Sri Narasimha Caturdasi

Please pray to Lord Narasimhadev that He may destroy the demoniac propensities within us which are there to a small or large degree. Lust is our enemy. We are our own enemies. This is an important day. The day will be 12 hours long only. But its greatness is important. We are observing various festivals in the last few days such as Sita Navami and Rukmini Dvadasi. So today we have one more important day of Caturdasi.

A long, long time ago it was Caturdasi. We offer our obeisances to Lord Narasimha. Lord became Narahari. We daily offer this prayer where Prabhupada was making all Deity standards. Srila Prabhupada introduced this arati and Narasimha Pranam. No one was singing arati of Lord Narasimhadev. Srila Prabhupada inspired all of us to pray.

We should say completely prahalada alhada dayine. How else is He? hiranyakasipur vakshah – He tore the chest and stomach of Hiranyakasipu. These things are not new, but we don’t sing understanding its meaning. Alaya means collection. Dukhalaya Sukhalaya Devalaya. Nakhalaya – means nails are prominent in it.

ito narasimha parato narasimha – I’m not giving an Uccharan seminar. Lord is here and Lord is there. We should take care of the rules of grammar. Wherever I go may Lord Narasimha be there! This is the same as a prayer in which we say jagannatha swami nayana pathagami bhavatu me. Hiranyakasipu asked, “Where is your Lord? In this pillar?” Prahlada Maharaja replied, “Yes, my Lord is in this pillar.” We should get up with conviction on such a day. If we don’t get up on days like this then when will we get up? Such Narasimhadev who is adipurusa, whose nails are very sharp. They are just like the peak of a mountain. There are various kinds of bees. Few bite and a few are poisonous. You have killed wicked Hiranyakasipu just like that. Our dealing with a mosquito is just like that.

See one fly came over there. Hiranyakasipu has been compared to a fly and the Lord is very great. He was not supposed to use weapons. Narasimhadev is famous for his teeth and nails. Sukadev Goswami is telling us that the form of the Lord frightened everyone. We have more fear of a lion than any other animal. Lions are the most fearsome. Narasimhadev became very ferocious.

matta? paratara? n?nyat kiñchid asti dhanañjaya
mayi sarvam ida? prota? s?tre ma?i-ga?? iva

Translation
There is nothing higher than Myself, Oh Arjun. Everything rests in Me, as beads strung on a thread. [BG7.7]

When the Lord becomes ferocious then no one can be more terrifying than Him. The Lord becomes a lion. ‘When someone makes an offence at the feet of any of My devotees then I become Narasimha and teach that offender a lesson.’ Seeing this Hiranyakasipu’s dhoti would have turned yellow. When does a dhoti become yellow? When one urinates.There is one Purana named Narasimha Purana. In Srimad-Bhagvatam 7th canto the Lord’s pastimes have been explained.

There are three kinds of offences – body, words, mind. One can slap someone with the help of the body. What to say of mental offences? munijana manasa hansa Sukadev Goswami says this. First we think then we say and then we act. This is not a sleeping session. Haribol! Offenders beware!

Narasimhadev took that action of destroying demons. The place of pride is always at the bottom.Those who feel pride end up at the bottom. The Lord doesn’t tolerate pride. What do you think? The Lord was not tolerating it in those days and He is tolerating it these days. No, the Lord has His own ways to deal with offenders.

satyam vidhatum nija bhritya bhashitam

To reveal that form of Himself the Lord appeared. Sridhar Swami has given his commentary on this verse. Caitanya Mahaprabhu was very pleased with this commentary. Prahlada Maharaja had said that My Lord is everywhere. To make the statement made by Prahlada Maharaja true the Lord appeared over there. Is there any proof that the Lord is everywhere? Is He in the pillar? He is within you also. The Lord appeared from that pillar. The Lord thought, “Let Me appear from that pillar.” Isn’t this a wonderful appearance? Has anyone taken birth from a pillar?

janma karma cha me divyam eva? yo vetti tattvata?
tyaktv? deha? punar janma naiti m?m eti so ’rjuna

Translation
Those who understand the divine nature of my birth and activities, O Arjun, upon leaving the body, do not have to take birth again, but come to my eternal abode. [BG 4.9]

The Lord’s birth is transcendental. He took birth from Lord Brahma’s sneeze. He doesn’t have to take birth like ordinary living entities.

