Mail Archive
[Prev][Next][Alpha][Date]
A BLESSings !!! (Mon. 6/26/95)
-
Subject: A BLESSings !!! (Mon. 6/26/95)
-
From: Donald L
-
Date: Wed Jun 28 20:06:55 1995
-
Message-Id: id544
>Om
>
>
>tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngam
> dalita-hiranyakasipu-tanu-bhrngam
>kesave dhrta-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisa hare
>
>
>Om
>
>
>(from Sri Dasavatara-stotra, p. 97)
"I offer my obeisances to Lord Narasimha, who gives joy to Prahlada Maharaja and
whose nails are like chisels on the stonelike chest of the demon Hiranyakasipu.
"Lord Nrsimha is here and also there. Wherever I go Lord Nrsimha is there. He is
in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Nrsimha, the origin of
all things and the supreme refuge."
Hello Donald. Hare Krishna!
You have sent such a nice blessing! It is one of my favorite verses. I am always
chanting this prayer to Lord Nrsimhadeva. You know the story I suppose? But
anyway, even if you do, hearing a little of it again is still very nice. Spiritual
things are always good, no matter how many times we hear them...
There was one great demon called Hiranyakasipu, he was so powerful
that he was able to control practically all the planets in the
universe. There were only a few persons in the universe who could
escape the rule of Hiranyakasipu.
Everyone else, even some of the great devotees were forced to
serve him because he was so powerful. So how did he get this
power? He got it by following the Vedic process of performiny
austerities.
He went to a place calied Mandara Hill which is a sacred place, a
holy place, and he performed very great austerities there for many
thousands of years. He was standing there, meditating, and his
austerities were so powerful that, as he was there for such a long
time, some ants built their ant-hill around his body and ate all
of his flesh. Even though all of his flesh was gone he kept his
life within the bones of his body only. So this is amazing. He was
performing such great austerities, so much so that ultimately, as
a result of his austerity, an immense heat emanated from his body.
Because of this heat even the heavenly planets became unbearable
to live on. So all the residents of the heavenly planets, Ihe
demigods, approached Lord Brahma and asked him to do something
about Hiranyakasipu. They told Brahma Hiranyakasipu's austerity
was making the whole universe intolerable for them. Here is
another point. We think on such a small scale. We think if
somebody drops an atomic bomb on Australia, that will make it very
uncomfortable But here we see Hiranyakasipu had become so powerful
that he is able to make the whole universe uncomfortable. So what
is our tiny atomic bomb? We're so proud, we've made these huge
atomic bombs that can wipe out one country or even the whole
planet but what's this whole planet? When we look in the sky there
are so many planets. What is our insignificant atomic bomb? It's
nothing. Hiranyakasipu, by dint of his powerful austerities, was
able to make the whole universe uncomfortable. What to speak of
one tiny planet.
So all of the demigods came to Lord Brahma and prayed to Lord
Brahma, "Please do something about Hiranyakasipu because it's
unbearable for us. What can we do?" After Lord Brahma received
this request he thought, "Well I have to do something, because
Hiranyakasipu is my devotee."
The demons don't worship Krishna, they worship the demigods
because they know that by worshiping the demigods they can become
powerful within the material world. Whereas the devotees worship
Krishna, they are not interested in becoming powerful in the
material world, they are not interested in anything except trying
to please Krishna. Devotees have no desire other than the service
of Krishna. We have to please Krishna. Devotees are not interested
in anything within this material world. But the demons are totally
consumed by the desire for power, fame, strength, wealth and
opulence within the material world. So they worship the demigods.
So Hiranyakasipu was worshiping Lord Brahma to become very
powerful. Therefore Lord Brahma saw Hiranyakasipu had performed
all these austerities to please him so he had to go there and give
him sorne benedictions because this Is the process for the demigod
worshippers. It's very different from the devotees of Krishna. The
demigod worshippers are materialists who worship for some gain.
