20250511 Śrī Narasiṁha Caturdaśī Lecture

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram
hariḥ oṁ tat sa

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya
Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 7.8, Chapter Summary

As described in this chapter, Hiraṇyakaśipu was ready to kill his own son Prahlāda Mahārāja, but the Supreme Personality of Godhead appeared in front of the demon as Śrī Nṛkeśarī, half lion and half man, and killed him.

Following the instructions of Prahlāda Mahārāja, all the sons of the demons became attached to Lord Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When this attachment became pronounced, their teachers, Ṣaṇḍa and Amarka, were very much afraid that the boys would become more and more devoted to the Lord. In a helpless condition, they approached Hiraṇyakaśipu and described in detail the effect of Prahlāda’s preaching. After hearing of this, Hiraṇyakaśipu decided to kill his son Prahlāda. Hiraṇyakaśipu was so angry that Prahlāda Mahārāja fell down at his feet and said many things just to pacify him, but he was unsuccessful in satisfying his demoniac father. Hiraṇyakaśipu, as a typical demon, began to advertise himself as being greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but Prahlāda Mahārāja challenged him, saying that Hiraṇyakaśipu was not God, and began to glorify the Supreme Personality of Godhead, declaring that the Lord is all-pervading, that everything is under Him, and that no one is equal to or greater than Him. Thus he requested his father to be submissive to the omnipotent Supreme Lord.

The more Prahlāda Mahārāja glorified the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the more angry and agītāted the demon became. Hiraṇyakaśipu asked his Vaiṣṇava son whether his God existed within the columns of the palace, and Prahlāda Mahārāja immediately accepted that since the Lord is present everywhere, He was also present within the columns. When Hiraṇyakaśipu heard this philosophy from his young son, he derided the boy’s statement as just the talk of a child and forcefully struck the pillar with his fist.

As soon as Hiraṇyakaśipu struck the column, there issued forth a tumultuous sound. At first Hiraṇyakaśipu, the King of the demons, could not see anything but the pillar, but to substantiate Prahlāda’s statements, the Lord came out of the pillar in His wonderful incarnation as Narasiṁha, half lion and half man. Hiraṇyakaśipu could immediately understand that the extraordinarily wonderful form of the Lord was surely meant for his death, and thus he prepared to fight with the form of half lion and half man. The Lord performed His pastimes by fighting with the demon for some time, and in the evening, on the border between day and night, the Lord captured the demon, threw him on His lap, and killed him by piercing his abdomen with His nails. The Lord not only killed Hiraṇyakaśipu, the King of the demons, but also killed many of his followers. When there was no one else to fight, the Lord, roaring with anger, sat down on Hiraṇyakaśipu’s throne.

The entire universe was thus relieved of the rule of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and everyone was jubilant in transcendental bliss. Then all the demigods, headed by Lord Brahmā, approached the Lord. These included the great saintly persons, the Pitās, the Siddhas, the Vidyādharas, the Nāgas, the Manus, the prajāpatis, the Gandharvas, the Cāraṇas, the Yakṣas, the Kimpuruṣas, the Vaitālikas, the Kinnaras and also many other varieties of beings in human form. All of them stood not far from the Supreme Personality of Godhead and began offering their prayers unto the Lord, whose spiritual effulgence was brilliant as He sat on the throne.

* * *

Jayapatākā Swami: The book by His Holiness Bhakti Puruṣottama Swami on Narasiṁhadeva, as he said in the book he has put different references of the pastimes of the Lord from different Purāṇas. So, he has spent much time to find all these references. So I am very eager to read this! I hope you will also be eager to read it! Now, Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He comes down from the spiritual world and shows His pastimes. And the entire world is worshiping Lord Narasiṁhadeva on His appearance day! This way the Lord appears, and this is a matter of great bliss.

You see, I got the news that this morning in the Digha Jagannātha temple already at 6 O’clock huge crowds of people were lining up to see the Deities! And in the Digha Temple, they also have Narasiṁha Deity.

So, our Deity of Narasiṁhadeva is very large! And the mood of Narasiṁhadeva is that when He was coming out of the column, looking for Hiraṇyakaśipu! And He was angry that this demon wanted to kill a child! The fault of that child was that he was chanting and singing the glories of Lord Viṣṇu. We want all the devotees to see how Prahlāda Mahārāja was able to preach to the sons of the demons! We also want you to be inspired that you can also preach and get the people to chant the name of Kṛṣṇa! If Prahlāda Mahārāja, being the son of a demon, was able to inspire other demons to chant the names of the Lord, why will you all not be able to do it? Prahlāda Mahārāja did a very glorious thing! So Prahlāda Mahārāja was very dear to Lord Viṣṇu! Similarly, all of you can become very dear to Lord Viṣṇu, if you preach! So, all the sons of the demons became attached to Lord Viṣṇu! I received a letter from a disciple who said his family members were not favorable. So we see that Prahlāda Mahārāja, his teachers, his father, everyone was against. We hope that living in the land of Bhārata-varṣa, everyone will be devotees! Unfortunately, here, everybody may not be a devotee! The brahmacārīs may have their parents, other relatives say they should get married, they should be normal, they should not chant Hare Kṛṣṇa! So, some of the brahmacārīs get married. But if they do this, are they all happy? I saw the mother of His Holiness Subhaga Mahārāja and came before Śrīla Prabhupāda and said, I need my son! She started crying and rolling on the ground! Then Śrīla Prabhupāda said, I am not forcing Subhaga Mahārāja to stay, if he wants he can go! Then, Śrīla Prabhupāda asked Subhaga Mahārāja, who was not a Mahārāja then, what he wanted to do? Did he want to stay or leave? He said, I want to stay with you! Pañca-tattva kī jaya!

Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He decided to come down to this material world. We went to South India and went to one village not far from Madurai. And for some reason, that was a spiritual village that Hiraṇyakaśipu could not visit or see. And we were told that Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva and Lord Viṣṇu met there to discuss how to kill Hiraṇyakaśipu. So, they came up with a plan that Lord Viṣṇu would descend as Narasiṁhadeva. So, in that temple there is Lord Narasiṁhadeva, Lord Viṣṇu, various Deities. There is also an animated film of Lord Narasiṁhadeva and Prahlāda Mahārāja, and visiting Māyāpur is a film maker from Germany. He has with him his team. So you may see some people taking films of our activities.

So in different Purāṇas, different kalpas, there are different incarnations of Lord Narasiṁhadeva. And it is so interesting, He had different pastimes. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam we hear about Hiraṇyakaśipu. But in other kalpas, there were other demons. So, one demon, he had made a big pandal, hundreds of meters wide and long. And air conditioned! On the sides there were feasts – eat and drink as much as you want! Sense gratification was available in this pandal. So the demon said that he would kill Prahlāda at 6 o’ clock. Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He entered the pandal on the far side. Then He was spying from the far side of the pandal. The demon came and he said, no beasts allowed in the pandal! But Narasiṁhadeva did not pay any attention to that. Then, various missiles were sent at Narasiṁhadeva. He caught them! And sometimes, they hit His mane and burnt up! Like in India, they have machines like bats when insects or mosquitos came in contact with them, they were burnt up, ch ch ch! In a similar way the hair of Lord Narasiṁhadeva, various missiles which hit the mane, got burnt! So Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He destroys the obstacles to kṛṣṇa-bhakti. There is a prayer to Lord Narasiṁhadeva by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura at Narasiṁhapallī.

“In my heart reside duplicity, insincerity, the desire for fame and the six enemies beginning with lust. Therefore, I will pray at the lotus feet of Lord Narasiṁha to purify my heart and give me the desire to serve Kṛṣṇa.

Weeping, I will beg at the lotus feet of Lord Narasiṁha that I worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa in Navadvīpa, free from all obstacles. When will that, Lord Hari, who strikes fear in fear personified, be pleased and bestow His mercy on me?

Although this form of the Lord is terrible for the evil, He is exceedingly auspicious for the devotees, headed by Prahlāda. When will He become pleased to mercifully speak to me, a worthless fool, and remove my fear?

Dear child, stay here happily in Gaura dhāma, worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and develop attraction for the holy name! By the mercy of My devotees, all obstacles are transcended. With a purified heart, just worship Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, the abodes of sweet nectar!

After speaking in this way, when will that Lord joyfully place His lotus feet upon my head. At that moment, by Lord Narasiṁha’s mercy, I will exhibit symptoms of ecstatic love for Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and I will roll on the ground by the door of Lord Narasiṁha’s temple.”

So, this Navadvīpa dhāma, Kṛṣṇa said, it is non-different from Vṛndāvana and all the holy places will manifest here. So, in Navadvīpa dhāma we have Narasiṁhapallī which is dedicated to the Narasiṁha-līlā. And some years, they send me some prasāda from Narasiṁhapallī. Anyway, even Lord Brahmā, he could not approach Lord Narasiṁhadeva who was exhibiting His anger! So, Lord Brahmā told Prahlāda, you go ahead, because of you Lord Narasiṁhadeva came! Prahlāda, he offered his praṇāma and then he offered his prayers. And Narasiṁhadeva touched him on the head. So then, he was able to offer suitable prayers to Lord Narasiṁhadeva. So, we should see the Deity of Narasiṁhadeva, Bhakta Prahlāda and offer obeisances. So, we see how Narasiṁhadeva, He is very kind to His devotees, headed by Prahlāda. But with the demons and those inimical, He is very fearful!

Narasiṁhadeva kī jaya!

They are saying that the Supreme Court judgement will be out in the next few days. So, Madhu Paṇḍita dāsa held a program with his congregation. He told all the devotees of his congregation to pray for their victory to Lord Narasiṁhadeva! So I was asked to ask you to also pray! So, Dayarāma dāsa, he has been working for many years on this case. The High Court in Karnataka decided in our favor. But Bengaluru Hare Kṛṣṇa Hill, Madhu Paṇḍita dāsa, appealed to the Supreme Court. So we have made our case also in the Supreme Court. So we pray that, the Bombay registered ISKCON should become victorious! Hare Kṛṣṇa!

The backdrop behind Lord Narasiṁhadeva is new and we thank the artists who have done this!