Glories of Lord Narasimha and Prahalad maharaj's prayers.

05/23/2013 (Narasimha Chaturdashi):
Glories of Lord Narasimha Dev:

SB starts where BG ends. Jay Vijaya were the doorkeepers and they were cursed. Hiranyaksa - killed by boar. Hiranyakasypu went for tapasya for 1000 of years and got benediction from Brahma that he will be immortal. Such are deamons. When they get power they think they can do anything.


Prahlad Maharaj was insignificant and he said one who has accepted that this is a temp body and one should go to Vrindavan and take the shelter of Krishna. Prahalad maharaj is a great mahajan. He said my conciousness is attracted by Lord Krishna and told his father to take up the 9 processes of dev service. He also said you can't get out of this material world till you give up the sense gratification. Hiranyakasipu said where are you getting this power and he said from the same person who is giving you this power - Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakasipu said is your Lord in this pillar and he said yes. Then Narasimha bhagav came out of the pillar and killed Hiranyakasipu.


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05/30/2013

Prayers by Prahlada Maharaj:

Last time we discussed how Narasimha bhagavan appeared to protect his devotee. Actually when Hiranyakasipu was offending prahalad, he was being protected by Krishna. He didn't manifest himself but he was always with Prahalad. That is the faith of a devotee, whether good times or bad times Krishna is always with me. Such a devotee is always protected by Krishna.
This story is a comparison b/n Hiran disturbed conciousness vs peacefulness of Prahlada. Wherever there is a devotee like Arjuna and Krishna there is always victory. Similarly, wherever there is prahlad maharaj and Krishna there is a victory. Hiranyakasipu was being challenged by his son who is 5 years old was actually defeating him. When he couldn't tolerate that a young boy was defeating him and when he asked where your power is coming and Prahalad said from the same place your power is coming. Hiranyakasipu became very angry.

Same way sometimes we don't even see Krishna in the deity and here Prahlada is saying Krishna is also in the pillar. Krishna always keeps the word of the devotee. Lord Narasimha dev appeared from the pillar. The pillar cracked and out of the pillar came a roaring sound. Everyone in the planetary systems became afraid hearing the sound. There was a roar from the Lord. It shows us when the Lord becomes angry then he has a terrifying form. Why was he angry, because his devotee was being threatened.

Mahaprabhu is saying when we are cultivating our bhakti lata beej, we should protect the beej from - the mad elephant which is going to stomp on all the plants. After destroying the entire field, they roll on the ground and destroys all the plants of anything. What is the mad elephant - Vaishnava aprad. Vaishnava aprad will destroy the bhakti of a sadhaka. Krishna can't tolerate it. When Krishna was angry because his devotee is in danger, he took the anger personified form as Lord Narasimhadev and killed the demon. He sat on the throne of Hiranyakasipu and tore him apart taking the intestines out and garlanded himself.

Krishna is so merciful that he also knew that Jay, vijay were devotees of Krishna but yet he sat on the throne of the king as a mercy to him saying that he accepts his service. When Krishna was so angry nobody could pacify him - Brahma, Laxmidevi nobody could pacify him. At that point Brahmaji requested Prahalada to go forward and appease the Lord.

Prahlad walked to Krishna and fell down at his feet. When he saw that his devotee has fallen down at his feet, he was estatic in joy seeing his devotee. The Lord is always ready to put his hand on his devotees. Because Lord's hand mean mercy. Prahalada's heart was filled with love and bliss and hence he started saying his prayers to Lord Narasimhadev.

These prayers give us a glimpse of the conciousness of a heart of the devotee. SB is actually teaching us not only the glories of Krishna but also the glories fo THE DEVOTEES who are leading a life of KC. The character and conciousness of a devotee.

1. My dear Lord how is it possible for me who is born in the fam of asuras to have suitable prayers to you. Even though Brahmaji and other demigods were not able to provide prayers to you. It is no possible for me to chant prayers to you for your pleasure. - This is the essence of Bhakti. Bhakti means humility. A devotee never ever feels himself qualified for anything. Prahalada isn't thinking that good Brahmaji you chose me as I'm the chosen one etc....Unless one is meek and humble, to make progress is spiritual life is not possible. We can make progress in the mat world being arrogant but in spiritual life it is not possible. A devotee a sadhaka should tkae example from this experience that Lord we aren't qualified. When one starts thinking in this way, the Lord in the heart will start helping the devotee. When the devotee thinks I'm not qualified, then Krishna will help you.
2. Examples - Beauty, wealth, austerity and all qualifiecations in the mat world will not satisfy the Lord. The only thing needed is dev service - ex, Gajendra offered only a Lotus flower with all devotion.
3. By doing vandanam (offering prayers) one can become purified. So Prahalad maharaj is trying his best that by humility accepting one is not qualified and then trying devotional service with love not with false ego.

