॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
Friday, 20 January 2023 VII.08 contd. - The prayers of Lord Brahma, Lord Rudra, and others to Bhagavan Narasimha.
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Verily, the prayer one offers to Bhagavan is more an indication of where one stands than a description of Bhagavan! We see here a variety of prayers being offered by Brahma, Shiva, Indra, Siddha and Rishis and others to Lord Narasimha who was anger incarnate and appeared to be still burning in rage over the monstrosities of Hiranyakashipu. I have taken the translations from Bhakivendanta as there is no need for any more interpretation.
श्रीब्रह्मोवाच
नतोऽस्म्यनन्ताय दुरन्तशक्तये विचित्रवीर्याय पवित्रकर्मणे ।
विश्वस्य सर्गस्थितिसंयमान् गुणै: स्वलीलया सन्दधतेऽव्ययात्मने ॥
श्रीरुद्र उवाच
कोपकालो युगान्तस्ते हतोऽयमसुरोऽल्पक: । तत्सुतं पाह्युपसृतं भक्तं ते भक्तवत्सल ॥
श्रीइन्द्र उवाच
प्रत्यानीता: परम भवता त्रायता न: स्वभागा दैत्याक्रान्तं हृदयकमलं तद्गृहं प्रत्यबोधि ।
कालग्रस्तं कियदिदमहो नाथ शुश्रूषतां ते मुक्तिस्तेषां न हि बहुमता नारसिंहापरै: किम् ॥
श्रीऋषय ऊचु:
त्वं नस्तप: परममात्थ यदात्मतेजो येनेदमादिपुरुषात्मगतं ससर्क्थ ।
तद्विप्रलुप्तममुनाद्य शरण्यपाल रक्षागृहीतवपुषा पुनरन्वमंस्था: ॥
श्रीपितर ऊचु:
श्राद्धानि नोऽधिबुभुजे प्रसभं तनूजैर्दत्तानि तीर्थसमयेऽप्यपिबत्तिलाम्बु ।
तस्योदरान्नखविदीर्णवपाद्य आर्च्छत्तस्मै नमो नृहरयेऽखिलधर्मगोप्त्रे ॥
श्रीसिद्धा ऊचु:
यो नो गतिं योगसिद्धामसाधुरहार्षीद् योगतपोबलेन ।
नाना दर्पं तं नखैर्विददार तस्मै तुभ्यं प्रणता: स्मो नृसिंह ॥
श्रीविद्याधरा ऊचु:
विद्यां पृथग्धारणयानुराद्धां न्यषेधदज्ञो बलवीर्यदृप्त: ।
स येन सङ्ख्ये पशुवद्धतस्तं मायानृसिंहं प्रणता: स्म नित्यम् ॥
श्रीनागा ऊचु:
येन पापेन रत्नानि स्त्रीरत्नानि हृतानि न: ।
तद्वक्ष:पाटनेनासां दत्तानन्द नमोऽस्तु ते ॥
श्रीमनव ऊचु:
मनवो वयं तव निदेशकारिणो दितिजेन देव परिभूतसेतव: ।
भवता खल: स उपसंहृत: प्रभो करवाम ते किमनुशाधि किङ्करान् ॥
श्रीगन्धर्वा ऊचु:
वयं विभो ते नटनाट्यगायका येनात्मसाद्वीर्यबलौजसा कृता: ।
स एष नीतो भवता दशामिमां किमुत्पथस्थ: कुशलाय कल्पते ॥
श्रीचारणा ऊचु:
हरे तवाङ्घ्रिपङ्कजं भवापवर्गमाश्रिता: । यदेष साधुहृच्छयस्त्वयासुर: समापित: ॥
श्रीयक्षा ऊचु:
वयमनुचरमुख्या: कर्मभिस्ते मनोज्ञैस्त इह दितिसुतेन प्रापिता वाहकत्वम् ।
स तु जनपरितापं तत्कृतं जानता ते नरहर उपनीत: पञ्चतां पञ्चविंश ॥
श्रीकिम्पुरुषा ऊचु:
वयं किम्पुरुषास्त्वं तु महापुरुष ईश्वर: । अयं कुपुरुषो नष्टो धिक्कृत: साधुभिर्यदा ॥
श्रीवैतालिका ऊचु:
सभासु सत्रेषु तवामलं यशो गीत्वा सपर्यां महतीं लभामहे ।
यस्तामनैषीद् वशमेष दुर्जनो द्विष्टया हतस्ते भगवन्यथामय: ॥
श्रीकिन्नरा ऊचु:
वयमीश किन्नरगणास्तवानुगा दितिजेन विष्टिममुनानुकारिता: ।
भवता हरे स वृजिनोऽवसादितो नरसिंह नाथ विभवाय नो भव ॥
श्रीविष्णुपार्षदा ऊचु:
अद्यैतद्धरिनररूपमद्भुतं ते दृष्टं न: शरणद सर्वलोकशर्म ।
सोऽयं ते विधिकर ईश विप्रशप्तस्तस्येदं निधनमनुग्रहाय विद्म: ॥
Lord Brahma prayed: My Lord, You are unlimited, and You possess unending potencies. No one can estimate or calculate Your prowess and incredible influence, for Your actions are never polluted by Prakriti Maya. Through the material qualities, You very easily create the universe, maintain it and again annihilate it, yet You remain the same, without deterioration. I, therefore, offer my respectful obeisances unto You.
Lord Shiva said: The end of the millennium is the time for Your anger. Now that this insignificant demon Hiranyakashipu has been killed, Oh my Lord, who are naturally affectionate to Your devotee, kindly protect his son Prahlada, who is standing nearby as Your fully surrendered devotee.
