Its the middle of October here in England, and the leaves are changing from green to yellow, gold, red and brown. Temperatures are dropping and the skies are dull and overcast. It rains some days. Which all means we are well on our way to Winter. Flowers are also becoming scarce, but some are still available, as are brightly coloured berries.
One thing not in short supply seems to be Raspberries. We had a summer crop, and now its the turn of the late Autumn crop to appear. Strange to have an abundance of fruit in October, but here they are.
Here’s a picture of Narasimha this morning and the naivedyam offering of dried and fresh fruit.
Every morning I do the puja to my household arca-vigraha, Lakshmi-Narasimha. I like to offer a variety of seasonal fresh flowers and sometimes ripe fruit from my garden. In this month of July in England it is described as summer, although it is cool and raining quite a bit. But there is still a great variety of flowers available. And my raspberries have been ripe for two or three weeks and the blueberries are just about ready. Here are some photographs of this morning’s altar:
Here are my main Lordships, Lakshmi-Narasimha. The half-man, half-lion form is the fourth avatar of Vishnu, and He is always accompanied by His eternal consort who is also known as Anapayini, or ‘She who is never separated.’ Behind Them, small cream coloured Elder flowers, good for a lace-like backdrop and a delicate fragrance. Then by Their feet either side are purple Buddleia. In front is some English honeysuckle. The offering in the dish consists of raspberries picked fresh from my garden, dried figs from Croatia, and a home-made sweet.
Second is my travelling Lakshmi-Narasimha. They are small vigraha, and a very kind gift from my friend Amaraprabhu Dasan, who was given them in Udupi in south India by one Madhva sampradaya sannyasi.
Finally my 11 shaligrams with Sudarshan visible in the foreground.
Not a bad situation for a house in England, I think.
Preparation this afternoon for one of our seasonal celebrations, the appearance of Narasimha.
In our house it means we go to class at the temple followed by festive street chanting down in London, then take a break from the crowds to do a ceremonial abishek to our home deity when we return. Fruit juice, milk, cream, sweet water, coconut water – all poured over the deity along with kirtan.
Here’s how Srila Prabhupada sang prayers to Narasimha, then how a Narasimha abhishek looks in India, followed by the animated story, created by Mohan and Janaki.
Here are the Sanskrit and English Lyrics of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Karavalamba Stotram – the Lakshmi Nrsimha Prayer said to be composed by Adi Shankaracarya. My apologies for any imperfections in the English translation. You can compare the lyrics with the song by watching the video:
Please understand that this is for your interest only. I do not endorse the Advaita philosophy of Adi Shankaracarya as the complete understanding of Vedanta. But I found it ironic that when he really needed help, the great preacher of impersonalism called upon the help of Nrsimha.
Srimat Payonidhi Nikethana Chakra Pane,Bhogeendra Bhoga Mani Rajitha Punya Moorthe,Yogeesa Saswatha Saranya Bhabdhi Potha,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 1
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,Who lives in the ocean of milk,Who holds the holy wheel as weapon,Who wears the gems of the head,Of Adhisesha as ornaments,Who has the form of good and holy deeds,Who is the permanent protection of sages,And who is the boat which helps us cross,This ocean of misery called life,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Brahmendra, Rudra Arka Kireeta Koti,Sangattithangri Kamala Mala Kanthi Kantha,Lakshmi Lasath Kucha Saroruha Raja Hamsa,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 2
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,Whose feet is touched by the crowns,Of Brahma, Indra, Shiva and Sun,Whose shining feet adds to his effulgence,And who is the royal swan playing,Near the breasts of Goddess Lakshmi,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Samsara Gora Gahane Charathe Murare,Marogra Bheekara Mruga Pravardhithasya,Aarthasya Mathsara Nidha Chain Peedithasya,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 3
Oh Great God Lakshmi Narsimha,Oh Lord who killed the Asura called Mura,I have been traveling in the dark forests of day to day life,Where I have been terrified by the lion called desire,And scorched by the heat called competition, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Samsara Koopam Adhi Ghora Magadha Moolam,Samprapya Dukha Satha Sarpa Samakulasya,Dheenasya Deva Krupana Padamagadasya,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 4
Oh Great God Lakshmi Narasimha,I have reached the very dangerous and deep,Bottom of the well of day to day life,And also being troubled by hundreds,Of miseries which are like serpents,And am really miserable and have,Reached the state of wretchedness and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Samsara Sagara Vishala Karala Kala,Nakra Graham Grasana Nigraha Vigrahasya,Vyagrasya Raga Rasanormini Peedithasya,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 5
