Nrisimha Chaturdashi. SB.7.9.29

Thank you. Treti tanmaya tayo taravo benedus, tam sarva bhuta hridayam munimana tosmi, narayanam namaskhrityanaram caivana raptamam, devim sarasvatim yasam tatu jayam udirayet. Hare Krishna. So it's a great honor for me to be on this day among all of you. I was extremely happy to be present when you were reciting the shlokas from the seventh kanto of Srimad Bhagavatam. Because Sanskrit shlokas, especially shlokas from Srimad Bhagavatam, are very powerful tool to change our consciousness. by being in this world, and whether we know it or not, by being programmed by this world. Different kind of propaganda, different kind of ideas are floating around us. We're always associating with people who are programming us in a favorable for them way. And as a result, we become programmed in a materialistic way. The sage of Kali is extremely materialistic. So how to counteract this? There is only one way to counteract this influence of the age of Kali. It's to be in constant contact with devotional shlokas. With the shlokas of Srimad Bhagavatam. when we are in contact of Srimad Bhagavatam, then the Srimad Bhagavatam will purify us and will give us the light in this dark age of Kali. Because Purana is like a sun which has arisen after the departure of Lord Krishna. So I was very happy. And we will chant another shloka from the seventh kent of Srimad Bhagavatam from the prayers of Pravladmaraj. Very important shloka. So this is 29th shloka of the 9th chapter of 7th kent of Śyamad Bhagavatam. Mat prana rakshana mananta piturva dhascha. Mat prana rakshana mananta piturva dhascha. Manya svabhritya rishivakyam ritaṁ vidhātum. manyesvabhrityari shivakyam ritaṁ vidhātum kadham pragrihyayatavocat asat vidhītus kadham pragrihyayatavocat asat vidhītus Tvam ishvaramadaparovatukham harami. Tvam ishvaramadaparovatukham harami. Matprana-rakṣanamananta-piturva-dhasca. manyesvabhritya-riśivakyam ritaṁ vidhātum kadgam pragrihya yata voca tasat vidhitsus tvamiśvara madaparo vatukam parami I'll read the translation and purport by Śrīla Prabhupāda and then speak a few words on the shloka. O my Lord, O unlimited reservoir of transcendental qualities, you have killed my father Hiranyakashipu and saved me from his sword. He had said very angrily, If there is any supreme controller other than me, let him save you. I shall now sever your head from your body. Therefore, I think that both in saving me and in killing him, you have acted just to prove true the words of your devotee. There is no other cause." Purport by His Divine Grace, I see Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Ki-e-e-cha. In Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says, Samoham Sarvabhuteshu Namedveshu Stina Priya-ha Yabhajantitumam Bhaktya Maiteteshu Chappya-ham The Supreme Personality of Godhead is undoubtedly equal to everyone. He has no friend and no enemy. But as one desires benefits from the Lord, the Lord is very pleased to award them. The lower and higher positions of different living entities are due to their desires, for the Lord being equal to all fulfills everyone's desires. The killing of Hiranya Kashipu and saving of Prahlad Amaraja was also strictly followed this law of the Supreme Controller's activities. When Prahladha's mother, Hiranyakashipu's wife Kayadu, was under the protection of Narada, she prayed for the protection of her son from the enemy, and Narada Muni gave assurance that Prahladha Maraja would always be saved from the enemy's hands. Thus, when Hiranyakashipu was going to kill Prahlada Maraja, the Lord saved Prahlada to fulfill his promise in Bhagavad Gita, kaunteye pratijanihi nale bhaktah pranasyati. And to prove true the words of Narada, the Lord can fulfill many purposes through one action. Thus, the killing of Hiranyakashipu and the saving of Prahlada were enacted simultaneously to prove the truthfulness of the Lord's devotees and the fidelity of the Lord Himself to His own purpose. The Lord acts only to satisfy the desires of His devotees. Otherwise, He has nothing to do. as confirmed in the Vedic literature the Lord has nothing to do personally for everything is done through his different potencies the Lord has multifarious energies through which everything is done thus when he personally does something It is only to satisfy his devotee. The Lord is known as Bhaktavatsala because he very much favours his devoted servant. Śrīla Prabhupāda Kīca. Matprana rakshanamananta pitur vadhascha manyesvabritya Rishivakyam ritam vidhatum kadgam pragrihya yadavocet asat vidhitsus tvam ishvaro madaparo vatukam harami O Lord, O unlimited reserver of transcendental qualities, You have killed my father Hiranyakashipu and saved me from his sword. He had said very angrily, if there is any supreme controller other than me, let him save you. I shall now sever your head from your body. Therefore, I think that both in saving me and in killing him, you have acted just to prove the words of your devotee. There is no other cause. Namāṁ Viṣṇu Padāya Kṛṣṇa Pristāya Bhuttāle Śrīmatyā Bhakti Vidānta Svāmīne Dīnāmīne Namaste Sarasvati Dele Gauravānī Pracālīne Nīrviṣeśya Śūnñāvādi Pāścātya Deśa Tārīne Vāñca Kaupa Tārubhyaśca Kripa