Comparing Narasimha-rupa with Krishna-rupa and Vishva-rupa (Narasimha Chaturdashi special)

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So, today, on the auspicious occasion of Narasimha Dashi, I will discuss broadly on the topic of appreciating Lord Narasimhadev's mood and form through contrast. So, we will be contrasting the form of Narasimhadev with the form of Krishna and the form of Vishwaroopa.

So, Narasimha Dashi is the occasion when Lord Narasimhadev appeared on this earth millennia ago. Let's begin with a verse which describes the form of Lord Narasimhadev. If at any time I am not audible, please message me and we will adjust.

So, this is from the prayers offered by Srila Prahlad Maharaj in the seventh canto, in the ninth chapter. So, here, let's try to visualise the scene where this is all happening. This is the palace of Narasimhad of Hiranyakashipu in the courtyard.

The back story is that Hiranyakashipu has conquered the whole universe and has been reigning supreme unchallenged and yet there is one person who refused to submit to him and that was Prahlad. Hiranyakashipu got so angry that he repeatedly tried to chastise and then even assassinate Prahlad. But nothing succeeded.

And then finally Prahlad was confronted by his father and he asked You say Vishnu is everywhere. Is he in this pillar also? He said yes of course. And then he smashed the pillar.

From that emerged a huge form of Narasimhadev. And then there was a fierce fight. Actually it was Hiranyakashipu who fought fiercely.

Narasimhadev was nonchalant. Bhagavatam describes like a cat playing with a mouse. And now finally Hiranyakashipu has been killed.

Still Lord Narasimhadev is angry and the entire assembly of Devatas has appeared over there. In the previous chapter the various Devatas, Brahma, Shiva Ganesh, Indra Chandra, Varuna, Vayu all of these have offered prayers but they have failed to pacify the Lord. And then finally Prahlad comes forward.

In fact the Devatas send Prahlad forward. And Prahlad offers prayers. And that same Lord Narasimhadev who was roaring so fiercely that everybody's blood was curdling that even a ferocious demon like Hiranyakashipu felt so scared that he closed his eyes in fear.

Prahlad appeared fearlessly in front of that Lord. And the Lord became very peaceful and gentle. Touched his hand on Prahlad's head, blessed him and Prahlad offered prayers.

Prahlad offered prostrated obeisance and the Lord picked him up. So we can visualise Lord Narasimhadev sitting on a throne and Prahlad is offering prayers in front of him, very close to him. Generally on the altar when we have a picture of Narasimhadev and Hiranyakashipu being delivered and Prahlad all together.

But these are chronologically distinct incidents. So right now Narasimhadev is seated on the throne and Prahlad is offering prayers. And what is the mood over there? world universe terrorising Asura has been killed.

His associates have also been killed. But still even the Devatas are fearful. So the atmosphere of fear is still there because three reasons.

First is even the Devatas have never seen a form like Hiranyakashipu or like Narasimhadev. They understand that this is Vishnu but he looks nothing like Vishnu. He looks scary.

He looks like this giant lion. So just the form is unfamiliar and scary. On top of that his mood was still angry till a few moments ago.

And although that anger seems to have decreased but that has decreased primarily in interaction with Prahlad. But still the other Devatas are fearful. So it's just like if somebody is in office and the boss is very angry and all the employees are fearful.

Is the boss going to yell at me? Is the boss going to speak something harsh to me? And suddenly maybe somebody from the boss's family the boss's son calls and the boss's tone and mood may entirely change. And the boss may talk very sweetly. Okay, so how are you? Okay, I'll come and pick you up.

Take care. And now the boss is talking very cordially, sweetly with his son. But is he going to talk similarly with everyone else? That fear is still there.

So this is not the fear that we will be destroyed. There are different kinds of fear also. There is the fear where if we are in the present, if we know there are violent terrorists or violent invaders, that fear is a fear that we may be destroyed, we may be killed.

So that is a fear of our life or our well-being itself. But there's another kind of fear when we are in the presence of someone who we know is our well-wisher. But we are afraid that we may have knowingly or unknowingly done something that may have displeased that person.

So that fear is a different category of fear. The Bhagavatam talks about how the whole universe works under the fear of the Lord. So that is a healthy fear.

But whether it is a healthy fear or unhealthy fear, Prahlad's words begin by addressing that atmosphere. Of course, this is not the first verse that he is speaking. He has spoken before.

But earlier verses that he has spoken before this are primarily talking about how he, although unqualified personally, he says, I have no devotion. And in this galaxy of illustrious people, I have no qualification. Still, how is it that I am able to speak? He says, I am speaking because it is your mercy.

And I am speaking because glorifying you is for my purification. So he is speaking these two things and then he starts addressing the atmosphere over there. And one of the verses he speaks is, in the previous verse he has spoken that my dear Lord, your form is always auspicious.

Now, in terms of the atmosphere over there, it's a jarring contrast. How is it auspicious? So he is saying, I am not afraid. Ajit te.