They understand that if I worship Lord Brahma in a certain way and
perform certain austerities then Lord Brahma will become obliged
to give me some benediction. This is the mentality of the demigod
worshippers. There is no love. They don't love the demigod they
are worshiping, it's a business transaction. They are approaching
the demigod and undergoing some penance and austerity and
performing some ritualistic ceremonies with the object of getting
something in return. The devotees of Krishna, on the other hand,
don't want anything.
na dhanam na janam na sundarim
kavitam va jagadisa kamaye
mama janmani janmanisvare
bhavatad bhaktir ahaiuki tvayi
This is one of the prayers left by Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared five hundred years ago in West
Bengal, in India. He is Krishna Himself and He appeared in the
mood of Radharani, Krishna's most intimate companion, because He
wanted to taste the mood of Radharani. He preached very widely in
India but He only wrote down one set of eight verses called the
Siksastaka. The verse quoted above states that, "I don't want any
wealth, I don't want any beautiful women, I don't want any number
of followers. All I want my Lord is Your devotional service birth
after birth."
As Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in the mood of a devotee of
Krishna, even though He is Krishna Himself, He is showing us how
the perfect devotee of Krishna behaves, how he feels. This is the
feeling of a pure devotee of Krishna, "I don't want anything, I
don't want wealth, I don't want followers, I don't want women, I
don't want fame, I don't want any of these things. All I want is
Your service birth after birth." So that's the devotee. But the
demon, the nondevotee, the materialist, he wants all these things.
He wants wealth, he wants followers, he wants fame, he wants
women. In this way he thinks, "I'll be happy.
The demons in their search for wealth, fame, followers and women
approach the demigods. So Lord Brahma was obliged to go to
Hiranyakasipu and offer him benedictions because Hiranyakasipu had
performed such severe austerities with the view of pleasing Lord
Brahma.
Lord Brahma went to the place where Hiranyakasipu was performing
austerities, it is called Mandara Hill. Initially he could not see
Hiranyakasipu because as I described before he had been covered by
the ant-hill. But there was a huge effulgence, a great heat
emanating from this ant-hill so Lord Brahma could understand,
"Here is Hiranyakasipu." He uncovered Hiranyakasipu and poured
some water onto him with his kamandalu (his water pot) and
immediately Hiranyakasipu's body, which was at that time just
bones, was transformed into a most beautiful man. He was described
as having a beautiful golden complexion, beautiful eyes, well-
built body, so he was a very beautiful man, a very attractive man.
That was the first result of his austerities Then Lord Brahma said
to Hiranyakasipu, "Well you have performed all these great
austerities to please me, now what benedictions would you like? I
am obliged to give you some benediction." This is the transaction
between the demigods and their devotees.
Actually Hiranyakasipu had no love for Lord Brahma. He wanted to
take Lord Brahma's position. His mood was, "Yes now you have
appeared in front of me to give me benedictions. Now I want to
take over your position."
So this is the demons mood.
Hranyakasipu fist asked Lord Brahma for the benediction of
immortality. He didn't want to die. This is the wish of all the
materialists, they want immortality. They want to stay eternally
in the material world with their youth and enjoy forever wealth,
women, fame, beauty. opulence, all these things. They want to stay
here and enjoy eternal life. But Lord Brahma replied, "It is
impossible because even I don't have eternal life. At the end of
the creation I will also have to die. So because I don't have
eternal life how can I possibly give you eternal life?"
In response to this Hiranyakasipu tried to get immortality in an
indirect way. So he asked for many benedictions. He asked that, "I
should not be killed on the land or in the water," and Lord Brahma
said, "Yes, I can grant you that benediction." Then he asked, "I
do not want to be killed by any man or any animal," and Lord
Brahma replied, "Yes, I can give you that benediction," I do not
want to be killed inside or outside," "Yes," and so on. So many
benedictions were given by Lord Brahma. Indirectly Hiranyakasipu
was thinking, "Because I have covered all the possibilities, how
can I be killed? If I can't be killed on land or in the water how
can I be killed? What else is there? I can't be killed inside or
outside, what else is there?" So Hiranyakasipu thought he had
covered everything by these benedictions of Lord Brahma.
Hiranyakasipu went off very happily to conquer the universe. And
he did that. He conquered practically the whole universe. He
became very puffed-up of course, this is the nature of the demons.
Once the demon has a little success in conquering he thinks he's
invincible, he thinks, "Nobody can stop me, I'm invincible." So he
was very puffed-up thinking nobody could stop him.
