Because of the combination of lion and human being, one of the many names to describe this figure is Narahari. He is amazing. He is awe-inspiring. He is ferocious, and there was no prior announcement as to His arrival. No one was expecting such a manifestation.

2. Janma

As described in Bhagavad-gita, the appearance and activities of the Supreme Personality of Godhead are transcendental in nature. Otherwise, birth is kind of a curse. It is the beginning of troubles. Birth is the source of misery, if we think about it. As soon as we enter that specific playing field, kshetra, the knower inside, kshetrajna, has to experience so many conditions in duality. Heat and cold. Pleasure and pain. Up and down. Wealth and poverty. Everything is wrapped into the greatest duality of all, life and death.

जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यम्
एवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः
त्यक्त्वा देहं पुनर् जन्म
नैति माम् एति सो ऽर्जुन

janma karma ca me divyam
evaṁ yo vetti tattvataḥ
tyaktvā dehaṁ punar janma
naiti mām eti so ‘rjuna

“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.9)

Narahari had a divine nature proven by the lack of a womb. He appeared from a pillar. Sure, there was some antagonizing beforehand. There was some mocking. There was amazing irony to the appearance, as the evil king named Hiranyakashipu had mocked the concept of an all-pervading force who is the very foundation of strength. Prahlada Maharaja, the five-year old son of Hiranyakashipu, had revealed that the source of strength is the same in everyone. The father dismissed this idea as foolish, rhetorically asking if that source of strength was in the nearby pillar. He soon got his answer.

श्री-प्रह्राद उवाच
न केवलं मे भवतश् च राजन्
स वै बलं बलिनां चापरेषाम्
परे ’वरे ’मी स्थिर-जङ्गमा ये
ब्रह्मादयो येन वशं प्रणीताः

śrī-prahrāda uvāca
na kevalaṁ me bhavataś ca rājan
sa vai balaṁ balināṁ cāpareṣām
pare ’vare ’mī sthira-jaṅgamā ye
brahmādayo yena vaśaṁ praṇītāḥ

“Prahlada Maharaja said: My dear King, the source of my strength, of which you are asking, is also the source of yours. Indeed, the original source of all kinds of strength is one. He is not only your strength or mine, but the only strength for everyone. Without Him, no one can get any strength. Whether moving or not moving, superior or inferior, everyone, including Lord Brahma, is controlled by the strength of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.8.7)

3. Strength

If Narahari is the source of strength in everyone, then why is there variation to the exercise of that strength? For instance, why is a child generally weaker than an adult? Why is someone like Hiranyakashipu powerful enough to terrorize practically the entire world?

The explanation is that while the source is the same, the manifestation of that strength varies based on the association with gunas. This applies to the individuals for whom the event of birth is like a curse. The body is like their holding cell. It only restricts. It suppresses the amazing intelligence and bliss that are otherwise always with the individual, who is spirit soul.

As the source of strength, Narahari gave an idea of what unlimited strength looks like. He amazingly defeated all the royal attendants who attacked Him. Narahari was able to snatch the great aggressor that was Hiranyakashipu, in the manner of Garuda picking up snakes to eat.

विष्वक्स्फुरन्तं ग्रहणातुरं हरि-
र्व्यालो यथाखुं कुलिशाक्षतत्वचम्
द्वार्यूरुमापत्य ददार लीलया
नखैर्यथाहिं गरुडो महाविषम्

viṣvak sphurantaṁ grahaṇāturaṁ harir
vyālo yathākhuṁ kuliśākṣata-tvacam
dvāry ūrum āpatya dadāra līlayā
nakhair yathāhiṁ garuḍo mahā-viṣam

“As a snake captures a mouse or Garuda captures a very venomous snake, Lord Narasimhadeva captured Hiranyakashipu, who could not be pierced even by the thunderbolt of King Indra. As Hiranyakashipu moved his limbs here, there and all around, very much afflicted at being captured, Lord Narasimhadeva placed the demon on His lap, supporting him with His thighs, and in the doorway of the assembly hall the Lord very easily tore the demon to pieces with the nails of His hand.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.8.29)

4. Intelligence

While everyone would naturally be in terror of a half-man/half-lion figure that miraculously emerged from a pillar, the line of attack was not random or chaotic. Narahari knew exactly what He was doing. Hiranyakashipu had previously received boons from Lord Brahma. These boons protected him from a variety of situations that could otherwise turn lethal.

Narahari showed amazing intelligence in maintaining fidelity with the promises. None of those protections were violated. And still, Narahari was able to defeat Hiranyakashipu. This shows that even one percent vulnerability is sufficient for negating the entire proposal of immortality. The spirit soul is already immortal, but demons like Hiranyakashipu are averse to the science of self-realization. Therefore, they try to achieve the foolish kind of immortality, in staying within their temporary body for as long as possible.

5. Extension of protection

Narahari appeared on the scene and eliminated the threat that was Hiranyakashipu. The affair was not merely to rid the world of a great menace. It was not solely to prove that immortality cannot be constructed through individual components, albeit with assistance from celestials. Rather, Narahari was there for Prahlada. It was an amazing extension of protection, through an amazing display that left everyone else witnessing the scene terrified.

Except for Prahlada; he was not scared in the slightest. He knew that despite so many amazing aspects to the events, Narahari is still Vishnu. It was the Supreme Lord arriving on the scene. In the manner that Vishnu’s conch and lotus flower are symbols of peace, so there was a great purification that took place in the bifurcation of Prahlada’s father.

In Closing:

Result of amazing purification,
In that ghastly bifurcation.

Where Narahari easily to take,
And helpless victim to make.

Of Hiranyakashipu terror’s cause,
Now sitting in kāla’s jaws.

Ultimately for protection’s sake,
Vishnu never the devotee to forsake.

Categories: the five

Tags: dailyprompt, hare krishna, narasimha, poem, poems, poetry, prahlada