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have reached this wide unfathomable ocean of day to day life,And I have been caught by black deadly,Crocodiles called time which are killing meAnd I am also afflicted by waves of passion,And attachments to pleasures like taste and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have climbed the tree of worldly life,Which grew from the seed of great sin,Which has hundreds of branches of past karmas,Which has leaves which are parts of my body,Which has flowers which are the result of Venus,And which has fruits called sorrow,But I am falling down from it fast and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,Oh, Lord who rides on the enemy of snakes,Oh, Lord who lives in the ocean of nectar,The serpent of family life has opened,Its fearful mouth with very dangerous,Fangs filled with terrible venom,Which has destroyed me and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Samsara Dava Dahanathura Bheekaroru,Jwala Valee Birathi Dhighdha Nooruhasya,Thwat Pada Padma Sarasi Saranagathasya,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 8
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have been scarred badly by the fire of daily life,And even every single hair of my body,Has been singed by its fearful flames,And I have taken refuge in the lake of your lotus feet, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have been caught in this net of daily life,And all my organs are caught in that web,And the five senses which is the hook,Tears apart my head from me, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have been struck by the fearful king of elephants,Which is the worldly illusion, and my vital parts,Have been completely crushed, and I suffer,From thoughts of life and death, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Andhasya Me Viveka Maha Danasya,Chorai Prabho Bhalibhi Rindriya Nama Deyai,Mohanda Koopa Kuhare Vinipathathasya,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 11
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have become blind because, the sense of discrimination,Has been stolen from me by the thieves of ‘senses’,And I who am blind, have fallen in to the deep well of passion, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Baddhvaa Gale Yamabhataa Bahutarjayantah,Karshhanti Yatra Bhavapaashashatairyutam Maam.Ekaakinam Paravasham Chakitam DayaaloLakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 12
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I have been tied by the soldiers of the God of death,By numerous ropes of worldly attachments,And they are dragging me along by the noose around the neck,And I am alone, tired and afraid, and so Oh merciful one,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh King of Devas,Who is the Lord of Lakshmi, who has a lotus on his belly,Who is Vishnu, the lord of all heavenly beings, who is Vaikunta,Who is Krishna , who is the slayer of Madhu,Who is one with lotus eyes, Who is the knower of Brahman,Who is Kesava, Janardhana, Vasudeva,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Ekena Chakramaparena Karena Shamkha-Manyena Sindhutanyaaamavalambya Tishhthan,Vaame Karena Varadaabhayapadmachihnam,Lakshmi Nrsimha Mama Dehi Karavalambam 14
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,Who holds Sudarshana, the holy wheel in one hand,Who holds the conch in the other hand,Who embraces the daughter of ocean by one hand,And the fourth hand signifies protection and boons, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,I am drowned in the ocean of day to day life,Please protect this poor one, oh, Lord, Oh treasure of compassion,Just as you took a form to remove the sorrows of Prahlada, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
Oh Great God Lakshmi Nrsimha,Who dwells in the hearts of great sages like Prahlada,Narada, Parashara, Pundarika and Vyasa,Who loves his devotees and is the wish giving tree,That protects them, and so,Please give me the protection of your hands.
This prayer which blesses earth with good things,Is composed by Sankara who is a bee,Drinking deeply the honey from the lotus feet of Lakshmi Nrsimha,And those humans who are blessed with devotion to Hari,Will attain the lotus feet of the Brahman.
Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Padarpanamasthu
Dedicated to the feet of Lord Lakshmi Nrsimha.
Here are some meditations on Nrsimha (Narasimha) for you, before the day of His appearance in five days time. This brought back memories for me of climbing these hills in Ahobilam to have darshan of the nine different forms of the Lord. The perspiration; the anticipation; the exultation – and the howler monkeys and refreshing waterfalls. Thank you to Isvaracandra who put them up.
Puja to Sri Nrsimha in Mayapur, performed by brothers Jananivas and Pankajanghri prabhus.
So today, Wednesday 26th 2010, is the annual festival marking the day when God appeared in order to protect His beloved devotee. In the Bhagavad-gita God makes it very clear that this is not a one-time affair, that He is actually doing this time after time, in age after age. He comes to protect the devotees – those who have dedicated themselves to a life of spiritual service – and He comes to obstruct those who try to prevent others from taking up the Godly life.