You, O Lord, are unconquerable. Ajit. So, that Lord who can never be defeated by anyone.

So, bhayanak is fearsome. Ati is a prefix which acts as an intensifier. Extremely fearsome.

In general, in writing it is said, don't tell me, show me. So, for example, instead of saying, if we are writing a novel or we are describing an incident, oh, he was very angry. He can say that his eyes turned red, could see the nerves swelling in his neck or the nerves swelling in his forehead.

We could almost hear him gritting his teeth. I could see that his fists were clenched. So this description gives us a vivid mental picture.

And then, we ourselves understand. You don't even have to say that he was angry. I understand he was angry.

So, he is saying ati bhayanak. He was fearsome. So, how was he fearsome? He is describing, jiva the tongue.

Now, the tongue was lashing out of the mouth like a sword. So, that is described by the Acharya's commentaries and other places. Narasimha Leela is described in the Bhagavatam as well as in other Puranas like the Narasimha Puran.

So, his sword had been lashing out earlier. Now, of course, it was peaceful. But, it had also been like a sword.

Then, arka netra. So, netra is eyes. Arka often refers to the sun.

So, his eyes were blazing and blazing like, not the rising sun or the setting sun. It was like the full afternoon sun. It was very difficult to see.

So, his eyes were fierce, fiery. So, brukuti means, it's one thing to have red eyes which indicate anger. But, on top of that, if somebody is frowning, frowning and scowling and glaring.

Now, that unnerves us. So, brukuti And then, ugra. Ugra is fearsome.

He is fiery, scary. So, there is some amount of repetition of describers or repetition of similar describers. Bhayanakasya and Ugra.

Damshtrat. Damshtra refers to teeth. So, he is in a leonine form, a lion form.

So, naturally, he has his, in his jaws, he has his teeth which are fierce, which can rip apart the prey that he is going to devour. So, antara, sraja. And then, he is actually wearing a garland.

Antara is intestines, the inner organs. Sraja. So, he is wearing a garland of intestines.

And, among many things, when we think about it, it can, we know Lord Narasimhadev is all attractive. But, actually speaking, it is quite gruesome to think about this. That somebody might wear a garland of intestines.

So, blood is dripping from an antara. Sraja. Shatajakeshara.

So, his hair is, his mane is, the hair on the head for lions is called mane. So, the mane is also fierce. It is described that his form was so tall that when he shook his head in anger, the clouds got scattered.

So, his body and especially his hair is sprinkled with blood. Chankukarnan. And anger seems to be pervading his entire form.

So, his ears also seem to be erect. Straight high. That also indicates his fury.

And then, Niraad, Bheet, Digibhad. So, Bhimya is fear. I am not fearful, he has said.

But that same mood, Bheet, he comes again. And Niraad, Niraad is his roar. Bheet, Digibhad.

So, he is saying the roar was so great. His roar was so fearsome. Digibhad, Arbin, Khaagrad.

Arbin, Khaagrad. The giant elephants who sustain the universe, they are trembling. So, sometimes, when the noise is very loud, we may say it was an ear splitting sound.

What does that mean? Normally, the ears hear the sound and they receive and process the sound. But, if it is a very loud sound, we feel as if our eardrums, the tympanic membrane, are getting split by that. So, here, he is describing that it is not just an ear splitting sound, it is like a universe splitting sound.

The beings which sustain the universe, they are shaking and trembling. It appears as if they are going to collapse in fear. So, such is his fearsome form.

Now, the word is often used to indicate a feeling of being impressed. When we see something huge, there is the feeling of awe that comes because of that. There are two words, there is awesome and there is awful.

Although the awe word is in both, awful means terrible and awesome means wonderful. So, the Lord's form fills one with awe. But, what kind of awe is it? For the demons, it is awful.

For the devotees, it is awesome. Of course, nowadays, the word awesome has become a typical teenagerish word where they use it for everything. If something is delicious, it will be awesome.

If something is beautiful, it is awesome. But, awesome generally means not just excellent, it means something which is so huge, so impressive, so gigantic that it fills us with awe. So, this is the form of the Lord that is manifested by Narasimhadeva.

Now, of course, when Prahlad is describing this form, he is not describing the form that he is seeing right now because this form is very gentle. It is not roaring. But, Prahlad is describing that, my dear Lord, not only am I not afraid of you in the form which I am seeing right now, earlier, I saw you in action in a fierce form.

But, I am not afraid of you even in that form. Generally, in the Bhagavatam, when prayers are offered, the prayers, they serve three purposes. Glorification, purification, instruction.

So, the prayers are primarily meant for the glorification of the Lord. The prayers are also meant for the purification of whoever is offering the prayers. And the prayers are also meant for the instruction of everyone.

So, in one sense, Prahlad, by his example, is telling everyone, don't be afraid. He says, I am not afraid, so there is no reason for all of you to be afraid also. Naaham bhibhemya.

