॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Thursday, 19 January 2023 VII.08 - The incarnation of Bhagavan Narasimha and the killing of Hiranyakashipu.
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This sacred chapter covers the great incarnation of Bhagavan Maha Vishnu as Lord Narasimha. For all Hindus, just as Prahlada is the epitome of Bhakti, Lord Narasimha is the infallible Lord who will always come to help the true devotee, however great the threat from evil, even if it is from his own most powerful father like Hiranyakashipu!
Today we will cover shlokas 1-39 and the rest, tomorrow. The entire chapter is embedded here as a slideshow for Parayana,. The audio of the chapter (Br. Devaki Chaitanya) is also linked here. I have scanned the translation from Swami Tapasyananda-ji and give it below.
Skandha VII : Chapter 8 DESTRUCTION OF HIRANYAKASHIPU
Hiranya's angry Reaction (1-7)
Sage Narada said 1. Those Asura boys, pure-minded, accepted instructions given by Prahlada, and not those by their teachers
2. The teachers now saw how the minds of the boys were becoming more and more prone to contemplation and solitude. They were very much frightened to note this development, and to avoid any blame falling on them, they went and reported the whole matter to their ruler Hiranyakashipu.
3. Hiranyakashipu’s body trembled in a violent rage on hearing his son's unbearable misconduct, and he decided to kill the boy himself.
4-5. Raining abusive words on Prahlada, who least deserved such harsh treatment, Hiranya, cruel by nature, looked at him with an angry side-long glance and hissing like a trampled serpent, addressed the boy, who stood before him saluting in all humility and composure.
6. He said: “l shall Immediately despatch you to the city of Yama. the god of death—you who are an audacious fool, a traitor to the family, a debased villain, and one who has defied my authority!
7. What IS that source of strength depending on which you fearlessly flout the commands of one like me? My angry looks are sufficient to cause trepidation in the hearts of all the guardian deities and generate tremors in all the three worlds. How dare you flout me!!!???
Prahlada's Advice to Hiranya (8-11)
Prahlada said: 8. O King! Not only for me but even for all considered strong, including yourself, the source of strength is He, the Supreme Being, who controls like His slaves all beings high and Iow, from Brahma down to a blade of grass.
9. He, Supreme Lord of the world-measuring strides is Time. He is the strength of the of the senses, of the mind, and of the body. It is He, the Lord Supreme and the master oi the Gunas, that creates, preserves, and destroys all beings.
I0. Please abandon your Asuric (monstrous) character. Have even-sightedness. Abandoning the distinction between friend and foe. There is no enemy beyond one's own mind if it is uncontrolled and caught In the path of vice. The supreme worship of the Lord consists in keeping the mind even and unperturbed, seeing no difference between friend and foe.
11. There are some who consider themselves as the victors of all the ten quarters, without first conquering the senses which rob one of all one's real wealth. To a wise and good man who has conquered his lower self, who has an enlightened mind, who looks on all alike, there can be no enemy; because enemies are the creations of one's own ignorance.
Incarnation Of Narasimha ( 12-23)
Hiranyakashipu said: 12. “O fool! You who indulge in such senseless and arrogant talk are facing imminent death. For none but those who are to face with death will talk such unbridled nonsense”.
13. Continuing, Hiranya asked, “O hapless fellow! Where is that Lord of the worlds of whom you speak, if there is any such other than me?” “Everywhere!”, replied Prahlada. “Why? Is he in this pillar then?”, questioned Hiranya. “l see Him there too,” replied Prahlada, looking at the pillar.
14. “I, the master of the universe, am now going to sever your head, O you, impertinent prattler! Let Hari, of whom you speak as the shelter of all, protect you if he can!”, said Hiranya.
15. Castigating his highly pious son with such angry and abusive words, the powerful Hiranyakashipu jumped up from his throne, sword in hand, and delivered a blow with his very strong fist on the pillar wherein Prahlada had said he saw Sri Hari.
16. Immediately a terrific sound arose from that pillar. That sound was so loud that it seemed to crack the Cosmic Shell (the whole universe is compared to a large egg). Hearing it, Brahma and other deities thought that the doomsday of the world, which included their spheres, had come.
17. Thus, while Hiranyakashipu was making a determined effort to kill his son, he was wonder-struck to hear the strange and terror-inspiring sound, whose source he could not trace anywhere in the assembly.
18. In order to make true the words of His devotee who had said that he saw Sri Hari in the pillar too, and also to demonstrate that He was immanent in everything, the Lord was seen as emerging into the assembly from the pillar, in a form that was neither of a beast nor of a man.
19. The Asura, who was looking around for the source of that sound, now saw that form emerging from the pillar, a wonderful form which was neither a whole man nor a whole animal, but Lo! A Man-lion!
