Create Your Own Armor

“Shri Hari, who is the Lord of the demigods, who is worshiped by the people of the world, for benefiting the moving and nonmoving beings of the world took that dreadful form through His own energy and tore apart Hiranyakashipu, who caused suffering to so many, with His nails.” (Narasimha Purana, 44.43)

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हरिः सुरेशो नरलोकपूजितो हिताय लोकस्य चराचरस्य
कृत्वा विरूपं च पुरात्ममायया हिरण्यकं दुःखकरं नखैश् छिनत्

hariḥ sureśo naralokapūjito hitāya lokasya carācarasya
kṛtvā virūpaṃ ca purātmamāyayā hiraṇyakaṃ duḥkhakaraṃ nakhaiś chinat

For today’s assignment, we have a thought exercise. This is in response to the many troubles we encounter in the life experience, which appear to be arriving in a tsunami-like fashion over the past few years. In the beginning, everyone rushes home, almost permanently. That is their new office. They are forced to work there. They cannot leave the house until a newly imposed metric called “case-positivity rate” shows an acceptable reading. Afterwards, everyone is strongly encouraged, sometimes with the threat of losing their livelihoods, to take experimental medication. For some reason, after the fact, there are so many illnesses. There is like an epidemic of disease amongst those who would otherwise be expected to stay healthy for years. Sudden and unexpected fatality, day after day.

All of this is to say that the life experience is not fun. You cannot always get what you want. The teaching from Bhagavad-gita plays like a record on repeat. You really are not the doer. You think you have control, but some invisible force must cooperate in order for anything to manifest. The results are not always as intended. The consequences appear to manifest whenever they decide to, without prior warning.

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि
गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः
अहङ्कार-विमूढात्मा
कर्ताहम् इति मन्यते

prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni
guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ
ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā
kartāham iti manyate

“The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 3.27)

For our exercise, we will try to construct a mechanism of protection. Against what, exactly? How about everything? If the home is built in a flood zone, there are extra precautions to take. Don’t build a basement, for instance. Choose particular material for the construction. Think of every protective measure, since the rain can strike at any time.

If we wanted full protection across the entire life experience, what would we do? If someone cannot explicitly grant immortality, is there a way to create the same? Through individual components, through clever massaging of the particulars, through thinking of every possible vulnerability – is there a way to acquire something equivalent to immortality?

Some of the obvious vulnerabilities are disease and calamity. We would try to have protection against all kinds of ailments. Keeping with the flood example, we would want to be safe against natural disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, and the like. Gain safety from massive fires. There are wild animals to consider, as well. What if a bear should suddenly encroach upon our property? What if we find ourselves amidst poisonous snakes? We would want protection in those situations, as well.

We don’t have to worry about landing on Mars. No need to escape for another planet. Every kind of injury will be avoided. The one stipulation is that we cannot ask for blanket immortality. That cannot be granted, but in our hypothetical situation everything else is on the table. In what direction would we proceed?

Fortunately, there is no need to tax our brain for this exercise. We have the answer, already. We have someone who was in this exact position. He had a direct meeting with a benefactor. The meeting wasn’t easy to get. Hiranyakashipu worked long and hard, in the only way to see the desire through. There was the opportunity to make a list, to have the benefactor grant every sort of protection imaginable.

नान्तर्बहिर्दिवा नक्तमन्यस्मादपि चायुधै:
न भूमौ नाम्बरे मृत्युर्न नरैर्न मृगैरपि

nāntar bahir divā naktam
anyasmād api cāyudhaiḥ
na bhūmau nāmbare mṛtyur
na narair na mṛgair api

“Grant me that I not die within any residence or outside any residence, during the daytime or at night, nor on the ground or in the sky. Grant me that my death not be brought by any being other than those created by you, nor by any weapon, nor by any human being or animal.” (Hiranyakashipu praying to Lord Brahma, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.3.36)

Hiranyakashipu showed amazing intelligence in that interaction. He asked Lord Brahma for protection from the day and the night. From the ground and the sky. Immunity from all kinds of beings. No conventional weapons. No rivals. What else could a person ask for? Hiranyakashipu had created immortality, or so he thought.

It cannot be denied that intelligence is involved in creating the list of requests, but the application is flawed. The same intelligence can be applied for a superior objective. The aftermath went as expected, in the beginning. Hiranyakashipu rose to prominence. He was feared. He was respected. He terrorized anyone who dared to think they could impose their will on him. The foundation, though, was enmity with the Supreme Lord. Hiranyakashipu was like the greatest atheist you can imagine. He was someone who could do something with his belief. He did not have to argue with others. He did not have to reason with church officials. He could empty out the church with a single glance.

The foundational problem is that armor is not enough. The living being is active. They are alive, after all. They need something to do. There is a set amount of time they remain in a place. Nothing can be done to change that amount of time; it is managed by higher forces. Wearing an armor of protection does not impact the factor of time. That armor does not automatically elevate the individual to a higher status.

स इत्थं निर्जितककुबेकराड् विषयान् प्रियान्
यथोपजोषं भुञ्जानो नातृप्यदजितेन्द्रिय:

sa itthaṁ nirjita-kakub
eka-rāḍ viṣayān priyān
yathopajoṣaṁ bhuñjāno
nātṛpyad ajitendriyaḥ

“In spite of achieving the power to control in all directions and in spite of enjoying all types of dear sense gratification as much as possible, Hiranyakashipu was dissatisfied because instead of controlling his senses he remained their servant.” (Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.4.19)

Hiranyakashipu was paranoid, to the extreme. He could not tolerate devotion in his own son, who happened to be five years of age. Moreover, the Supreme Lord is always more intelligent. God appeared in the amazing vision of Narasimha. This penetrated the armor of the inimical Hiranyakashipu. Narasimha proved that no one can bypass the laws of nature, especially when they are inimical to the controller of that nature. Prahlada survived amazing attacks, without asking for any specific protection. He never prayed to Brahma. He only thought of Vishnu. Prahlada had the same opportunity to ask for anything, but he wanted only devotion. He asked that the devotion continue, no matter the particulars of the temporary experience. That same Vishnu finally ended the vile threat that was the leader of the Daityas.

In Closing:

Thought exercise to make,
That every precaution take.

For protection armor to build,
Components from intelligence skilled.

Hiranyakashipu in this way believed,
From Brahma immortality conceived.

But Narasimha the folly revealing,
Prahlada only for devotion appealing.