So, this is the extraordinary form of the Lord. Now, let's look at what is going on with this form by contrasting it with other forms. So, here we have the form of Narasimhadev who is ripping apart the intestine of Hiranyakashyapu.

And here we have the form of Krishna. So, let's try to contrast Narasimhadev's form with Krishna's form. And then we will try to draw some inferences from that.

I already described Narasimhadev's form, so I won't go into the detailed description of all of it. But let's look at some features. So, the form of Narasimhadev generally, when we look at someone, we may look at their height, we may look at their, if we are directly looking at their face, the first thing we usually look at them is their mouth or their eyes.

That's where the emotion comes out most prominently in the face. So, as I mentioned, the eyes of Narasimhadev are frowning and glaring as if he will be burning something with his eyes, everything with his eyes in fact. So, if you consider Krishna, what is the nature of Krishna's eyes? Sundara kundala nayana vishala His eyes are very large and beautiful.

They are like Arvinda dalaya taksham They are large and beautiful eyes. They are filled with love. So, the eyes are we could say radically different.

One is radiating anger, the other is radiating love and then from his mouth, see there is damshtrat, there is ugra damshtrat. He has fierce teeth and niradabhita digibhad, blood curdling roars. But as far as Krishna is concerned, what is it? prahasitam priya premavikshanam prahasitam priya He is smiling gently mandahasamudita nanambujam So, Krishna is smiling gently and then not only does he smile gently, when he speaks, madhurayagira valgu vakyaya So, his voice is melodious and the words that he speaks are sweet, are soft, are loving.

So, all three attributes the expression which is conveyed through the mouth and the lips the overall tone of the voice and the words spoken through it, all of them are very very sweet. Again, a dramatic antipodal contrast. Now, if you look at the garland they mention antra sraja is wearing blood stained intestines as a garland.

If you contrast that with Krishna, what do we have? Gale, Sohe, Vaijayan, Dimala. He wears a garland of flowers, beautiful flowers which are both their beauties in their form as well as in their fragrance and again, a very big contrast. So, when Narasimhadev wears this garland, what is the idea of wearing the garland? It's like a victory trophy.

Okay, this person was defeated and now that person has been destroyed. Of course, in the Gaudiya tradition, there is there is the description that this garland although it was scary to have intestines but it also enhances his beauty. I'll come to that a little later.

Now, if you look at his hands Narasimhadev has many hands and his hands have nails and the nails what is the power that they have? They can rip apart the enemy's bodies and in fact, with respect to Hiranyakashipu it's described his body was harder than that harder than mountains. Indra's thunderbolt could crush mountains but that same thunderbolt could not even scratch Hiranyakashipu's body and that was ripped apart by Narasimhadev's nails. So generally, on the altar, Narasimhadev is depicted with the with the Vishnu abharanas with the weapons of Lord Vishnu but it is described in the fighting Lord Narasimhadev did not use any weapons.

He just simply used his nails as his weapons. Now as far as Krishna is concerned especially Krishna in Vrindavan what happens is his hand is soft and gentle and when he touches devotees with his hands he may embrace them just as when when Akrura came to meet Krishna when Krishna saw him, Krishna offered respects and embraced him and all the agony that he was feeling the apprehension of having come to come as Krishna, as a representative of Krishna's enemy, it all just disappeared. The Gopis they also pray that Sri Karagraha that your hand is the abode of the goddess of fortune and they say that please place that hand on our head and bless us with that.

So it's a soft and gentle hand. If you consider the size as I said that the size was huge in this particular form it is that the Lord's size was actually far greater than the size of his opponents. If you consider Lord Ram was facing demons like Ravan or Ravan's associates like Kumbhakarna or Atikaya or Mahakaya the demons were huge and Lord Ram was small but in this case Hiranyakashipu was a huge demon but Narasimhadeva completely dwarfed him Narasimhadeva was huge so in contrast Krishna's Krishna's size is life like human like size.

It's approachable so generally if somebody is very formidable in terms of not just appearance but their size, their form that also intimidates us. But if the size is approachable then size itself is also approachability. So we can see that there is such a huge difference in the forms of Narasimhadeva and Krishna advaitam achyutam anadhimanantarupam The Brahma Samhita says advaitam that one ultimate reality is advaitam there is no duality in that reality.

It's one ultimate reality but at the same time anantarupam there are unlimited forms and not just unlimited forms. Here we see the forms are so different so radically opposite so why are the forms so different? Here we see that same Narasimhadeva is in a form which is very sweet and loving. Here we see he is smiling and he is blessing Prahlad by touching his hand.