In this way he begins to glorify Lord Narasimha.
4. Only to protect your devotees and kill the demons - that is why you have appeared.
5. Now my dear Lord he is killed, please give up your anger. Then he says
6. My dear Lord, I have been put into the association of the demons as a result of my past Karma and hence I'm afraid very much of my condition of life. When will that moment come when you will call me to your lotus feet!!!! A devotee is always afraid of the material world. Which is the forgetfulness of Krishna, not engaging in Krishna's service. He is afraid what will happen if I don't engage in KC. Such is a pure devotee he is afraid of the material world and is afraid of the conditioned life and he is always looking for the moment that he will go back to Krishna. 5 year old boy is able to say such prayers because he is truly KC. He is also saying
7. When doing dev service in the presence of Devotees then I shall be purified. Why assoc of devotees when you have the Lord in front of you? We are sometimes not focusing on serving the devotees while we serve Krishna. This is the point Prahalada is making, if we are in front of Krishna or not in front of Krishna - Serving the devotees is the most important. Birth after birth, my lord my prayer is to be in the association of devotees.
8. Unless one is cared by the Lord, one can't survive in this mat world. Ex - father mother can't take care of the child. doc can't care for patient or boat can't prevent a man drowning without the mercy of Krishna.

Hearing these prayers Lord Narasimha is very happy and says Prahalada ask for a benediction. He says, I was born in an atheistic fam and have natural tendencies of material sense enjoyment, so he says please don't give me these illusions - I want to give us everything, please don't tempt me.  A servant who asks from a master is not qualified to be a servant. He says, please in the core of my heart, there is no material desires. This is the benediction of Maharaj Prahalad. The lord still says, please ask me something, I order you to enjoy the opulences and be absorbed in my thoughts. In this way you can engage in my service. Because you are such a pure devotee your activities will be heard in all planetary systems and whoever listenings to these activities will be benefited.

9. Then Prahlada again asks a very important prayer - please forgive my father. The quality of forgiveness. Somebody who is giving love all the time and once they don't love we can't forgive him and here Prahalada maharaj asking to forgive his father.

Then Lord says not only his father but 21 generations above and below have been excused. Canto 7.



Who is a devotee? Mahaprabhu says when somebody who has chanted the Hare Krishna mantra is a devotee. But even if we are chanting, or initiated we shouldn't be proud that we are devotees, but like Prahalada maharaj we should be always be on guard on how to improve in our spiritual path. If we aren't going upward, we are going downward. When we look upon others, we look with great respect and take care of vaishnavas and inwards we are on guard and are always trying to improve our bhakti. And in this way we should alwayd keep improving our sadhana.

BG 10.15 - Summary

Summary 10.15 - By Shyamsundar Prabhu

"Indeed, You alone know Yourself by Your own internal potency, O Supreme Person, origin of all, Lord of all beings, God of gods, Lord of the universe!"

What is understanding Krishna - trying to figure out who this God is. But the first thing to understand in Bhakti is that I'm insignificant and there is nothing which I can really understand who is Krishna.

When Krishna was performing his rasa lila only the choicest devotees the gopis could enter. You have to be thoroughly qualified to be able to enter into the world of Krishna. How Narad muni wanted to participate in the Rasa lila and the gopis stop him. The gopis said only when you become a gopi you can become Naradee gopi and enter rasa lila. The special character of this Naradee gopi was that she had a vina. Similarly once Shiva wanted to enter, similarly Shiva takes a dip in another sarovar and he came out as a gopi. This gopi had a moon on her head. In that body Shiva could enter rasa lila.

The point is, that in order to enter into the world of Krishna - when the gopis are saying that you need a proper body is that you need to have proper conciousness. Unless one doesn't have the right conciousness you can't enter into Krishna's circle. Hence, we need to also give us all our sense desires and anarthas and only when we have pure love for Krishna, can we come close to Krishna. Give up false ego, our subtle body, titles, etc and understand we are only a servant of the servant of Krishna only then you get a GLIMPSE into the world of Krishna.

