« Reply #78 on: February 28, 2018, 04:49:32 PM »
Lord Nrisimha Slays the King of the Demons

Narada Muni said to Yudhishthhira: 'Having heard explanations of the Truth from the Great Prahlada,all the attending Daitya sons (Prahlada's schoolmates) accepted his words because of their profundity and rejected what their teachers had taught them. When the two sons of the guru [S'ukracarya's sons Shanda and Amarka] realized how the intelligence of the boys had gotten fixed on this one subject matter, they fearfully contacted the king to submit to him what was going on.
(- the king was Prahlada's father,the great Asura Hiranyakas'ipu. )
All over his body trembling with anger and with a mind determined to kill his son he rebuked Prahlada. With the harshest words he furiously with an angry face and crooked, wicked eyes approached him who did not deserve such a treatment at all. He from his side gentle and restrained, with his hands folded just stood there before his father who was hissing like a vicious snake trampled upon.
Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'Oh you impudent fool, you intriguer of the family, you outcaste, you obstinate one going against my rule, I will today send you to the abode of Yamaraja! When I am angry all inhabitants of the three worlds and their leaders tremble for me. By what power do you so fearlessly overstep my rule, you rascal?'.
Prahlada said: 'He is not only my strength but also yours, oh King and the strength of all other exalted and lower living beings. All who move around and do not move around, beginning with Lord Brahma, fall under His control. He, the supreme controller, the time factor, is Urukrama, the Lord of the Wide Steps [Vamana] who is that one strength of one's mind and life, the steadiness of one's physical power and senses. He, the True Self, is the Supreme Master of the three modes who by His different natural forces creates, maintains and withdraws again the entire universe. Please give up the Asura way. Be peaceful and create no enemies. Destroy only the true enemy that is an uncontrolled mind. That approach is the best method to worship the unlimited Lord. In the past there were plunderers who not in control with the six enemies [the mind and the five senses] stole away everything. Others saw themselves as conquerors of the ten directions. But where are with a saint who managed to defeat his senses and is of an equal regard for all living beings, those enemies to be found who are a product of one's own imagination?'
Sri Hiranyakas'ipu said: 'You apparently, with your unlimited pretenses, seek your own demise. You prove that people about to die talk gibberish, you pityful idiot. You unlucky soul, you talk of someone other than me who would be the controller of the universe, but where is He to be found? If He is omnipresent, then why do I not see Him in this pillar right in front of me? Let that Lord you wished yourself as your protector protect you, now that I am going to sever your head from your trunk, now that I am going to put an end to someone talking such nonsense like you.'
Thus with a stream of abuses enraged chastising his son, that great devotee, Hiranyakas'ipu, rising from his throne and taking up his sword, with his fist struck hard against a column. At that very time from within the column a most fearful sound could be heard as if the covering of the universe cracked open. That sound dear King, reached as far as the place of the godly ones of Lord Brahma and made them believe that the destruction of their abodes was at hand. He who in his display of power wanted to kill his son, also heard the tumultuous sound one had never heard before and stood together with the assembly present amazed about the fact that one could not determine its origin. Thus all these men of power were caught in fear. To be true to the words that were spoken in defense of His omnipresence, of His pervading each and everything, one could see a most wonderful form of Him taking shape in a pillar in the middle of the assembly hall. It was neither an animal nor a man. The king, studying the phenomenon from all sides, saw how a living being emerged from the middle of the pillar. But not being able to ascertain whether it was an animal or a human being he said amazed: 'What kind of form is this? It is half man and half lion!'