Later on Prahlad will say my dear lord this blessing that you have offered me by touching me on my head this is so rare that even the devatas aspire for it and don't get it I am greatly blessed by you but this is later. But when he was in a fearsome form he was looking very different so the same person can manifest different forms depending on the purpose. So Krishna's purpose is different so if we consider in terms of purpose what is the purpose of Krishna in Vrindavan that manifestation of the lord has a purpose simply of reciprocating love with his devotees even when Krishna does something super human, super natural like say lifting Govardhan now that is something which no human being can do but if we see the Vaishnavacharyas or for that matter even the Bhagavatam itself it does not spend too much space too many verses how amazing is it that Krishna lifted Govardhan rather Krishna lifted Govardhan, what did he do after that? After that he was reciprocating love with his devotees how he spoke with Bandar Yashoda how he reciprocated love with Madhumangal and they had mischievous interactions and how when Radharani glanced at him with love that Krishna who was not shaken by the weight of Govardhan he was shaken by the weight of Radharani's affection and Govardhan trembled a little bit at that time so there the focus is on reciprocating love so in one sense in Vrindavan even when the demons come Balakriduna it is just like a child's play, he deals with the demons so Krishna's form is very affectionate and love filled that is his purpose reciprocating love now when Narasimhadeva manifested this furious form in Hiranyakashipu's court what was the purpose? it was twofold to destroy those who had attacked his devotee here it is Prahalad primarily it was Prahalad who was the devotee and Prahalad it is described that by his association many of his co-students in the Gurukul of Shanda and Amark had also become devotees but their devotion was nowhere near Prahalad's and that's why when they had seen that Prahalad was being persecuted they all had concealed their devotion we don't want a fate like that so they were also devotees but their devotion was tender, was nascent so Narasimhadeva was furious with Hiranyakashipu and all those who had assisted Hiranyakashipu in persecuting Prahalad but then the question comes up after Hiranyakashipu was killed after Hiranyakashipu's associates who tried to assist Hiranyakashipu in attacking Narasimhadeva were killed why was Narasimhadeva still angry? why was Narasimhadeva not pacified by the prayers of the Devatas? that is the second part that he was saying all of you he didn't say those words but that was his mood implied mood, he says all of you are powerful administrators of the universe you saw how my devotee was being persecuted and you did nothing, you didn't protect my devotee, not only did you not protect, you didn't even protest so you did nothing when the time for action was there and now you are offering sweet prayers I don't care for these prayers so Narasimhadeva's anger was not just towards the Asuras but was even towards the Devatas who had failed to protect his devotee of course from another perspective we can say that the Devatas couldn't have done anything at all because Narasimhadeva alone could have stopped Hiranyakashipu but even discreetly nobody had supported Prahalad at that time so Narasimhadeva was angry about that so his anger continued it was only when Prahalad came forward at that time he became pacified so Narasimhadeva's anger was serving a particular purpose so the lord is one but depending on the purpose that he is fulfilling he manifests not just the appropriate mood but even the appropriate form yad yad dhyatur gaya vibhavayanti tat tadvapu praniyase sadanugrahaya so the lord manifests the form appropriate to the mood there it is described as the mood of the devotee so Narasimhadeva manifested a form which would fulfil the promise of Brahmaji that Hiranyakashipu could not be killed by any being created by Brahma so he manifested a form which was complete advaitam adrishta purvam it was something which had never been seen before so now his anger was there so earlier I said that Narasimhadeva's form is fear is fiery it's filled with anger and Krishna's form is radiating love but although lord Narasimhadeva is manifesting anger it is not that he is unloving even the anger is an expression of love that's why in bhakti in the bhakti tradition what happens is that the entire gamut of human emotions are engaged even anger which is normally considered an emotion which is to be given up Krishna says so kama is considered to be undesirable but even anger can be used in the lord's service and the lord can use it in his devotee's service so when does anger express love? when we are punishing those who threaten one's object of love so that is the lord wants to punish the demons and then also when warning those who fail to protect one's object of love so in both these ways he is actually expressing his anger and in expressing his anger he is expressing his love through his anger so now let's look at compare his form with another form and that is the form of Vishwaroopa Vishwaroopa is the form of Krishna as manifested in the in the course of speaking the Bhagavad Gita on the Kurukshetra battlefield now we will see that there are some some significant similarities in the form that the lord manifests in Kurukshetra and the lord manifests here in in Hiranyakashipu's court so let's look at the form so here we will see that there are many eyes which are described there is described that there is many many faces many many eyes and now these eyes we will see that these are none of them are are very pleasing of course it is not that all of them are furious when we talk about the Vishwaroopa also what happens is there is a gradual progression in the revelation of the Vishwaroopa also initially when Arjuna sees the Vishwaroopa what he sees is actually there is he is he is astonished so initially it is such a magnificent display that he is astounded by it but from the there is he says I am disturbed I am anguished I am fearful he says I am fearful so what happens is when Krishna shows initially the Vishwaroopa that is astounding but within the Vishwaroopa Krishna also shows the Kaalaroopa and that Kaalaroopa is scary in fact we will see in the development of the 11th chapter initially when Arjuna sees the Vishwaroopa he identifies it he says he says in 11.16 in the Bhagavad Gita but then he has heard about the Vishwaroopa how the whole universe is contained in the form of the Lord everything in the universe is seen in the form of the Lord and he is seeing that but then suddenly he starts seeing something very scary and that is why in the 31st verse he asks he starts asking that who are you who are you in Sanskrit there is a first person reference second person reference is of different kinds in English second person reference is just you but in say in Hindi we have Tu or Aap Tu is a normal reference Aap is a more respectful second person reference so in Sanskrit also we have Tvam and we have Bhavan so Tvam is a general second person reference Bhavan is a respectful second person reference so what happens is when Arjuna is surrendering to Krishna in the start of the Gita in 2.7 he says Vrchamitvam Vrchamitvam dharmasamudhacheta he says please tell me what is dharma please tell me what is the right thing to do so there yes he is surrendering to Krishna but Krishna is his friend but when he sees the Vishwaroopa that Tvam changes to Bhavan so it's like say we pick up the phone kaun hai tu, who is speaking and we find out it's our boss speaking main aapke liye kya kar sakta hoon, what can I do for you so the mood changes so Arjuna when he sees this universal form he is scared, Bhavan he says he is much more respectful but still we may say why is he asking who are you hasn't he already identified he says you are the Vishwaroopa but what happens is there is something different over here say we are going for a walk with an old friend whom we are meeting after a decade or so and then we are chatting with them nicely and suddenly a group of thugs pounce on us now when that group of thugs pounce on us at that time our friend suddenly starts manifesting extraordinary martial skills you know karate or judo that all those thugs are knocked down within few minutes and then we may turn at our friend and say who are you in one sense we know he is our friend but when we see something unfamiliar in someone familiar then we ask who are you so who are you, what have you done to my friend where has my friend gone, what is this new thing I am seeing similarly Arjuna knows this is Vishwaroopa but the Vishwaroopa simply shows the whole universe contained in the body of the lord but when Arjuna is seeing this fearsome sight he is seeing all the warriors going into the mouth of the Vishwaroopa, he says what is this I don't know what this is that's why he is asking who are you so that unfamiliar feature is the Kaalaroopa that unfamiliar feature which Krishna is showing is the Kaalaroopa so what happens with respect to the Kaalaroopa is that the Kaalaroopa is is devouring everyone, so there is fire coming out from his mouth and is devouring almost everyone in the battlefield Krishna tells Arjuna that except for you Pandavas everybody will be destroyed so just as the Narasimha Roopa is fierce the Vishwaroopa is especially the Kaala dimension of the Vishwaroopa is also fierce there are garlands there are garlands which are many many bodies, many faces and many necks and many garlands over there on his body and if you consider the hands again we said that here also the Vishwaroopa is observing many many hands and there are many many weapons many many ornaments in each of these arms, so it's a scary it's an awesome form and this form is that it's everywhere later on then when Arjuna wants to offer obeisances he says, if you go to a temple, the altar is in front and we offer obeisances, he says my dear lord, this Vishwaroopa is everywhere so where do I offer obeisances so he says ok, I'll offer obeisances from I offer obeisances from the front I offer obeisances from behind I offer obeisances from all directions hundreds and thousands of times I offer obeisances all pervading form so we'll see here that there are remarkable similarities between the Narsimha Roopa and the Vishwaroopa specifically the Kala dimension of the Vishwaroopa so why is there such similarity over here because the purposes are similar so Krishna in Vrindavan has a different purpose Krishna when revealing the Vishwaroopa and the Kala Roopa has a different purpose so Narsimha Roopa as I said it was to punish the wrongdoers and to warn those who didn't stop the wrongdoers now Vishwaroopa, what was the purpose it is to reveal the fate awaiting the wrongdoers so what has happened is Arjuna had simply asked Krishna please show me the Vishwaroopa but Krishna said I'll show you something extra and what was that extra Krishna showed Arjuna's concern was if I don't fight then can I avoid the death of my relatives can I avoid this terrible war in which so many people will be killed Krishna is revealing through the Kala Roopa darshan that actually their death is destined.

