Lakshmi Narasmiha Karavalamba Stotra Meaning 1

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Hare Krishna.
On the sacred occasion of Narasimha Chaturthashi, we will discuss a very celebrated set of prayers, Lakshmi Narasimha Karunarastotra or Lakshmi Narasimha Karavalambastotra. Now, this is attributed to Shankaracharya. And there are various stories about how and when this particular set of verses is spoken.
There are 16 texts followed by a 17, which is Pahashruti. And we will focus on the mood of these verses rather than going into the specific stories. So here we will focus on the, now the stotra is called sometimes as Karavalambastotra or Karunarastotra.
Now Lakshmi Narasimha is the common name for both. So Karunarastotra means this is a, Karuna is mercy or compassion, pity. So the idea is that by depicting how miserable material existence is and how we are so helplessly trapped in material existence, the mercy, the Karuna is invoked in the Lord by which he will come and deliver us.
And the Karavalambastotra is because each of these verses ends with the refrain Lakshmi Narasimha Mamadehi Karavalambam. So that common refrain is what makes this particular text as so celebrated as by the name Karavalambastotra. Now Karavalamba, Kara is hand, Avalamba means shelter.
Please grant me the shelter of your hand. Please bless me. Now if we see the Kara of Lord Narasimhadev is very significant because Lord Narasimhadev does not use any weapons and it is with this Kara, with his hand that he deals with both the primary protagonists in his Leela.
The primary protagonists in his Leela are Hiranyakashyapu and Prahlad. And if we see both of them are dealt with by the Lord with his hands, with the tip of his hand, that is with his nails, he rips apart Hiranyakashyapu. And it is with his hand that he blesses Prahlad.
And in this way both are celebrated for the special thing that they, so both are connected with his hand and that’s the speciality of his hands. So let’s begin with, so it’s significant that O dear Lord, now there is Hiranyakashyapu like tendencies in our heart which can be ripped apart by the hands of the Lord. And there are Prahlad like tendencies which are in our heart which can be benedicted and strengthened by the blessing of the Lord.
So we can pray for both and both are signified by the Karavalambha Sutra. So we will discuss one by one these texts. Let’s begin with the first text.
श्रीमद पयो निधिनिकेतन चक्रपाने भोगिन्द्रभोगमणिरजितसं पुन्यमूर्ते योगीश शाश्वत शरण्यभावदिपोता लक्ष्मी नरसिम्ममदेहि करावलंबम् So here the first text is श्रीमद पयो निधिनिकेतन चक्रपाने श्रीमद पयो So श्रीमद, the आन्हू is that we have the word श्रीमद भागवतम Traditionally the Purana has been called as भागवत पुरान But especially the followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu refer to it as श्रीमद भागवत And the reason for that is because it’s a beautiful श्रीमद भागवत, श्रीमद पयो So similarly श्रीमद refers to that which is endowed with श्री, श्री can refer to wealth, श्री can refer to fortune And श्री can refer to one of the attributes of fortune, that is beauty So that which is enriched with fortune, with beauty, with wealth So that is श्रीमद पयो निधी निकेतन चक्रपाने So पयो निधी, पयो is milk, निधी is ocean, निकेतन is abode So this is invoking the majesty of the form of Lord Vishnu who resides in the खशीर सागर, in the ocean of milk So now, well देविद्याभूष्यन in this Govinda Bhashya commentary in the Vedanta Sutra explains how When devotees are in a trance of ecstasy, they while referring to one form of the Lord And glorifying that form, the spontaneous devotional flow that expresses itself through their words Is such that they refer to the glory of the Lord not in isolation but in integration That means that they don’t glorify only the one specific form that is there in front of them The devotees glorify the Lord in His full glory And that’s why sometimes we’ll see that when there are prayers, for example this Venkatesh Suprabhatam Wherein Venkatesh is being glorified but then there are prayers within that for Krishna and there are prayers for Ram And of course there are prayers for Venkatesh also So the point is that the Lord is not glorified in isolation, He is glorified with an integrated understanding That it is one Lord who is manifesting in many forms अद्वाईतम अच्छुतम नादे मनन्दरूपम As Brahma Samhita states अद्वाईतम There are many forms there, अद्वाईतम They are not different from each other That’s why a devotee does not differentiate Especially when there is a spontaneous glorification that is happening So here the prayer is being offered to Narasimhadev But it is right in the beginning The composer reminds us that this particular person