Hiranyakasipu had one son, by the name of Prahlada Maharaja and he
was a pure devotee of Krishna. This is an amazing story also. How
did it happen that a great devotee could be born in the home of
the greatest demon? There was a reason for this also. There is a
reason for everything. Nothing happens without a cause. So how did
Prahlada Maharaja become a great devotee? This happened because
the wife of Hiranyakasipu was pregnant at the time her husband
went to Mandara Hill to perform his very severe austerities. So
she was left at home and the demigods knew she was pregnant. They
thought the child would be another Hiranyakasipu so they thought,
"We'd bener get her and kill the child. In that way we will be
saved from the terrible situation of having two Hiranyakasipu's to
deal with," so they abducted the wife of Hiranyakasipu. As they
were taking her away Narada Muni appeared and said, "The child
within the womb of this woman is not a demon at all. This child is
a great devotee so you can't kill him." As a result of this
incident Narada Muni took the wife of Hiranyakasipu to his asrama
to protect her, to give ner shelter, while Hiranyakasipu was
performing his austerities at Mandara Hill. The wife asked for one
benediction that, "I don't want my son to take birth until my
husband comes back home."
So Prahlada Maharaja stayed within the womb of his mother for the
whole time Hiranyakasipu was performing his austerities. While she
was at the asrama of Narada Muni, Narada Muni instructed her very
systematically in the science of Krishna consciousness. He was of
course chanting Hare Krishna in the mornings and evenings and
speaking the philosophy of the Bhagavatam. Hiranyakasipu's wife
couldn't assimilate the knowledge but from within her womb
Prahlada Maharaja was hearing the science of Krishna consciousness
from Narada Muni. So he was becoming spiritually advanced. This is
a very interesting subject. It wasn't that Prahlada automatically
became a devotee. He became a devotee because he was initiated by
Narada Muni and he took instruction from Narada Muni within the
womb of his mother. So when he took birth he was already a pure
devotee of Krishna.
This was a very difficult thing for Hiranyakasipu because
Hiranyakasipu's greatest enemy was Visnu or Krishna. The reason
Hiranyakasipu was performing such great austerities, the reason he
wanted to become so powerful, was to kill Visnu, because Visnu had
previously killed his brother, another great demon called
Hiranyaksa. So Hiranyakasipu was furious and he vowed to kill
Visnu. That was the whole purpose of these austerities, the
motivation for all of his activities was to kill Visnu. He wanted
to become so powerful that he could kill Krishna. Then his son is
born as a pure devotee of Krishna. So for him this is a very
difficult situation. But he's only a small child, so Hiranyakasipu
thought that, "Well I can train him up. Maybe he has some
attraction for Visnu but I'll send him to school. I have a school
run by my expert demoniac Brahmans, Sanda and Amarka."
He had a school for the sons of the demoniac residents of his
kingdom. All the students were more or less demoniac because their
parents were demoniac. So Sanda and Amarka were teaching politics
and diplomacy, the philosophy of differentiating between my friend
and my enemy, because politics requires that you differentiate the
enemy's camp from the friendly camp. But this philosophy isn't
attractive to a devotee. Because a devotee doesn't see anyone as a
friend or enemy. He sees everyone as a servant of Krishna, he sees
everyone as a spirit soul. He doesn't see, "This is my friend and
this is my enemy."
This political teaching, demoniac teaching, wasn't at all
attractive to Prahlada Maharaja. So when the teachers went out of
the classroom immediately Prahlada Maharaja would take the
opportunity to preach Krishna consciouses. He would stand on the
tables and preach:"One who is sufficiently intelligent should use
the human form of body from the very beginning of life--in other
words, from the tender age of childhood--to practice the
activities of devotional service. giving up all other engagements
The human body is most rarely achieved, and although temporary
like other bodies, it is meaningful because in human life one can
perform devotional service. Even a slight amount of sincere
devotional service can give one complete perfection.~' His
preaching was, "Don't waste your life in material sense enjoyment.
You have come here to the human form after many,many births. So
right from the beginning of your life you should start devotional
life." He is saying, "Start now, don't wait, because this human
birth is such a rare thing. We should start now, from childhood,
cultivating this science of Krishna consciousness." Prahlada was
preaching like this and gradually all of his classmates became
purified and they became devotees of Krishna also. This was
unbearable for Hiranyakasipu, not only was his son a great devotee
of Krishna, but he is preaching to all ofthe other sons of the
demons that they should also become great devotees of Krishna. So
this was unbearable for the demons.