Your arrows will simply be the instruments for their death. It is their own past karma which is going to cause their death so nimitta matram Krishna tells Arjuna in 11.33 you can be an instrument if you don't choose to be an instrument I will act. They will have to get their karma their destiny is going to befall them.

The only choice is whether you will take responsibility and you will get the glory so Krishna reveals the Vishwaroopa here it is not to terrify Arjuna although Arjuna does get terrified momentarily but that terrifying vision is to solidify Arjuna's determination. Yes let me do my duty so to reveal the fate awaiting the wrongdoers and the fate awaiting those who are supporting the wrongdoers so in that sense fear is serving Krishna's purpose so Arjuna has to understand that what is happening here is not simply my decision and my intention I am a part of something far bigger than myself and I can play my part in that plan so thus then Vishwaroopa's form is very similar to Narasimha Roopa's form so now to conclude in the last few minutes how does all this bear relevance to us one of the defining understandings of the bhakti tradition is that God doesn't just exist up there somewhere far away. God exists in here within us and without us the Vishwa is also a form of the Lord.

The events that happen in the world are also in one sense not disconnected from the Lord so the events that happen in our life some of the events may seem good, they may seem benevolent and some of the events may seem malevolent but they are both orchestrated by the Lord and they are orchestrated by the Lord for our ultimate benefit. Krishna says everything happens under my supervision I am the overseer at the same time Krishna also says I am the well-wisher and this well-wisher Krishna is not saying I am the well-wisher only of my devotees. He is the well-wisher of everyone so the events that were happening in the world may seem chaotic, may seem cruel but beyond such appearance of those events is the omnibenevolence of the Lord and this is what we see here in the picture of Prahlad there are demons with scary forms and scary weapons out to attack him.