20. While Hiranyakashipu was questioning himself anxiously within, there stood before him that very fierce form of the Man-lion, having glowing and frightening eyes resembling the colour of molten gold, and a face surrounded by brilliant matted locks and mane.
21. His fangs were terror-inspiring. His tongue was sharp and quivering like a sword. His curved eyebrows gave a frightening look to His face. His ears stood erect and high. His open mouth and nostrils looked like strange mountain caves, while his cleft cheeks added ferocity to the face.
22. His body touching the sky had a neck that was short and thick, a chest that was broad, and an abdomen that was slender. With hair resembling the rays of the moon covering His body, He had innumerable arms set on all sides with claws that looked like weapons.
23. The form that stood before Hiranya was so formidable that none could approach Him, and the Daityas and Danavas all fled away in every direction before His spectral Sudarshana discus and other weapons. Then, seeing Him, Hiranyakashipu thought: “This is perhaps a stratagem thought out by that Hari, the master of all magical arts, to encompass my death. But let me see what this Hari can do against me.”
Destruction of Hiranya (24-39)
24. Soliloquising like this, the Asura, armed with a mace, rushed at the Man-lion, yelling. Like a moth rushing into a fire, the Asura was thereupon engulfed in the luminosity of the Man-lion and became invisible.
25. There is nothing extraordinary or astonishing about this in the case of Maha Vishnu, the Pure Being of radiant Sattva, who, at the end of the Pralaya, neutralises that world-engulfing Tamas by His own brilliance. Approaching the Man-lion, the Asura delivered a mighty blow on Him with his powerful mace.
26. Just like Garuda catching a serpent, the Lord caught the attacking Asura in His claws: but the Asura freed himself from the hold of the sportive Man-lion, as a serpent from Garuda.
27. O descendant of the Bharatas! The Devas and the lords of the quarters who had all been deprived of their realms by the Asuras, and who were now watching the scene from behind te clouds, considered it a calamity that the Asura had escaped from the hold of the Lord. The Asura too interpreted this as proof of his opponent’s fear of him. Soon, without any sign of strain, he approached the Lord again for battle, sword and shield in hand.
28. The fierce Asura whose eyes were dazzled by the brilliance of the Man-lion was yelling and moving up and down with the speed of a falcon according to the tactics of combat in order to save himself from falling into the clutches of his opponent, but he was soon caught again by the Lord with a resounding roar.
29. Desperately struggling as the Asura was to free himself from the distressing hold of the Man-lion, as a mouse from that of a serpent, the Lord laid him on His thighs, sitting on the threshold of the Assembly Hall, and as Garuda tears apart a snake, He playfully tore open the Asura’s body at the time of sunset – the body on which even a scratch could not be made by Indra’s thunderbolt.
30-31. The Man-lion form of the Lord then appeared forbidding to look at, because of the fury reflected in His eyes. With His tongue licking the two corners of His wide-open mouth, with the mane of His face and neck reddened by drops of blood, and with the loops of intestine hanging on His neck, the Lord as the Man-lion presented a formidable appearance, even as a lion that had slain an elephant. He now attacked the followers of Hiranyakashipu. Throwing aside the body of Hiranya with the heart torn out, the multi-armed Man-lion went around attacking and killing in hundreds with the stroke of His nails the numerous followers of the Asura who were standing with uplifted weapons in readiness to strike.
32. The clouds were shattered by the movements of His manes. The luminaries in the sky like the sun lost their lustre in the abundant brilliance released from His eyes. His breath agitated the seas, and the elephants of the quarters trumpeted in fear, hearing His terrific roars.
33. The heavens with the aerial cars of the celestials shattered by His mane, and the earth trembling under the tread of His feet, were both stirred to their depths. Under His powerful impact, the mountains were tossed up, while the lustre emanating from Him drowned the brilliance of the sky and the quarters.
34. Afterwards He seated Himself on the royal throne in all His splendorous glory. None dared to approach that all-powerful being of terrific face, which bore marks of anger because there were no more opponents to be confronted.
35. Hearing that the primaeval Daitya (Titan), the headache of the worlds, had been slain by Sri Hari in battle, the celestial women with faces blooming in joy rained flowers.
36. The sky was crowded with the aerial cars of celestials who gathered to see the happenings. The Devas then sounded their big drums and kettle drums, while the leading Gandharvas danced and their women sang.
37-39. Then, O dear ones, the assembled representatives of all species of beings—Brahma, Indra, Parameswara and other Divinities, Rishis, Pitris, Siddhas, Vidyadharas, great serpents, Manus, Prajapatis, Gandharvas, Asuras, Charanas, Yakshas, Kimpurushas, Vetalas, Siddheswaras and Kinnaras, as well as the Lord's attendants like Sunanda and Kumuda—all these standing at a little distance away, with palms joined in reverential salutation, began to extol the Lord, one after another.
॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
