“’You said that He is indeed everywhere, so why can He not be seen in this pillar? If I do see that Vishnu right now in the middle of the pillar, then I will not kill you. Otherwise, you will be divided into two.’ Having seen (his father) in that way, Prahlada began to meditate on that Supreme Lord.” (Narasimha Purana, 44.10-11)

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त्वयोक्तं स हि सर्वत्र कस्मात् स्तम्भे न दृश्यते
यदि पश्यामि तं विष्णुम् अधुना स्तम्भमध्यगम्

तर्हि त्वां न वधिष्यामि भविष्यसि द्विधान्यथा
प्रह्लादो ऽपि तथा दृष्ट्वा दध्यौ तं परमेश्वरम्

tvayoktaṃ sa hi sarvatra kasmāt stambhe na dṛśyate
yadi paśyāmi taṃ viṣṇum adhunā stambhamadhyagam

tarhi tvāṃ na vadhiṣyāmi bhaviṣyasi dvidhānyathā
prahlādo ‘pi tathā dṛṣṭvā dadhyau taṃ parameśvaram

The Mayavada conception of life reaches the conclusion of illusion. As in, everything is maya. Everything that we see, from the rope to the snake, from the summer to the winter, from birth to death, falls into the category of illusion. The lone reality is Brahman. Everything else is false. If there is any instruction to take, it is that Brahman is everything. The goal of life is to reclaim this Brahman identity, which is actually singular although appearing to be divided at the moment. Fortunately, an infamous leader inimical to Vedanta itself once violently challenged this assertion. He refused to believe in the impersonal concept of sarvatra, asking for proof in the process. What emerged not only supported the concept of an all-pervasive Brahman, but also revealed that there is a supreme, single individual standing above it all. That individual is anything but false, divided, or subject to the illusion that actually works under His direction.

There are many statements from shastra to support the impersonal conception. Bhagavad-gita describes the avyakta-murti. It is a kind of form, but unseen. It lacks substance. You cannot locate it on a map. You cannot get turn-by-turn directions, to reach specific coordinates. You cannot even look at it, absent some outside help. Nevertheless, it still exists. Just where, exactly? Try…everywhere!

मया ततम् इदं सर्वं
जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि
न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.4)

Vishnu Purana offers the analogy to a fire. This fire is like the source of everything. Picture the largest collection of energy imaginable, blazing and raging. The sparks that emanate from that fire are like the individual instances of life. The fire is still the complete whole. The sparks are linked to the whole. The sparks fall away, forgetting this link. Spiritual life is thus the pathway towards enlightenment, which is nothing more than memory of the link.

एक-देश-स्थितस्याग्नेर्
ज्योत्स्ना विस्तारिणी यथा
परस्य ब्रह्मणः शक्तिस्
तथेदम् अखिलं जगत्

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner
jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā
parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis
tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

“Everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but the energy of the Supreme Lord. As fire emanating from one place diffuses its illumination and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere. Indeed, the whole cosmic creation is composed of different manifestations of His energy.” (Vishnu Purana, 1.22.52)

The teachings from a five-year-old boy named Prahlada lend further support. He claims that every person has the same source of strength. The precise exhibition of that strength differs. There are other factors at play, such as time and circumstance. One person is strong enough to lift a car. Another person can barely carry the backpack full of school books across the hallway. Nevertheless, the source of the strength is the same. A wise person should acknowledge this. As the source is everywhere, it is all-pervading. The source therefore has a property known as sarvatra.

Prahlada happened to share many names for this source. Vishnu. Hari. Krishna. Rama. Prahlada’s father rejected the entire proposal. If comparing to the modern-day landscape, Prahlada risked being cancelled. His speech was offensive. The father, named Hiranyakashipu, tried to threaten that speech out of the son. He then tried to forcefully eliminate it, in ordering the palace guards to remove Prahlada from this world. Finally, the father settled upon a personal threat. He would split his own son into two pieces, if this Vishnu person failed to show proof of His existence. The proof would have to emerge from a nearby pillar. Like opening a coconut to see what is inside, Hiranyakashipu demanded that Vishnu prove His existence after a pillar was struck with a powerful sword.

1. Remember

Prahlada had described a property known as sarvatra. If this property belonged to an impersonal force, then Hiranyakashipu really had nothing to worry about. The electricity that powers the home does not have a name. It does not have a shape. It is not anything, really, except it certainly has potency. Electricity is itself potency; it is energy.

If the force Prahlada described happened to have memory, then it could not be described as impersonal. Whether the Mayavadis want to refer to that kind of Brahman as nirguna or saguna makes no difference. Memory is a capability belonging to an individual. I have memory. You have memory. We are separate from one another. My memory is different from yours. That is one way to prove individuality.

श्री-भगवान् उवाच
बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि
जन्मानि तव चार्जुन
तान्य् अहं वेद सर्वाणि
न त्वं वेत्थ परन्तप

śrī-bhagavān uvāca
bahūni me vyatītāni
janmāni tava cārjuna
tāny ahaṁ veda sarvāṇi
na tvaṁ vettha parantapa

“The Blessed Lord said: Many, many births both you and I have passed. I can remember all of them, but you cannot, O subduer of the enemy!” (Bhagavad-gita, 4.5)

2. Configure

If the sarvatra force used memory to configure certain parameters, then it cannot be described as impersonal. Configuration requires intelligence. The force described by Prahlada was ready to prove itself. It would show itself in a way that bypassed all of the protections available to Hiranyakashipu. You see, that Daitya leader had previously asked for an armor of immortality, built through specific requests. He begged in front of Lord Brahma, who is the creator. The sarvatra force, being a person, used intelligence to configure a way around those protections.

3. Act

An impersonal force does not act. It is nothing, in fact. Actions are tied to consequences. Actions are tied to desires. Since this force was already sarvatra, it had witnessed everything up until that point. It knew exactly what Hiranyakashipu had done. It had seen the torture applied against the innocent Prahlada. The memory of those wicked deeds would help to shape the kind of action to follow.

You see, the proof was there. Vishnu was real. Vishnu emerged from the pillar. If Vishnu were simply an elevated form of Brahman, a kind of impersonal force, then there would be no need to act. Since Vishnu is not debased by His own impersonal feature, He could act with impunity. In other words, Vishnu chose to act. There were no consequences for Him. The same could not be said of the victim. Hiranyakashipu finally received what he was due, in being split apart by the nails on the hands of the amazing Narahari, who killed that leader with the greatest precision strike the world has ever seen.

“Hiranyakashipu had received from Lord Brahma the benediction that he would not die on the land or in the sky. Therefore, to keep the promise of Lord Brahma intact, Narasimhadeva placed Hiranyakashipu’s body on His lap, which was neither land nor sky. Hiranyakashipu had received the benediction that he would not die either during the day or at night. Therefore, to keep this promise of Brahma, the Lord killed Hiranyakashipu in the evening, which is the end of day and the beginning of night but is neither day nor night. Hiranyakashipu had taken a benediction from Lord Brahma that he would not die from any weapon or be killed by any person, dead or alive. Therefore, just to keep the word of Lord Brahma, Lord Narasimhadeva pierced Hiranyakashipu’s body with His nails, which were not weapons and were neither living nor dead.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Shrimad Bhagavatam, 7.8.29 Purport)

In Closing:

Making intentional decision,
To strike with precision.

Remembering every wicked deed,
Even Brahma’s protections to heed.

Narahari never as impersonal to call,
A man-lion but also greatest of all.

The protector of Prahlada too,
And all devotees true.

Categories: chandrahasa, the three

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