There are snakes out to attack him but he is just with his hands folded because he is not actually seeing them it is not that he is putting on an act of fearlessness sometimes we may be scared but we may act as if we are not scared for various reasons sometimes say that if the parents may also be scared but if the children are with them then just the children should not become panicky so the parents may act as if they are not scared so that is sometimes a part of our responsibility to conceal our emotions but Prahlad is not doing like that he is actually feeling no fear. Why? he is not seeing anything separate from the Lord so he is saying even if these weapons will pierce my body that is also the plan of the Lord and therefore because the plan of the Lord is always auspicious I have nothing to fear so just as whether the Lord manifests as Narasimhadev or he manifests as Krishna whether he appears very scary and angry or whether he appears very loving and sweet in both cases he is the same Lord. He is having the same benevolent purpose and similarly through whatever events are happening in our life none of us will ever be persecuted as much as Prahlad has been persecuted but even if we feel that we are being terribly troubled still ultimately the Lord is in control and the Lord's plan is still operational at that time when Prahlad was just resisting Hiranyakashipu's atrocities tortures and assassination attempts Prahlad could have felt painfully lonely because nobody was standing up to Hiranyakashipu at that time even his own Gurudev Narada Muni as a part of the Leela was actually subordinating to Hiranyakashipu so he could have felt terribly lonely he could have felt desolate deserted but he did not because he knew that the Lord was within his heart and the Lord was without whatever is happening was within the plan of the Lord so now we may say how do I perceive it? I am not at that level yes we are not but just intellectually first understanding this reality and then gradually tuning our consciousness to that reality that is what we can do by the practise of Bhakti Yoga so Prahlad Maharaj is the embodiment of smaranam of remembrance so remembrance of the Lord is not just an intellectual activity it is not that when we remember the Lord it is that we are somebody asks what is the capital of Somalia, what is the capital of XYZ it is not that it is not a factual remembrance it is more of a direction of the heart, it is a tuning of consciousness it is that remembrance is an expression of love it is like if somebody whom we love is far away then we may pick up their photo and remember them so what happens is when we tune our consciousness to Krishna, when we remember Krishna what does it mean? by the practise of Bhakti Yoga we understand that Krishna is the supreme reality and he becomes the supreme reality, the foremost reality in our consciousness so Krishna is always the supreme reality but is he the supreme reality in our consciousness now for us when we are functioning this person is speaking like this this war is going on in this part of the world this political unrest is there over here, this financial insecurity is there, those may be the foremost realities, now there are also realities that we have to deal with but for a devotee the more we practise Bhakti Yoga these realities become subordinate, they are realities I have to deal with, but the foremost reality is Krishna is in control and if Prabhupada came to America he could have seen I am an old person I have no money, I don't know anyone and these people have never heard of Krishna, how am I going to speak to them, how am I going to understand, what is even the use of my coming here but he, what did Prabhupada see, Prabhupada saw that actually Krishna is still in control he saw that Krishna you are still in control, it is by under your arrangement that all these people are under illusion and if you so desire, they can come out of illusion and then he says if you wish to make me an instrument to bring them out of illusion please do so so Prabhupada was not only not seeing the world as separate from Krishna the American coastline that he was seeing, he was not seeing that separate from Krishna, he was not seeing himself as separate from Krishna he saw that I am your instrument Krishna, if you want me to make me dance, make me dance so our circumstances may be devotionally favourable or unfavourable but if you practise bhakti yoga then Krishna will become the foremost reality in our consciousness and that is the purpose of turning our consciousness toward Krishna and tuning our consciousness to Krishna, so we consciously turn our consciousness by practising bhakti, we take darshan of the lord, we chant the holy names but that turning is we can't do that constantly because we can't be focused on Krishna constantly but through the turning our consciousness, conscientiously for some time of sadhana, of seva of swadhyay, of satsang by that slowly our consciousness will become tuned to Krishna and when it is tuned to Krishna even when we are not seeing Krishna even when we are doing our family responsibilities our professional responsibilities, our social responsibilities, we will be able to see the hand of Krishna that's how by turning our consciousness to Krishna consciously our consciousness will also become subtly tuned toward Krishna and this point of favourable and unfavourable example, unfavourable externals, let's conclude with that that if you consider the Bhagavatam is a book about death and departure from the world now there are two contrasting departures in the fourth canto, Dhruva's departure is described and it is said that he ascended the Vaikuntha plane and everybody could see it beautifully and not only did he go with the Vishnu Dutas respecting him and he took his mother with him in a separate aeroplane so it was supremely auspicious, so it appeared wonderful and it was wonderful, in contrast if you consider Parikshit's departure what happened was he was cursed to die and the Takshaka bird came and bit him and when the Takshaka bird bit him what happened his whole body erupted into flames and he died in that sense so now there are various ways of dying actually burning to death is among the most painful forms of death if somebody is shot with a bullet or cut with a