Hiranyakasipu thought his plan to educate Prahlada in politics and
diplomacy and squash his devotion to Visnu had failed therefore he
would have to punish Prahlada. This is the political system.
Firstly if some citizen won't submit to the King's desire the King
tries to convince him with sweet words of persuasion, if that
doesn't work the King offers him a very opulent post in the
government and finally if these things don't work then the King
punishes the citizen. So this is political method of bringing the
subjects under control. Prahlada was firmly fixed in Krishna
consciousness so none of the attempts of his father or teachers to
dissuade him were successful.
So Hiranyakasipu started the third phase of the political system.
He wanted to kill Prahlada. He made so many arrangements, he tried
to have him trampled by giant elephants, he threw Prahlada from
the top of a cliff onto the rocks, he placed Prahlada in a pit
full of venomous serpents, he put him into boiling oil. But all
the time Prahlada Maharaja was simply chanting, Hare Krishna Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama
Rama Hare Hare. And as Krishna promises in the Bhagavad-gita,
kaunteya pratijanihi na me bhaktah pranasyati, "O Son of Kunti
(Arjuna) declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes." So
Krishna will always protect His devotees.
Prahlada Maharaja was a pure devotee of Krishna so no matter what
Hiranyakasipu did, he was not successful in killing Prahlada. This
was a terribly difficult thing for Hiranyakasipu because
practically speaking he had conquered the whole universe, almost
everybody was his servant. But he had his tiny son, a seven year
old boy, who was a pure devotee of Visnu and he was flaunting
Hiranyakasipu's authority. And he couldn't kill him either. So
what to do? Ultimately Hiranyakasipu had Prahlada on his lap and
he asked Prahlada, "My dear son, please tell me what is the best
thing you have learned from your teachers?" Instead of quoting
something he had learned from his teachers Sanda and Amarka about
politics and diplomacy Prahlada quoted something he learnt from
his spiritual master, Narada Muni; "O best of the asuras, King of
the demons, as far as I have learned from my spiritual master, any
person who has accepted a temporary body and temporary household
life is certainly embarrassed by anxiety because of having fallen
into a dark well where there is no water, but only suffering. One
should give up this position and go to the forest (vana). More
clearly one should go to Vrndavana, where only Krishna
consciousness is prevalent, and should thus take shelter of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead."
After hearing this Hiranyakasipu was furious because Lord Visnu is
his enemy and his son is extolling the virtues of Krishna
consciousness and telling him he should give up his grham
andhakupam, the blind well of household life and go to Vrndavana
to practice Krishna consciousness. So this is unbearable for
Hiranyakasipu.
As a result of this Hiranyakasipu took a huge chopper in his hands
and as if to taunt Prahlada Maharaja. He said, "Prahlada, is your
God everywhere?" So Prahlada replied, "Yes, my God is everywhere."
Hiranyakasipu could see Prahlada was getting some comfort from
somewhere, because he wasn't the slightest bit disturbed. Prahlada
was very happy. So Hiranyakasipu asked Prahlada, "Is your God in
this pillar?" They were sitting in a very big palace,
Hiranyakasipu's palace, and there was one huge marble pillar
there. So Prahlada answered, "Yes, my God is everywhere." So
Hiranyakasipu immediately took his huge chopper and he began to
smash the pillar, as if to smash Prahlada's God. As if to say,
"Well what can your God do to me? I'm the most powerful person in
the universe. Who can touch me?"
Hiranyakasipu believes in Visnu, because He is his enemy, so he
understands that there is a God, there is Visnu, but he thinks
he's more powerful, that he can kill Visnu. He thinks it's
possible for him to kill God. So he smashed this pillar, and then
Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared. Lord Nrsimhadeva appeared in a huge
form. He appeared to be touching the sky, so huge, and He is such
a ferocious form of the Lord. Lord Nrsimhadeva in this mood is
called ugra Nrsimha, it means angry, wild Nrsimhadeva because He
appeared in an extremely angry mood. He appeared as half man and
half lion. The bottom half of His body is human-like and the other
part of His body is a lion. He has a lion's head and big teeth,
big claws and many hands carrying many different types of weapons.
