Difficult To Explain Away

“’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

As often directly stated, the mission of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada was essentially two-pronged. Expose modern-day scientists as total frauds. The attempt was made around fifty years ago, but just see the increasing foolishness in the subsequent passage of time, evident from the medical malfeasance from the past several years. Endlessly experiment on children. Explain away side effects and lethal consequences as coincidences. Intentionally avoid using placebos as a control, lest they risk exposing the real dangers to their concoctions. The second part of the mission was to establish Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Not by force. Not by fiat. Not by dogmatic insistence. Not by annoying people to death. Rather, by relying on history, on the sacred word of shastra, and on common sense.

Another way to describe the second part of the mission is to establish that God is a person. Not a figure of mythology. Not a vague concept or an abstract. Not an impersonal force that any person can claim as their identity. The latter is the approach of the Mayavada school of philosophy. To the Vaishnava, this is most sinister since there is reliance on the Vedas. Both the personalist and the impersonalist reference Bhagavad-gita, for instance. They might even reference Vishnu Purana, which literally has a name of God in the title.

“The result of receiving knowledge from a self-realized soul, or one who knows things as they are, is learning that all living beings are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Shri Krishna. The sense of a separated existence from Krishna is called maya (ma-not, ya-this). Some think that we have nothing to do with Krishna, that Krishna is only a great historical personality and that the Absolute is the impersonal Brahman. Factually, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, this impersonal Brahman is the personal effulgence of Krishna.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 4.35 Purport)

If we took a sympathetic stance towards the Mayavadi, we would see that rationalizing the appearances of the avatara is not that difficult when dealing with a human being. The impersonalist might claim that Shri Rama, the eldest son of King Dasharatha, is an elevated version of Brahman. Rama is a prophet, you see, appearing on this earth to teach. Rama shows exactly what Brahman is. They might make the same claim for Shri Krishna, who is the son of Vasudeva and Devaki. Krishna is another prophet, you see. Krishna speaks Bhagavad-gita because He is realized in the self. He is God, but so are you. He is God, but only because Brahman is everywhere.

It becomes more difficult to pass the sophistry when dealing with the avatara of Narasimha. The folly can be exposed in a single incident. You see, there was also a teacher in that case. That teacher never claimed to be God. He never broadcast a singular identity or equivalence with Brahman. He did indeed touch on impersonal aspects of Divinity. That teacher tried to explain to others that there is a singular source of potency. Sort of like an electrical current that runs throughout the creation, there is divine energy everywhere. This teacher even used memory of this energy to help survive lethal attacks, which were started by people inimical to his message.

विष्णुः शस्त्रेषु युष्मासु मयि चासौ यथा स्थितः
दैतेयास् तेन सत्येन मा क्रामन्त्व् आयुधानि वः

viṣṇuḥ śastreṣu yuṣmāsu mayi cāsau yathā sthitaḥ
daiteyās tena satyena mā krāmantv āyudhāni vaḥ

“O Daityas, just as Vishnu is in those weapons and also situated in me, so by that truth your weapons will not be able to overcome me.”  (Prahlada Maharaja, Vishnu Purana, 1.17.33)

If Prahlada had a specific target for his message, it was his father. Known as the king of the Daityas, Hiranyakashipu did not want to hear any of it. He thought the proposal was preposterous. How can there be a God? How can there be this one force who is everywhere, sarvatra? In a mocking way, Hiranyakashipu asked the teacher, who happened to be his own son, if this source of potency was in the nearby pillar. Rather than wait for an answer, Hiranyakashipu would conduct a scientific experiment. He would strike the pillar with a powerful sword. The evidence then had to manifest. The teacher’s hypothesis had to be proven right there, on the spot, absent prior preparation.

If the Mayavada concept were true, then the teacher could have showed himself to be God. Granted, the child named Prahlada never said as much. He never claimed that every person was God. He claimed that every person has a relationship with God. Every person takes their strength from God. Every person should acknowledge God and make service to God the ultimate mission of their human birth, which is supposed to be auspicious.

If the Mayavada concept were true, then the pillar might produce a kind of light. A bright and brilliant vision of energy, to prove to Hiranyakashipu that the divine energy was everywhere. Instead, the result was the appearance of a magnificent being. Not quite a human being and not quite a lion. Not quite neutral, either. This being was on a mission. This being also had memory. It was indeed sarvatra. Therefore, it had witnessed the inexcusable torture of Prahlada. This being was there to repay the favor, to show Hiranyakashipu that not only is Vishnu real, but He is a person who remembers and can act on that memory.

In Closing:

Layers of ignorance to peel,
Proving that Vishnu is real.

Not quite identical so,
The truth Prahlada to know.

Not a formless light,
Bursting and shining bright.

A lion emerging but man at the fore,
Remembering all that happened before.