So if there are many incarnations of God, what makes the Narasimha avatar so special? And why do the followers of His Divine Grace A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada always sing two songs about Narasimha after every arati in every one of their temples all over the world?
Well, perhaps the most important reason is that the founder and spiritual master of the worldwide Hare Krishna movement asked them to, and in one sense, that is reason enough. As disciples, they did not get to choose which items of sadhana-bhakti were meant to be performed; rather they were given selected songs and rituals as part of the spiritual master’s instructions.
Very early on, he told them that these two songs are for the protection of the guru and for the protection of the guru’s mission, the movement he started to spread bhakti around the world. And ever since then, his followers sing those songs and worship Narasimha.
The form of Narasimha – the ‘man-lion’ or ‘one with the form of both man and lion’ – came once only, and that for a very short time compared to other avatars. Narasimha outwitted Hiranyakashipu, who thought that he had been blessed to never die in each one of a series of eventualities. Thus His appearance shows us that the soul can never outwit God – even when that soul has been blessed to become the most powerful. Power has a distant origin in God Himself, and because God is completely free to do anything He likes, He can also strip a soul of all power too.
The form of Shri Narasimha shows us that even though the form of God may not always meet our expectations (even the gods and angels were bewildered at the sight of Narasimha) still He can come in any form He wishes, whether He conforms to our personal notions of God or not. He is always capable of surprising His dear devotees – and often at the most surprising times.
Timing was everything for the incarnation of Narasimha, since He appeared in the world just when His devotee needed Him the most. Hiranyakashipu had reached the end of his patience after all his attempts to kill his son Prahlada had been thwarted. In desperation he shouted out to the boy the famous question: “Where is the God who protects you?” to which the lad replied: “He is everywhere, father.” “Is He in this pillar?” “Yes, father.”
In the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna explains the vision of such a great devotee as Prahlada: “For one who sees Me everywhere, and sees everything in Me; I am never lost to Him, and he is never lost to Me.” Krishna is the protector of those who have adjusted their consciousness to that of being protected by Him. And when the same Lord comes as Narasimha, He is coming to fulfil His promise to His devotee who fully expected His protection.
The Vaishnava acaryas have commented that Narasimha is paradoxical, in that He is both the very personification of anger, yet the very emblem of gentleness. They have cited the natural example of the lioness, which can fight a maddened elephant with all the fury of a wild cat, yet the lioness can take a few minutes out in the middle of the battle to suckle her cubs. Therefore, say the saints, no-one is as furious as Narasimha, yet there is none so gentle.
When Lord Narasimha appears from the stone pillar, one of His eyes is filled with rage, while the other is looking with love towards His devotee Prahlada. The sharp nails on His hands are just like steel chisels, and they dispatch the demon very quickly, but the palms of the same hands are as soft as lotus flowers.
Through coming to save His devotee in this way, the Lord demonstrates that He is saulabhya or accessible, to even a child who loves Him; and by removing the cruel Hiranyakashipu He shows that there can be no obstacles on the path of bhakti for one who truly takes shelter of Him. Thus He is known as Bhakta-pala, the friend of the devotee, and Bhakti-vigna-vinasana, or one who removes all obstacles on the path of devotional service.
He appeared at twilight, neither day nor night, and therefore the Vaishnavas observe fasting up until this time.
“I offer my respectful obeisances unto Lord Nrsimhadeva, the source of all power. O my Lord who possesses nails and teeth just like thunderbolts, kindly vanquish our demonlike desires for fruitive activity in this material world. Please appear in our hearts and drive away our ignorance so that by Your mercy we may become fearless in the struggle for existence in this material world. May there be good fortune throughout the universe, and may all envious persons be pacified. May all living entities become calm by practicing Bhakti Yoga, for by accepting devotional service they will think of each other’s welfare. Therefore let us all engage in the service of the supreme transcendence, Lord Sri Krsna, and always remain absorbed in thought of Him.”
Srimad Bhagavatam 5.18.8-10
For an old Indian film clip of Prahlada teaching and singing to his friends click here.