Indra said: Oh Supreme Lord, You are our deliverer and protector. Our shares of sacrifices, which are actually Yours, have been recovered from the demon by You. Because the demoniac king Hiranyakashipu was most fearsome, our hearts, which are Your permanent abode, were all overtaken by him. Now, by Your presence, the gloom and darkness in our hearts have been dissipated. Oh Lord, for those who always engage in Your service, which is more exalted than liberation, all material opulence is insignificant. They do not even care for liberation, not to speak of the benefits of Kama, Artha and Dharma. All the saintly persons present offered their prayers in this way: Oh Lord, Oh supreme maintainer of those sheltered at Your lotus feet, Oh original Being, the process of austerity and penance, in which You instructed us before, is the spiritual power of Your very self. It is by austerity that You create the material world, which lies dormant within You. This austerity was almost stopped by the activities of this demon, but now, by Yourself appearing in the form of Narasimhadeva, which is meant just to give us protection, and by killing this demon, You have again approved the process of austerity.
The inhabitants of Pitrriloka prayed: Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto Lord Narasimhadeva, the maintainer of the religious principles of the universe. He has killed Hiranyakashipu, the demon who by force enjoyed all the offerings of the shraaddha ceremonies performed by our sons and grandsons on the anniversaries of our death and who drank the water with sesame seeds offered in holy places of pilgrimage. By killing this demon, Oh Lord, You have taken back all this stolen property from his abdomen by piercing it with Your nails. We, therefore, wish to offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
The inhabitants of Siddhaloka prayed: Oh Lord Narasimhadeva, because we belong to Siddhaloka, we automatically achieve perfection in all eight kinds of mystic power. Yet Hiranyakashipu was so dishonest that by the strength of his power and austerity, he took away our powers. Thus he became very proud of his mystic strength. Now, because this rogue has been killed by Your nails, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
The inhabitants of Vidyadhara-loka prayed: Our acquired power to appear and disappear in various ways according to varieties of meditation was banned by that foolish Hiranyakashipu because of his pride in his superior bodily strength and his ability to conquer others. Now the Supreme Being has killed him just as if the demon were an animal. Unto that supreme pastime form of Lord Narasimhadeva, we eternally offer our respectful obeisances.
The inhabitants of Nagaloka said: The most sinful Hiranyakashipu took away all the jewels on our hoods and all our beautiful wives. Now, since his chest has been pierced by Your nails, You are the source of all pleasure to our wives. Thus we together offer our respectful obeisances unto You.
All the Manus offered their prayers as follows: As Your order carriers, Oh Lord, we, the Manus, are the law-givers for human society, but because of the temporary supremacy of this great demon, Hiranyakashipu, our laws for maintaining Varna Ashrama Dharma were destroyed. Oh Lord, now that You have killed this great demon, we are in our normal condition. Kindly order us, Your eternal servants, what to do now.
The Prajapatis offered their prayers as follows: Oh Supreme Lord, Lord of even Brahma and Shiva, we, the prajapatis, were created by You to execute Your orders, but we were forbidden by Hiranyakashipu to create any more good progeny. Now the demon is lying dead before us, his chest pierced by You. Let us, therefore, offer our respectful obeisances unto You, whose incarnation in this form of pure goodness is meant for the welfare of the entire universe.
The inhabitants of Gandharvaloka prayed: Your Lordship, we ever engage in Your service by dancing and singing in dramatic performances, but this Hiranyakashipu, by the influence of his bodily strength and valour, brought us under his subjugation. Now he has been brought to this low condition by Your Lordship. What benefit can result from the activities of such an upstart as Hiranyakashipu?
The inhabitants of the Carana planet said: Oh Lord, because You have destroyed the demon Hiranyakashipu, who was always a stake in the hearts of all honest men, we are now relieved, and we eternally take shelter of Your lotus feet, which award the conditioned soul liberation from materialistic contamination.
The inhabitants of Yakshaloka prayed: Oh controller of the twenty-four elements, we are considered the best servants of Your Lordship because of rendering services pleasing to You, yet we engaged as palanquin carriers by the order of Hiranyakashipu, the son of Diti. Oh Lord in the form of Narasimhadeva, You know how this demon gave trouble to everyone, but now You have killed him, and his body is mixing with the five material elements.
The inhabitants of Kimpurusha-loka said: We are insignificant living entities, and You are the Supreme Being, the supreme controller. Therefore how can we offer suitable prayers unto You? When this demon was condemned by devotees because they were disgusted with him, he was then killed by You.
The inhabitants of Vaitalika-loka said: Dear Lord, because of chanting Your spotless glories in great assemblies and arenas of sacrifice, we were accustomed to great respect from everyone. This demon, however, usurped that position. Now, to our great fortune, You have killed this great demon, exactly as one cures a chronic disease.
The Kinnaras said: Oh supreme controller, we are ever-existing servants of Your Lordship, but instead of rendering service to You, we were engaged by this demon in his service, constantly and without remuneration. This sinful man has now been killed by You. Therefore, Oh Lord Narasimhadeva, our master, we offer our respectful obeisances unto You. Please continue to be our patron.
The associates of Lord Vishnu in Vaikuntha offered this prayer: Oh Lord, our supreme giver of shelter, today we have seen Your wonderful form as Lord Narasimhadeva, meant for the good fortune of all the world. Oh Lord, we can understand that Hiranyakashipu was the same Jaya who engaged in Your service but was cursed by Brahmins and who thus received the body of a demon. We understand that his having now been killed is Your special mercy upon him.
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॥ ॐ नमो भगवते वासुदेवाय ॥