Then there ensued a very great fight between Lord Nrsimhadeva and
Hiranyakasipu. So here is another interesting point. Why didn't
Lord Nrsimhadeva immediately kill Hiranyakasipu? He could have
done because He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He didn't
even have to appear. He could have just caused him to have a heart
attack or something like that, He didn't have to come there. But
He appeared for two purposes, He always appears for two purposes:
"In order to deliver the pious and to annihilate the miscreants,
as well as to re-establish the principles of religion, I advent
Myself millenium after millenium."Krishna says He appears
millenium after millenium for two purposes, protecting the
devotees and killing the demons.
Krishna actually appears more to protect the devotees and to give
the devotees inspiration rather than killing the demons because
killing the demons is not a very difficult thing for Krishna. He
can make one earthquake and He can kill so many demons, just like
that, He can make a cyclone, a tidal wave and that can wipe out a
whole city immediately. So Krishna can kill millions of demons
like that without having to personally appear. But when His
devotees are involved, He likes to appear to protect the devotee
and to give the devotee inspiration and strength.
There is another reason for Krishna's appearance. We like to talk
about Krishna. For devotees our business is Krishna, talking about
Krishna. Everybody is talking about something. Everywhere you go
people are talking about something. The mundaners are talking
about what they saw at the movies, what they watched on the
television, what's happening in the news, what the politicians are
doing, what their friends are doing. There are so many mundane
topics of conversation. Devotees are also talking but they are
talking about the activities of Krishna. So if Krishna didn't
appear and Krishna didn't have activities within this material
world then what would we talk about? So for these purposes Krishna
appears, to protect the devotees and to exhibit His pastimes in
the material world so as to reclaim the fallen conditioned souls,
back home, back to Godhead.
Krishna actually enjoys fighting. In the same way that we are
enjoying sometimes, there are some martially spirited people who
enjoy fighting. So Krishna also enjoys a good fight. He's fighting
here with Hiranyakasipu and quite enjoying the fight. This is
another indication of the personality of God. God is a person in
the same way that we are persons. He has all the personal
qualities, so he sometimes likes to fight. When Krishna does
something so many purposes are served by His one action. In one
action He is appearing and killing the demon Hiranyakasipu, He's
protecting His devotee Prahlada, He's giving inspiration and
energy to all the demigods and other devotees, He's performing
some very great and interesting activities which can be written
down and spoken about by the devotees in the future who can
remember the activities of Lord Nrsimhadeva appearing to kill
Hiranyakasipu and to protect Prahlada, and at the same time He
enjoys the fight. So many different things are achieved by one
action of Krishna.
Lord Nrsimhadeva killed Hlranyakasipu and in this way the world
was relieved of the terrible condition it was in because of
Hiranyakasipu's demoniac activities. Lord Nrsimhadeva also killed
Hiranyakasipu without negating the benedictions Lord Brahma had
given him. Hiranyakasipu had the benediction of not being killed
inside or outside so Lord Nrsimhadeva killed him in the doorway...
not inside or outside. He had the benediction of not being killed
in the daytime or at night so he was killed at dusk... not day or
night. He was not to be killed by any man or any animal and Lord
Nrsimhadeva, as half man, half lion, could not be said to be
either man or animal. In this way Krishna appeared and killed
Hiranyakasipu, protected His devotee Prahlada and kept all of Lord
Brahma's benedictions in tact.
The whole point of this narration is that Hiranyakasipu was a
great scholar of the Vedic literature and he was a strict follower
of the Vedic principles. He was very expert in the philosophy. He
could preach very nicely. But he wanted to kill Krishna. So the
Bhagavad-gita can only be understood by real devotees who have
developed love and devotion towards Krishna by serving Krishna in
the association of pure devotees. HARE KRISHNA!!
>
>OM Mani Padme HUMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
>OM Mani Padme HUMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
>OM Mani Padme HUMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
>
HARE KRISHNA HARE KRISHNA, KRISHNA KRISHNA HARE HARE
HARE RAMA HARE RAMA RAMA RAMA HARE HARE!
ps: Please tell me what you think...
Alphabetical Index |
Date Index
[Home]
[Index]
[Articles]
[Prabhupada]
[Krishna]
[Archive]
[Links]
[Feedback]
madhudvisa@krishna.org
Chant Hare Krishna and be happy! All glories to His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada!