Lakshmi-Narasimha Karuna-rasa-stotra 7: Counter the poison coming from the fangs of the sense objects with the nectar of devotion

samsara-sarpa-visha-digdha mahogra-tivra

damstragra-koti-paridashta vinashta-murte

nagari-vahana sudhabdhi-nivasa shaure

lakshmi-nrisimha mama dehi karavalambam

“I have been bitten by the tens of millions of terrible sharp fangs of the snake of material existence. Having been injected with its powerful poison, I have lost my consciousness as the eternal servant of Krishna. The best remedy for snakebite is nectar, therefore O Lord Shauri, You reside in the ocean of nectar and Your carrier is Garuda the great enemy of snakes. O Lakshmi-Nrisimha, please bless me with the touch of Your lotus hands.”

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
The glory, the shelter of the Lord, and as He begs for that shelter, lakṣmī-narsimha-mamadehi-kharāvalambam O Lord Lakṣmī-narsimha, please give kharāvalambam mamadehi, the blessing of your lotus feet, the shelter of your lotus feet, please grant me with that. So here He is praying. samsāra-sarpa So this existence is like a snake.
viṣati-vidha-mahogati-vra damśtra-agra-koṭi So damśtra-agra-koṭi So normally a snake has a few teeth, a few fangs, and those fangs are dangerous, but this particular snake doesn’t have one or two, it has crores of fangs, and not only are those fangs in formidable, frightening, awesome number of crores, but they are also viṣati-vidha, all of them are filled with poison, mahogati-vra, they are mahogati-vra, extremely gory, and ti-vra, piercingly sharp, so with such fangs, mahogati-vra, and then with such fangs what happens? ti-vra, normally people may, sometimes some snakes may poison us, but if their fangs are not very sharp, the poison will not penetrate, but there are many fangs, innumerable almost, they are deadly, filled with poison, and they are devastatingly sharp, so what is the hope? naṁśitāgra-koṭi-pariḍaṣṭa-vinaṣṭa-mūrte so under this circumstance, pariḍaṣṭa-vinaṣṭa-mūrte actually what has happened is that the spiritual consciousness of the soul has been destroyed, now what are these fangs compared to? they are all the sense objects, when we are exposed to sense objects, then we become injected by that contact with sense desires, so similarly, we are beings injected by sense desires from thousands of sense objects, and these are killing our spiritual consciousness, our awareness that we are not the body, we are the soul, that we are servants of Krishna, and then nāgārī-vāhāne, nāgārī-vāhāne refers to that lord who rides on Garuda, sūdha-abdhīmi-vāsa-śaure, sūdha-abdhīmi, the ocean of milk, ocean of nectar, whichever way you want to refer to it, milk itself is a form of nectar, it is considered to be extremely nourishing, sūdha-abdhīmi-vāsa-śaure, that lord śauri, who resides in the milk ocean and is carried by Garuda, so this is not just general glory of the lord, this is specific glory in the context of the metaphor of snakes, the snakes are driven away by the very sight of eagles, and Garuda is an extremely formidable eagle, so Garuda is the carrier of the lord, and in our lives Garuda manifests as the spiritual master, or spiritual guide, so when the spiritual guide comes to us, then just their approach causes the material desires within our heart to tremble, and to flee, seeing the purity, seeing the selflessness, seeing the commitment of devotees, we feel inspired to give up our petty indulgence in material pleasures, sensual activities, and become more serious about devotional service. This is how, just as an eagle’s presence drives away snakes, similarly, the presence of exalted devotees, it’s not a physical presence, but presence in our consciousness, that drives away material desires from our heart, and once those desires are driven away, then what happens? Actually, ok, the poison is no longer being further injected, but still, there is the poison from the past that is there, so the snakebites from the past are still going to trouble us as our conditionings, so then for that, for the poison that is there, when a snake is troubling a person, first the snake has to be driven away, and then the poison has to be countered, so often for that there are antidotes, so the antidote here is, Sudha, bliss, the Lord himself, all this is the ocean of nectar, and he himself is the supreme nectar, so the presence of the Lord in our heart, when we cultivate his remembrance, sincerely, then he manifests in our heart in reciprocation to our efforts, and that presence purifies us, and whatever poison of the selfish enjoying mentality that was there from the past, that goes away, slowly, surely, completely, and in this way, we become reinstated in our position as loving servants of Krishna, so my dear Lord, I need your help, so, I am being bitten by this vicious, multi-fanged metal existence, so actually nowadays, every advertisement, every billboard, is like a fang of the snake, of the serpent of metal existence, every time we look at a billboard, every time we see a commercial, the snake bites us, that means, enjoying mentality is injected into our consciousness, and we feel impelled and dragged, goaded towards fulfilling that particular desire, towards consuming that advertised product, and that way, we forget the purpose of our life, to love and serve Krishna, and to attain his eternal abode, so in such a situation, when there is poison fangs all around, and they can attack us at any moment, it is vital for us to protect ourselves, by begging, invoking, beseeching the mercy of the Lord, so, this tells, the Lord comes in Garuda, for his exalted devotees, similarly, he can and he does manifest in our life, through his devotees, and to the extent we accept and welcome him, to that extent he reciprocates, from within our heart, by manifesting his presence more and more, and driving away the unearthers, so, the holy name is for us, the way to check ourselves, to protect ourselves from the poison, of the enjoying mentality, infecting us further, and also our medicine, to cure us of whatever ill effects, have come up in the past, so in this way, by meditating on how, seriously miserable this mortal existence is, and how desperately we need, Krishna’s mercy, by meditating on these things, we can, inspire us through the shelter of Krishna intensely, Thank you.