Sindhubhya Vacca Patitana Pavanai Bhyo Vaisnāvi Bhyo Namāna Mahā Jai Sri Krishna Chaitanya Prabhupada Nanda Sri Advaita Bhadathara Sivasadigora Bhakta Vrinda Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Hare Hare That's great. So, today on the suspicious day of Nrisimha Chitur Deshi, we are celebrating the appearance of Lord Nrisimha Dev. But to properly celebrate the appearance of Nrisimha Dev, we have to understand the reason of his appearance. Otherwise, our celebration will be just a blind ritual, which we perform because everyone is performing this. The whole Srimad Bhagavatam is about this, about the secret of how the Lord appears within our heart and within our life. And this is the secret, most important secret, which is revealed to us so that we could also cause the appearance of the Lord within our heart. The special day like Nrisim Kacaturdashe or Krishna Janmashtami or Ramnavami or Gorpurnima that are specifically for this purpose. To help us to understand why the Lord comes to this world and ultimately to facilitate His coming into our heart. He wants to come to us. He is eager to come. He is so merciful. He is personally taking care of every one of us. But he is waiting for us to manifest the proper attitude, the proper desire, so that he would happily descend within our heart and manifest himself there, making us completely fearless. As he did when he made Pravlad Maharaj completely fearless. So that's the essence of today's celebration. By celebrating the appearance of the Lord by trying to understand why does he appear in this world. It's actually very interesting if we think about it, why Srimad Bhagavatam is called Bhagavata Purana. Paryada Purana is called Vishnu Purana, Matsya Purana, Skanda Purana, Shiva Purana. They are called by the name of God or some gods. Ganesha Purana, there is Samupa Purana, Nrisimpa Purana. But Shimad Bhagavatam is called Bhagavata Purana. Why? Of course, one translation of this title of this book is that it's the book about Bhagavan, related to Bhagavan, it's the book about God. But Bhagavata Purana can also be translated differently. It's Purana not about God. It's Purana about the devotees of God. About Bhagavatas. It's called on behalf of Bhagavatas, not on behalf of Bhagavan. Because actually the real essence of Srimad Bhagavatam is to glorify the devotion of devotees. the real essence of Srimad Bhagavatam is to glorify the Lord but first and foremost to glorify the devotees of the Lord and the power of their devotion, that's the essence, the essential message of Srimad Bhagavatam and the whole story of Prahlad Maharaj, how much is there about Trishimhadev? Well, very little we have some description of his coming from the pillar and his glorious appearance and then his conversation with Prahladmaraj. The whole story is about Prahladmaraj. How great he is and how his devotion caused the Lord to appear in this world. Drisim Kadev is one of the greatest avatars of the Lord. Shila Rupa Goswami explains in Lago Bhagavatamrita that among all the avatars, only three avatars of the Lord manifest full power. All six qualities, six bhagas, six opulences of the Lord. This is the six qualities which makes God God. He has aishvarya opulence or his lordiness, his power. Ajvaryasya Samagrasya Virya Sya, he has Virya he has this heroic attitude he has his bodily strength, Virya Yasha, he is so glorious Shriya, he is so beautiful and he is so sweet at the same time, and Jnana and Vairagya, he has Jnana and Vairagya the knowledge and renunciation so Srila Rupakaswami says that among all the avatars of the Lord, only three are Paravastra. Paravastra means they are on the highest level of manifestation of the audience of the Lord. There are so many different avatars. Kurma avatara is there. Matsya avatara is there. Vaman avatara is there. So many avatars. But specifically Vaishnavas worship Nrisimhadev, Rama and Krishna. Why? Because they are para-avasted. And among them, Drissim Hadev is the first one because he manifests the most power. He manifests the most opulence and the most aishwarya. This is the special manifestation of the Lord where he manifests the fullness of his aishwarya, his power. and therefore it's so important for us to celebrate his appearance but again to properly celebrate his appearance we have to understand the reason why he appears in this world and the reason of his appearance is devotion and Prahlad Maharaj very clearly says this in this world in this verse he says why did you appear why did you kill my father why did you save me? What is the reason for this? Why did you come in this ferocious form? Why? And the reason is only one. You wanted to fulfill the promise of your devotee, Narada Muni. Prahlad Maraj being a devotee, he didn't say you came because of my devotion. He didn't say look at me. You came for me. No, very humbly he says You only come because I have a little fraction of a devotion of a devotee whom I met. And that's the real attitude which attracts the Lord. The humility which comes from the association of devotees. We should always think about ourselves. Why am I devoted? Why am I worshipping the Lord? Why am I so fortunate to be in the association of devotees? Why am I so fortunate to read this book, this most glorious book in the creation of Srimad Bhagavatam? Only because it so happened that I come in contact with Srila Prabhupada. Only because of the desire of Srila Prabhupada we became the devotees. He had this desire in long nights of Radha Damadar when he was sweeping the floor of Radha Damadar, of the courtyard of Radha Damadar in front of Samadhi of Rupa Goswami. And he was meditating how to make the atheistic people of this world devotees. And his desire was so strong that the Lord had to fulfill his desires. He had come to America in the form of so many deities. He had come to so many different countries because Srila Prabhupada wanted it. And ultimately he came to Damodardesha. He is here. Lord Krishna is here in form of Srimad Bhagavatam, in form of His Holy Name, in form of His devotees like Sivalabha Prabhu. Only because of the devotion of Śrīla Prabhupāda. Because Śrīla Prabhupāda wanted it and because we come in contact with Śrīla Prabhupāda. So here, this is the secret. We should never become proud. We should never think that I am a devotee because I am so pure. Who is pure in this world? Who is pure in this Kali Yuga? Nobody is pure. We are so contaminated, we are so dirty because of all these bad associations which we had. But nevertheless, we have one fortune. The fortune of associations with devotees. The fortune of Srila Prabhupada coming to this world and sincerely desiring us to become devotees. and because he wants us to become devotees, because he promised to the Lord, oh my Lord, I will make the whole world dance. I will make the whole world chant Hare Krishna because Srila Prabhupada says this the Lord says, okay, if you want this, let everyone dance and chant Hare Krishna. Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare Hare Ram, Hare Ram, Ram, Ram, Hare Hare. So, Prahlad Maharaj, he reveals this amazing secret. He says, only because your devotee, your Tava Britya, your servant wanted it, because he promised this, then you're fulfilling his promise. And he means that Narada Muni promised, Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport to this verse that Naradamuni promised that Prahlad Maharaj will be saved. And because of the promise of Prahlad Maharaj, because Kayadu, the wife of Hiranya Kashipa, was praying to the Lord. My dear Lord, please protect my little son. She was in a very difficult condition. The demigods wanted to kill her. The demigods wanted to kill Prahlad Maharaj within her womb. And therefore she was desperately praying to Narada Muni. Oh dear Narada Muni, dear sage, please protect my son. And Narada Muni gave her blessings. Your son will be always protected. And moreover, Narada Muni gave the blessings. Your son will become a great devotee. And Prahlad Maharaj said, because Narada Muni said this, Therefore, I am a great devotee. That's the secret of success. Bhakti is only coming from bhakti. Bhaktiya, Sanjataya Bhaktiya. Bhakti is the process. If we want bhakti, we have to associate with somebody who has bhakti. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way. We have to come in contact with somebody who has bhakti. And if he is merciful, if he is kind to us, If we somehow rather make his heart melt because of our devotion, he will give his bhakti and invest his bhakti into our heart. And when he invests his bhakti into our heart, then everything else, whatever else we need will be there because bhakti is the most powerful energy of the Lord. This whole Srimad Bhagavatam, this whole story about Prahladmaraj is about how powerful Bhakti is. The most powerful demon in the world, Hiranyakashipu, who was the fear personified for all the demigods. All the demigods were serving him, except for three. It is very clearly said that only three gods didn't serve Hiranyakashipu. that is Shiva, Mahesh, Brahma and Vishnu. They didn't serve. Everyone else was the humble servant of Hiranyakashipu. Everyone else would come to him and would say, Dasos me, please give me your mercy. And if Hiranyakashipu would raise his brow, everyone would start trembling. So powerful he was. He acquired so much power by his austerity that he was basically undisputed ruler of the universe. And everyone was serving him. And here's this little boy prahlad. Little boy who has nothing. No physical strengths, no knowledge, nothing. Nothing according to material estimation. What he has? He has bhakti. And because of his bhakti, he could overpower his powerful father. He could basically bring death to his powerful father. But now Prahlad Maharaj is very humble. He says, I have nothing. Only because your devotee wanted to save me, you saved me. It's actually very interesting. It is said here in this verse that Hirani Kashyapu said, Let your Lord save you. And one meaning of this verse is actually, Prahlad Maharaj says, Because my father is also a devotee, and he says, Let my Lord save me, you save me. He actually says, because my father said let your Lord save you you saved me and he also says because Narada Muni said let you be saved you saved me and he also says he intimates, he kind of hints that because Lord Brahma also gave the benediction that he would not be killed this way or that way the Lord came in a specific way to kill Hiranyakashipu. Everything which is happening in this story is the result of the benediction of great devotees. Brahma gave his benediction to Hiranyakashipu and therefore the Lord was forced to come in a very special way. He came not during the day, not during the night. he came on Chatur Deshadeh, he came as a half lion it was very difficult for the Lord to figure out how to fulfill all these promises, all these benedictions which Lord Brahma gave and therefore the Lord was a little angry against Lord Brahma at the end, in the 10th chapter he will say never give these foolish promises anymore to these demons he said you gave such a difficult benediction I had a hard time to fulfill all these benedictions which you gave to Hiranya Kishipo but I had to because you are my devotee you told that he should not be killed this way and therefore I worked so hard and I took this strange form to fulfill the promises which you gave so he specifically says this I did it because you promised. I had to do it. And then Prahlant Maraj here says that because Rishi Narada Muni, the great devotee of the Lord, he promised that I will be saved, you saved me. That's the only reason which is there behind everything which is happening there. And therefore, the essential message of this pastime But Srila Prabhupada explains very clearly in the purport, if you want to be saved, if you want to be protected, and who doesn't? Please raise your hand who does not want to be protected. Anyone? Everyone of us needs to be protected. Everyone of us is begging and praying to the Lord, please protect me. But the secret of protection, Krishna himself says, My bhakti will never be perished. The secret of success, the secret of protection is the ardent devotion to the Lord. And how we can manifest the devotion. How we can increase our devotion. How we can purify our devotion. There is only one way. just to associate with devotees and to serve the devotees. If we serve the devotees, not the devotees as material bodies, but the devotion within their heart. If we serve the devotion, if we see other devotees not as material entities, but if we see them and try to see the spark of devotion within their heart and serve them because they have the devotion, then because of this service our own devotion will increase day by day by day that's the secret of success and that's the secret of success of Krishna consciousness movement Srila Prabhupada arranged this movement in a very specific way he gave us the opportunity to serve his bhakti the bhakti of Srila Prabhupada basically caused him to desire to save everyone in this world. That's the result of his bhakti. Because of the bhakti, devotee becomes paradukha duki. He cannot really see the sufferings of other people. There is a beautiful story about Srila Prabhupada when he was traveling in Bombay. And he saw in Bombay, of course all of you probably have been to Bombay. and in Bombay there is this horrible trains and people are just you know spending three, four hours a day by traveling in this jammed trains and Srila Prabhupada was traveling in a taxi, in an ambassador car and he saw this packed, jammed trains with people who are spending hours and hours in these complete congested trains and he started crying. He was crying because he was thinking, why are they wasting their time? Why are all these people wasting their valuable human life which is so valuable that it can give us the complete opportunity to become eternal? To become more blissful? so Srila Prabhupada was crying because his heart was so pure and so soft and therefore he wanted to give bhakti and because he wanted to give bhakti he started this movement and he arranged this movement in such a way that we can serve his desire to serve the Lord we are fulfilling his mission he wanted to liberate the whole world he wanted to preach Krishna consciousness What we are doing? We are trying to serve His desire to serve the Lord. And therefore, we are trying to preach. When we are preaching, like Shiva Alba Prabhu, I have been coming to this Dhamma Tardesha many, many years. And I see how sincerely he is trying to instill his bhakti in the hearts of so many people. And this is the result, this is the fruits of his endeavors. But why he is doing this? Because he wants to please Srila Prabhupada. Because he wants to please Srila Jayapatha Kamarachi. Jayapatha Kamarachi is the most amazing example of his desire to please Srila Prabhupada. I remember this was a very touching episode in my life. life I came a couple of years back he was in this condition in which he is now you know ridden to the wheelchair hardly moving and I asked him we were alone and and I asked him, Marathi can you explain to me why you are still here? What drives you to be in such a difficult condition you are in? And he looked at me with a lot of compassion in his eyes. And he said to me, because I still didn't fulfill all my promises to Srila Prabhupada and because I have to do so much service to him yet. That's why I'm here. Despite all these difficulties, unimaginable difficulties he's