And for a short film of puja to Shri Narasimha with the two songs, here
A few months ago, I went to India and took my home deity of Nrsimha with me. Wherever I travelled, I would offer lamps and flowers, incense and food each morning. Being India, the offering of flowers part was particularly rewarding. Florists begin their selling in the early hours of the morning, long before sunrise, then right through the day, out on the main street.
There were fragrant and colourful flowers, many varieties, fresh tulasi leaves, and I even bought good-sized pink lotus flowers for just a few pence. It was an opulence. Here are some pictures:
Jasmine garland
Jasmine and Rose with fruit offering
Up close
The worship of Nrsimhadeva is particularly popular in Andhra Pradesh, and there are many temples dedicated to Him. In Chennai (Madras) I was able to visit the head of a large branch of Vaishnavism and arrived at the temple in the east of that city just in time to see the worship being conducted. Quite an impressive spectacle.
The acarya stands before the travelling golden altar. Lord Malola-Narasimha sits resplendent.
I have written before about the deity of Laxmi-Narasimha that was given in a dream to a great devotee, Adivan Shatakopan, around 600 years ago. They are the main deities on the travelling altar at the centre of the worship.
The gorgeously decorated Malola-Narasimha
Another deity made His divine appearance when a king commissioned a Shiva-lingam to be cast from pure gold. It was his practise to award one such lingam every so often to a chosen brahmana. In this particular case, although the mould was the same as usual, the lingam came out as Narasimha. The metal caster apologised to the king and tried again. Twice more it happened and then the king realised that this was the work of Lord Sri Vishnu Himself. This beautiful golden deity is now worshipped on the same travelling altar.
I wanted to know more about my own deity and so I went to an expert, someone who knows about the archa form of that particular Vishnu-avatar. He expressed his amazement that a westerner was engaged in this practise, just when it was declining amongst the educated of India. He confirmed that my deity was of considerable antiquity and mentioned some details of the figure that have now disappeared in more modern forms.
The teachers and students of the school of which he is the principal all came round to have a look at the strange Englishman who practised their religion – and the beautiful deity he was carrying!
I write this with the sound of Diwali firecrackers going off all over the town. I am in Tirupati, in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Tomorrow is a big Diwali festival here at the ISKCON temple There will be the ceremonial burning of a 40-feet high image of the demon king Narakasura who was killed on this day by Lord Krishna and His wife Satyabhama. There will also be an hour-long firework show. About 10,000 people are expected.
The pastime of Bhaumasura – the demon with a thousand arms – was also connected to this period of the year. Local tradition has it (!) that one of the seven defensive walls of Bhaumasura was made of firecrackers so they recreate that too!
I came back from Ahovalam, the place of Lord Narasimha, last night. I had a good local guide. Quite a trek through real jungle up the hills with the booming sounds of huge monkeys and tropical birds. A bit disconcerting that there are bears and cheetahs in the jungle too. But it was very rewarding to take darshan of many of the nine forms of Narasimhadeva. Many of them are in caves where previously devotees and yogis used to meditate. Apart from the jungle sounds the place is very tranquil and it was very easy to think of God there.
Half way up one hill you have to walk over a bridge cut out of the cliff face. There is a waterfall crashing onto the path and a deep gorge below you. So you have to walk right through the waterfall. Scary. Thing is, you are so hot and sweaty by the time you get to that point that some cold mountain water is just what you need. Some of the Deities of Sri Narasimha are in places so inaccessible that they don’t receive daily worship any more. The local tribal Chenchu who live in the jungle come to wash the temple floors and draw rice flour patterns on the wet stone. They light up oil candles to illuminate the Deities. But it is the brahmanas who come to bathe the Deities and perform the ritualistic worship on a limited, regular basis. They all have the front part of their heads shaved and have huge U-shaped white tilak with a yellow line inside to represent the Goddess. This they wear on their foreheads and in 11 other positions on their chest, arms and neck according to the custom of their sampradaya. They were grateful to see that we’d taken the trouble – albeit puffing and wheezing – to come and see their Lords, and they responded by giving us garlands of tulasi leaves and red kumkum. As they waved the camphor flame in front of the Deity they would introduce us to the Deity and also point out His special features.
I saw a Muslim couple making the trek up the hill. She was dressed in the traditional black full veil. He looked a little sheepish that we’d noticed them. Apparently, Lord Narasimha is well known and worshipped around here by childless couples who don’t remain childless for much longer. Lord Nrsimha is very kind in a variety of ways.
The Vaishnava Voice 