knife, it's just one moment the cut and it's death but burning means you can actually the whole skin all over the body there is not just one fatal wound but there is pain all over the body it's among the most painful forms of death so Parikshit's death can appear dreadful but it was not dreadful it was wonderful it was just as wonderful as Dhruva's death Dhruva's departure from the world why? because by his Shravanam by his hearing, by his immersion in the practise of Bhakti Yoga Parikshit Maharaj's consciousness was already with Krishna and it was only his body was burned but his consciousness was no longer in his body so materially one departure was wonderful materially the other departure was dreadful but in both the Lord was acting benevolently the magic of Bhakti was working so similarly for us that sometimes our situations may be favourable, sometimes our situations may be unfavourable but we can tune our consciousness to the Lord focus on the Lord that whatever karma may get us to, Krishna will get us through whatever situations come in our life good or bad that is our own karma coming upon us whatever karma may get us to we have that faith that Krishna will get us through Krishna is our all loving Lord, he is our all benevolent Lord and he has sustained us for multiple lifetimes when we were not even inclined to turn towards him, when we probably didn't even know about him so if he has sustained us through all those lifetimes, now that we have turned our consciousness towards him now that we are practising Bhakti, why will he not sustain us now he will surely take us all the way he has not brought us so far to abandon us now, so we may sometimes feel abandoned as Prahlad could have felt abandoned when he was all alone resisting the atrocities of Hiranyakashipu but rather than giving in to those feelings, we can try to raise our consciousness and try to focus on the Lord, so on the occasion of Narsimha Chaturdashi, let us all pray that just as Lord Narsimha Deva appeared as the foremost reality in the court of Hiranyakashipu where Hiranyakashipu thought I was the king, he saw that Lord Narsimha Deva still reigns supreme, so just as the Lord appeared there dwarfing all other realities and revealing himself as the supreme reality, may that Lord appear in our hearts as the supreme reality and all our cravings, all our fears all our distractions may they all become dwarfed by the Lord's supreme and supremely benevolent presence in our hearts that will be the fulfilment of the celebration of Narsimha Chaturdashi when the Lord appears in our hearts and reigns supreme residing and presiding on the throne of our heart Shri Narsimha Deva Bhagavan ki Jai Shri Narsimha Deva Bhagavan ki Jai Thank you very much I will quickly summarise I discussed four main points I started by describing the fearsome form of Lord Narsimha Deva and how this seems to be very different from the second point was the discontrast between Krishna's and Narsimha Deva's form and why it is because of the purpose being different the third was the similarity between Narsimha Deva and Vishwaroop's form because their purpose was similar and the last was, just as the Lord may appear in different forms but he has one ultimate purpose even his anger expresses his love, similarly, through the events in our life, the Lord is acting and he has a benevolent purpose so by tuning our consciousness to him we can make him the foremost reality and then whatever karma may get us to Krishna will get us through Thank you very much Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Thank you very much for this opportunity to share something about Lord Narsimha Deva's glories Hare Krishna Hello? Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Can you hear us? Hare Krishna Hare Krishna No, Prabhu, I cannot hear you somehow strangely Let me see Can you speak now? Yes Somehow I'm Yeah, please Yeah, I can hear you now Yes, yes So, I will, is it okay if we ask the workers if they have questions to speak them out loud if they have time to take some questions if possible Yes, I'm of service, I don't want to extend your time too much See, I'm not able to hear you on Zoom somehow I'll see if I can fix it but maybe then you can repeat the question on the phone if possible Sure Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Yeah, you can hear me Hare Krishna Is it a real story or is it a Is that the question? Okay So, is it a real or a mythological story? Well, there are two things over here First of all, just this categorisation itself is to some extent artificial categorisation based on non-Vedic framework of thinking that if we consider this it is in the western post-Newtonian way of approaching reality reality is seen as fact centred whereas if we consider even in the western world before before the age of what we call a scientific revolution even the histories that are written whether it is Shakespeare writing or whether the Iliad, Odyssey whatever books are written the purpose of history is not facts but values that we we study what has happened in the past to learn values from it so the facts it is not that the facts are not there or not important but the facts are not the primary thing so when we talk about real or mythological the idea is real means it is based on facts and mythological means okay there are some values to be learned from it but it is not real now the Vedic understanding is that there is real history but the focus is not on the facts of history the focus is on the values learned from history now to go beyond specifically the question is is this something that really happened yes the universe is far far more complex than what our senses can perceive and even what our technologically extended sense of cognition whether it is through the universe in space or in the past history what we can perceive that is limited so beyond what we can perceive there are many things in the universe and yes the lord can appear in extraordinary forms and the lord can do extraordinary deeds so these are not say the lord Narasimhadev appearing through a pillar and breaking himself having a giant form all this is not unscientific divine activities are not against science they are above science they are science expresses god's will in terms of how he has ordered the universe to function in normal