undergoing. Why? only one reason because he wants to serve Srila Prabhupada and because he wants us to serve Srila Prabhupada through him by serving him and because somehow or other we are inspired to serve these devotees this is the secret why the bhakti can come to our heart and when bhakti comes to our heart then the Lord will appear and when the Lord will appear in our heart he will make us completely fearless. This is the prayer of Prahlad Maraj. Om Namo Bhagavate Narasim Chaya. Namaste, just say, Avira, Virbava, Vajranaka, Vajradam, Shekharma, Shekharma, Shekharma, Rande, Etamo, Grasa, Grasa, Om, Swaha, Abayam, Abayam, Atvani, Buishtam, Om, Traum. He says, O my Lord, please come and by your vajra naka, by your thunderbolt-like naka, nails, and vajra damstra, by your teeth, which are also like thunderbolt, which are strong like thunderbolt. Please, tear away karmasha. Karmashaya is the karma within our heart. This is the cause of our appearance. According to astrology, according to the science of karma, we appeared in this world because of Karmashaya, because of these desires which we acquired in previous lives. And this Karmashaya is very, very strong. It's extremely strong. and Prahlan Marach is praying to the Lord, please come and only by your thunderball-like nails and teeth you will be able to destroy my karma. Nothing else can destroy karma. Only the Lord Himself can destroy karma. Without the Lord we are destined to be in this samsara without end. Again and again and again. taking new bodies and uselessly spending our life and trying to fulfill our desires. Trying to become happy, according to the shloka which we learn today. Everyone is trying to become happy and as a result of it become more and more unhappy and more and more anxiety. So that's the formula of material life. And that's the result of karmashaya. Who can tear awake who can completely destroy this karmashaya, only the Lord himself. And when the Lord himself does this, tamo grasa grasa, he will completely eradicate, completely drive away the tamas, the ignorance within our heart. And then Prahlad Maharaj says, when this happened, abhayam abhayam, atmani buishtam, om chraum. Please, appear within my heart and make me completely fearless. Abhayam mamayam atmani buishtam. I peer within my atma, within the heart of my heart, atmani, and make me fearless. What else do we want? Does somebody want to become fearless in this world? Please say Haribo. Haribo! No, you don't want to be fearless. Haribo! A little more convincing. Abhayam, Abhayam! When the Lord is there, Prahlad Maharaj was completely fearless. The greatest demon is standing in front of him with his sword and he is asking, Where is your Lord? Is he in this column? And Prahlad Maharaj looks at this column and he sees Lord Nesimha there. Shiliprovat says in one of his lectures that Hiranyika Shippo asked, where is your Lord? Is he in this pillar? Prahladmaraj looks in the pillar and he sees Nrisimhadev. Nrisimhadev twinkles to Prahladmaraj. Yes, I'm here. You see me and I see you, but this fool doesn't see me. so it's a very intimate moment he's completely fearless so much tribulations so much problems he had to undergo he was completely fearless completely happy by doing this because he knew the Lord is there to protect me and if we want to be equally as fearless as Prahlad Maraj there is only one way there is only one way There is only one way. We should serve the devotees of the Lord. And when devotees of the Lord are pleased with us, they will say, may you have bhakti. And when the bhakti appears within our heart, we become fearless and all our desires are fulfilled and everything else becomes easy and we will ultimately dance our way back to Godhead. Hare Krishna. Amen. It's actually very interesting in this, Śrīla Prabhupāda gave lecture on this verse, and he makes a very beautiful point. He says here in this verse, Prahlad Maharaj says, Matprana Raksanam, Ananta, O Ananta, O Unlimited Lord, Matprana Raksanam, to protect my life, my life force, Pituhu Vadasca, from the attempt of my father to kill me. And Srila Prabhupada makes a very beautiful point, such a beautiful point. He says before, when Prahlad Maraj was talking with Hiranyu Kishipu himself, he never called him Pitu. He never called him, oh my Pita, oh my father. He called him Suravarya, best of the demons. You know, can you imagine your little son comes to you and says, oh best of the demons. He doesn't call you my father, he calls you best of the demons. and Prabhupada says not without a reason because he was the best of the demons and Prahlad Maharaj called him very appropriately and I guess Hiranyakashipu was very proud that his son calls him Suravarya the best of the demons but now he says because Nrisimhadev appeared and because Nrisimhadev Srila Prabhupada says Nrisimhadev killed Hiranyakashipu Hiranyakasipu was completely purified and because he was purified now after his death Prahladmaraj calls him oh my father such a beautiful point now he can recognize this is my father because he is killed by the Lord himself and he is proud that I have such a great father who was killed by the Lord himself Shila Prabhupada Ki Jaya Thank you.