This world of KC is so pure that when it begins to touch us that we can begin to experience pure bliss and happiness. This world is only a reflection. The pleasures of this world are nothing but suffering. Hence people are fed up. Example - Hiranyakashayapu, Kamsa even though had everything materially yet they were unhappy and yet devotees like Prahlada maharaj for example didn't have materially everything but yet he was spiritually very very happy. Only when you don't have any sense gratifications then you can chant properly. As in the same wayn a doc tells a patient - have this medicine but refrain from not eating these items.

Same way in trying to know Krishna, if we chant the holy names and we dont' stop doing the other material th ings, we don't get the results and hence we are so low and don't have any taste of chanting the holy name.

The way to know Krishna is only through his Ladini shakti who is Radharani herself. Only mother Radharani will give us the mercy to understand Krishna and help us get over the anarthas we have. Only dev service will give us true pleasure and happiness and get us closer to Krishna.

We are tyring to pick up the broken pieces of glass in this material world which is material happiness but Srimati Radharani and Krishna are waiting for us with the diamond, all we need to do is throw away the garbage in our hands and long for the diamond of love. Everything is a part and parcel of Krishna. Krishna is situated in every atom, every living entity. Everything is in Krishna, everything if from Krishna and we are trying to do wonders. In this attempt, we are becoming fools not understanding that we are nothing.

We are all in a journey, waiting when this destination will come. And while we are on this journey we are trying to make our dreams, When the destination comes, we have to get down and even then we are all trying to make our house, achieve our goals which are all so temporary.

Hence, Arjuna is saying some beautiful verses to help us understand who is Krishna so we get his mercy to come to him. Let my mind be wrapped like a swan which is near the lotus stem. Everything around you will be lost in due course of time - EVERYTHING. Only Krishna, the holy name will always be there.

Summary of BG10.12-13

"Arjuna said: You are the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the ultimate abode, the purest, the Absolute Truth. You are the eternal, transcendental, original person, the unborn, the greatest. All the great sages such as Nārada, Asita, Devala and Vyāsa confirm this truth about You, and now You Yourself are declaring it to me."


This is a very spoken by Arjuna after the 8th chapter and then Krishna speaks the entire the 9th chapter and the chatursloki. As soon as he heard the chatursloki Arjuna now understands that Krishna is the cause of all causes. Everything is coming from Krishna and it is only by his mercy that devotees can get guidance and help remove the ignorance.

2 things are needed - endeavour and mercy. Only when a devotee endeavors properly for Krishna and only when Krishna has his mercy on them can they achieve Krishna.

Here Arjuna is saying my dear Lord you are Parambrahma. He is the supreme truth.

Parambrahma, Krishna is the ultimate trurh. 'the means of philosophy is to find the Ultimate goal'- Prabhupada.
why are people unable to reach the goal- people do not understand that we are not supreme and unable to discriminate between matter and spirit and have false ego- hence want acknowledgement and appreciation for themselves.

In this verse- Arjuna reaches the peak of his realization of Krishna. Arjun accepts that Krishna is the parambrahman.
Arjun is saying that Krishna is the ultimate abode- Krishna says that everything is resting upon Krishna- flowers on garland resting on the thread- you don't see the thread- but it is there- similarly- everyhing is resting on Krishna, even though you don't see this- due to lack of knowledge. No difference between Krishna and his resting place/ spiriual dham.


All scriptures state the same message- it is not just in BG/ SB. the reason we do not hear all these messages=- even though stated in all scriptures is because we have impure senses and also we listen to scriptures from impure/ unpious souls- hence we get confusing messages.  Very important to gain the shelter of a spiritual master who is in the disiplic succession.

Krishna is Visnu at home- in his rasas in Vrindavan son/ lover/ cowherder/ friend etc,
Visnu is Krishna in office- needs to carry out different tasks within the material world is Visnu.

Krishna is the original person and it's a very important verse as even after hearing from sages he was covered by sakya bhav, so hence Arjuna says that now that you have told me about yourself, he cross checks that even other great sages have told me about you.

Balaram is Krishna itself and as Balarama, He wants to serve Krishna. So Krishna himself is serving him so then why can't we serve Krishna? We feel servant is a low job but our life should be to serve Krishna.