This is one thing. Hiranyakasipu had asked to be immortal for all the time. Lord Brahma had said that he was not immortal even though he have a long life. Then Hiranyakasipu asked, “May I never be killed by any astra sastra during the night or day.” May I not die by a virus? He thought of all the ways by which people have died. May I not die inside or outside? To make all these benedictions true, the Lord appeared. He said he shouldn’t die during the day or night. He hadn’t said that may he never get killed in between the day and night. The Lord said, “I have nails.” He made him lie on His lap. Then the Lord tore the belly of wicked Hiranyakasipu. Why was the Lord angry? Remember this reason. It was against the person who offended His devotee. Hiranyakasipu also looked like a demon. Nowadays gentleman wear suits and ties. They might be dressed like gentleman, but might not be gentlemen from within.

Taking into consideration all the benedictions of Lord Brahma, the Lord killed Hiranyakasipu.

I was saying that all incidents which are there such as Sita Navami, Rukmini Dvadasi are all an Itihaas. All these pastimes took place. The Lord appeared on day of Caturdasi at Ahobilam in Andhra Pradesh. What’s there in an Itihaas or History? Place and time have been mentioned. In grammar it’s called saptami.

Which place, at what time and which person did what? This is called an Itihaas.

dh?itar??htra uv?cha
dharma-k?hetre kuru-k?hetre samavet? yuyutsava?
m?mak?? p???av??hchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya

Translation
Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?[BG 1.1]

Mahabharata is an Itihaas. These are all facts. Mythology is one thing and Itihaas is another thing. We devotees should understand that whatever is written in Srimad Bhagvatam is an Itihaas. So many personalities were there in Mahabharata and everyone has their own attributes. Can anyone think and write this? Everyone has their own attributes. In Caitanya-caritamrta also there are millions of characters. Everyone’s details such as birth, parents can be explained. Then there is the description of Vaikuntha also. What happened in Vaikuntha? The four Kumaras are there who are the sons of Lord Brahma. They went to Vaikuntha and were stopped by the gatekeepers. Then they became angry and cursed them. It’s been described that the Lord came walking along with Garuda. Lord said that these gatekeepers couldn’t understand who the visitors were. He said to the gatekeepers, “You may become demons for three births or you may take birth 7 times in the association of devotees.” In Satya-yuga Jaya Vijaya became Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu. It was a condition that the Lord will liberate them by killing them. This was also nija bhrtya bhashitum. The Lord is showing that He is killing Hiranyakasipu and at the same time also liberating Hiranyakasipu.

Lord had said in Bhagavad-Gita that na me bhakta pranashyati- “Kaunteya I take a vow that My devotee will never perish.”

To protect this vow the Lord has appeared. The Lord proved this by appearing in the form of Narasimhadev. This has been explained by Sridhar Swami in his commentary.

Today’s Narasimha Caturdasi celebrations carry a special meaning. Coronavirus has created situations and the whole mankind has become afflicted because of it. Today is the appearance day of Narasimhadev and we offer prayers at the feet of Lord Narasimha. Worshipping Lord Narasimhadev is important.

What does the Lord do by appearing as Narasimha? Sometimes we have to offer prayers at the feet of Narasimha for the good of health of Srila Prabhupada, for protection of the movement of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The Lord is protecting and reaching everyone through prasada. We are locked down. We can’t get out. Few people were passing by Pandharpur and they contacted ISKCON Pandharpur as diseased persons are hungry. Then Mohan Rupa Prabhu and one more devotee delivered the prasada. So much kirtana is going on. This has not taken place. Everywhere kirtana melas are going on. 5 pm kirtana is there. So the Lord’s mercy is reaching all through prasada, books and kirtana.

anya dharman tiraskrtya mahotsavan puraskrtya By means of festivals bhakti is being spread. This is the mercy of Srila Prabhupada. I started to say in the morning that Narasimhadev who is appearing today is Ugra-Narasimha. Take darsana of Ugra-Narasimha. We have Hiranyakasipu within us. For those who like sona there are 2 kinds of sona – one is gold and another is sleeping. Let that Hiranyakasipu within us get frightened and be killed. One time HH Radhanath Maharaja was saying that the Lord becomes the enemy of the devotee’s enemy. He takes a ferocious form when He becomes the enemy of our enemy. He becomes the death of death which kills us.

Narsimhadev Caturdasi Mahotsav ki Jai!
Gaur Premanande!
Haribol!