As he was contemplating the miracle that took place in front of him, the extraordinary, most frightening form of Nrisimhadeva appeared. He had eyes glowing like molten gold and deadly teeth in a face extending into manes. Looking around with a dreadful frown He waved His tongue like a razor sharp sword. His ears stood motionless straight up and His nostrils and mouth were opened wide like mountain caves. His huge body was short and fat with a broad neck and a broad chest over a small waist. His body was covered with whitish hairs resembling the rays of the moon and hundreds of arms stretched in all directions were equipped with hard to challenge fatal nails who served as weapons next to His other personal weapons. Faced with that excellence the Daityas and Danavas fled away. 'I guess this is what the Lord so full of mystical potency is trying to do in order to get me killed, but what's the use?' so Hiranyakas'ipu murmured to himself and taking up his mace the Daitya threw himself forward like an elephant to attack the loudly roaring Lord Nrisimha. As invisible as an insect that has fallen into a fire, the Asura disappeared into the effulgence of Nrisimha. That was something not that astonishing at all that moment considering the fact that He with the effulgence of His goodness formerly had swallowed the darkness of the entire creation. The greatest of the demons reaching Lord Nrisimha thereupon furiously with great force exercising his prowess struck Him with his club, but the Lord, the Wielder of the Club, seized him just like the son of Garuda would capture a great snake.Oh son of Bharata, when He in order to play a game allowed the Asura to slip from His hands exactly the way Garuda sometimes deals with a snake, the godly ones of the different worlds who were driven from their positions, from behind the clouds considered that to be a bad turn of events. The demon thinking that He had let him go out of fear for his masculine display, after regaining his strength took up his sword and shield and with great force attacked Nrisimhadeva for the second time. When he with his moon spotted shield and sword fast as a hawk was maneuvering up and down so as not to offer any opportunity, the Lord made a very shrill, loud sound of laughter that was so frightening that he, with his eyes shortly closed, was captured by the Greatest of all Speed. In protest he wrestling with his limbs tried to escape, but the Lord placed him whose skin could not even be cut by Indra's thunderbolt, at the entrance of the palace on His lap like he was a snake or mouse and pierced him with His nails as easy as Garuda pierces a poisonous viper. He with His most fearful eyes full of anger was difficult to behold. With His mouth wide open licking the edges with His tongue and with His mane and face smeared red with traces of blood, He wore the intestines like a garland around His neck and looked like a lion that just has killed an elephant. The heart He with His pointed nails had ripped out completely and thrown aside and the thousands of followers who with their raised weapons attended to their leader He all killed using His nails and the other weapons in His countless hands. Shaking His manes He scattered the clouds and with His glaring glance He outshone the luminaries. The waters and oceans struck by His breathing swirled in perturbation and afraid of His roar the elephants guarding the quarters of the universe cried. With Him tossing His hair the celestial chariots crowding in the sky slipped from their places, the earth shook under the heavy weight of His feet, His intolerable force moved the mountains and hills and His effulgence outshone everything else in all directions of the sky.
*Hiranyakas'ipu and his brother Hiranyaksha (killed by the Boar Avatar),were actually two doorkeepers of Vaikunta. They were cursed by the great brahmin Sages four Kumaras to become demons,because they would not let them enter the Vaikunta. Hiranyakas'ipu by the power of great dedication and severe penances got the boon from the Lord not die because of any of the living being created by Lord,Neither at home nor outside, neither during the day nor at night, neither from any known weapon nor by any other thing, neither on the ground or in the sky nor by any human being or animal,Neither lifeless things nor living entities, neither demigod or demon nor the great serpents,to have the supremacy in battle and the rule over all embodied souls including the deities of all planets). In the past,Hiranyakas'ipu many times tried to kill his son Prahlada,because of his great devotion,but did not succeed.
-When two door-keepers and great Devotees Jaya and Vijaya,who later became two great Asuras,were cursed by the Sages,the Lord said:
'These two will soon elsewhere take birth from a godless womb. With their focus of mind intensified by anger, they will remain firmly united with Me and before long return to My presence. Know that your curse was ordained by Me alone, oh learned ones.')
cont...
book 7,chapter 8

« Last Edit: February 28, 2018, 07:18:34 PM by Jewell »

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