circumstances so whether it is neutral laws of motion or electromagnetic laws of electromagnetism or whatever they also express god's will of how nature functions normally but sometimes by divine will for special situations the normal way of functioning is suspended and sometimes the lord does extraordinary things so both the ordinary course of things happening in nature and the extraordinary things that happen when the lord appears both a devotee sees as expressing god's supremacy through the order of the universe and through the temporary suspension of that order so yes these are historical events but these are not just ordinary historical events we can say this is transcendence manifesting through history normal history is operating within the constraints of space and time in the laws of physics but when the lord appears within history at that time those constraints of time and space of the laws of physics are suspended so when Krishna lifts the Govardhan hill somebody may ask how can one person lift a big mountain even if I have to lift my phone on the little finger it is difficult and how can I have to first of all find the exact centre of gravity to be able to lift up this phone also and balance it so if somebody asks how could Krishna have lifted up the Govardhan hill how did he lift such a heavy weight how did he find the centre of gravity how did he resist its weight so actually Krishna doesn't have to find the centre of gravity because he is the source of gravity so gravity acts under his rule under his will and he can suspend it temporarily so yes even if some of the events seem supernatural they seem miraculous but that doesn't mean that they are fictional so we can use the word mythological in the sense that the focus is on values that is true but you are saying mythological in the sense that it is fictional no it is not fictional they are fantastic but they are not fantasy fantasy means their imagination fantastic means they involve things which is difficult for us to understand which are difficult for us to perceive but that doesn't mean that they are fictional ok any other questions another question how can a devotee who is surrounded by the wrongdoing of evil not feel surrounded by the truth on I guess following Krishna devotee even around a practical example can you please repeat so Prabhuji asked if one is surrounded by wrongdoing or evil then how can one remain Krishna focused despite of what's going on in their surroundings so if we are surrounded by wrongdoing in our surroundings how can we stay Krishna focused yes it is difficult so two things first is that we need to choose our battles if we consider three modes of material nature in tamoguna we underestimate our capacity to do anything there is nothing I can do about it in rajoguna we overestimate our capacity we think that I can fix all problems in sattvaguna we learn to estimate our capacity properly I can't change everything but maybe I can make some small changes, maybe I can make a contribution so sometimes the world may be so things may be so terribly wrong that we may not even feel that we can make any difference but even if we can't make a difference we can still make a contribution to some cause that will make a difference so each of us, we can't do much to change the consciousness of the world but there are many things unfavourable but maybe what we can do is try to keep our consciousness as high as possible not let it sink into lower modes not let it get consumed by lower desires so understanding what is in our capacity to do that is important and we can't we can't change the world we can't also change the world from affecting our consciousness because we have to function in the world but we can make some time regularly for protecting and purifying our consciousness so if we do, if we invest some time for connecting directly with Krishna that will help us to stay to protect our consciousness and then maybe we can also make a difference or make a contribution towards making a difference so for doing this for protecting and purifying our consciousness we can firstly invest some time in spiritual practises and then secondly in our circumstances those things which especially agitate our consciousness which especially trouble us which especially tempt us whatever, we try to keep a distance from them and in the things which uplift our consciousness we try to connect more with them so even if we are in a professional setting or say where everybody seems to be materialistic but materialistic is a very broad word even among people who are materially minded there will be some people who are relatively in sattva guna everybody has terrible habits and they are in tamo guna, well don't just look at particular habits look at overall behaviour there are people who are contemplative, there are people who think about some higher purposes in life, not everybody is simply pursuing gross sensuality 24 hours a day so even in our association we can try to avoid those influences which are especially tamasic which are especially degrading and whatever circumstances we have if there is some level of like mindedness, some level of sattva is there, we can highlight that, so that way so one is we withdraw from the external association to connect with Krishna directly and when we are in that external association we try to focus more on sattva as much as possible and we try to minimise the exposure to tamas so like Prahlad Maharaj what he did was, he was a small child he couldn't change what his guru, what his Shanda and Amarka were teaching so he heard them he was not a rebellious student who was disrupting their classes when they were teaching but after their class was over when he was with his friends he he was other co-students he started speaking about Krishna to them now is it that every single child of every demon started becoming equally receptive to bhakti maybe not but he created that space for himself even in that association where he could be Krishna conscious and he could share Krishna consciousness, now if we can't share Krishna consciousness, at least we can share some sattva guni values and have some higher consciousness ok, so thank you very much thank you very much for the opportunity Hare Krishna Thank you very much Hare Krishna Shri Narasimhadev Bhagwan Ki Jai.