is not an ordinary person This person is Vishnu himself who resides in the milk ocean पयो निधिनिकेतन So this particular form of Vishnu which resides in the Shira Sagar Dakshiro Dakshaya Vishnu Is the protector and maintainer of this world And there are the agents of the Supreme Lord who maintain us But when the problem of maintenance becomes too difficult to deal with At that time when those agents cannot deal with the problem Then the responsibility Then they ask for help from the Supreme Lord And this Shiro Dakshaya Vishnu Lies at the intersection between the material and spiritual worlds In the sense that Those who are in the material world can’t directly perceive him But they can appeal to him And that Lord who exists in the transcendental spiritual world Makes himself accessible perennially In the form of Shiro Dakshaya Vishnu So that is this Lord who is being invoked And who is going to appear Narasimhadev पयो निधिनिकेतन चक्रपाने So चक्रपाने refers to that Lord Who carries a Chakra चक्रपाने Now पाने is hand Another word for कर So now we know that Lord Vishnu has this four ayudhas Shankha, Chakra, Dada and Padma So चक्रपाने There are many names which are related with Chakra So one of them is चक्रपाने श्रीमत पयो निधिनिकेतन चक्रपाने भोगींद्र भोग मनीरजित पुण्यमूर्ते भोगींद्र भोग मनीरजित So भोगींद्र भोग मनी मनीरजित means that is ornamented by jewels So he lies down भोगींद्र भोग means that he lies down reclines, delights on a bed of snakes Now who normally even if we are lying down on our bed and if a snake comes we will flee from there Either we will flee in panic or we will petrified in panic not we hoping that we will not draw attention to ourselves But who will lie down and relax on a bed of snakes But such is the transcendental glory of the Lord that that which is a cause of terror in this world becomes the cause of relax becomes the basis of relaxation for him So he has a snake bed and on that he relaxes and he भोगींद्र भोग मनीरजित पुण्यमूर्ते पुण्यमूर्ते His form is supremely auspicious Those who are attracted to his form do not become attracted to the things of this world In fact, attraction to the forms of this world is binding That is attraction to the form of the Supreme Lord is liberating Rather than The पुण्यमूर्ते, the emphasis is that we should not think that there is that we need to go beyond this form to something beyond it to some light beyond it No, it is this particular form itself that is eternal and we simply need to become attracted to this form and the attraction to this form will provide us liberation भोगींद्र भोग मनीरजित पुण्यमूर्ते योगीश शाष्वत शरण्य भवाब्धि पोता योगीश So, योगीश He is the supreme master of all the yogis योगीश शाष्वत शरण्य भवाब्धि पोता So, now yoga is essentially the process of connection with the Supreme Lord and now that Lord who bestows this connection that Lord who is the object of the connection and that Lord who is the foundation of the process of yoga शाष्वत शरण्य So, he is not just the योगीश doesn’t just mean that he is the greatest of all the yogis but rather that he is the controller of the process of yoga and it is he who is the bestower of the fruit of the process of yoga शाष्वत शरण्य In this world we take shelter of different things When it’s hot, we may turn on the AC and we secretly, in that sense, we take shelter of the AC When there are heavy storms, people may take shelter of some underground shelters where there is hope that the storm will not attack them When we are sick, we take shelter of the doctors All this is good These things do offer us shelter but none of these are शाष्वत शरण्य They are अशाष्वत None of them can protect us from the cycle of birth and death शाष्वत शरण्य भावाऽभ्धिपोत भावाऽभ्धि That शाष्वत शरण्य who is the supreme object of shelter that is mentioned here that is talked about in the next verse भावाऽभ्धिपोत भावाऽभ्धि The material existence is often compared in the scriptures to the ocean I understand it is very difficult for a person to swim through an ocean and find land but with a boat, the journey becomes much easier Similarly, by taking shelter of the Lord, भावाऽभ्धिपोत By taking shelter of Him, we can go beyond the miseries of material existence And it is to this Lord that prayers are offered लक्ष्मी नर्सिम्ह ममदेहि कराव लंबं लक्ष्मी नर्सिम्ह O Lord Lakshmi Narasimhadev The standard visual for which this prayer is offered is Narasimhadev is there and on His lap, Lakshmi Devi is sitting लक्ष्मी नर्सिम्ह ममदेहि कराव लंबं ममदेहि Please give me the shelter of Your hands कराव लंबं So after describing the majesty of Vishnu and the potency of Vishnu who is non-different from Narasimhadev this verse, this stotra begins and moves forward The second stotra is ब्रह्मेंद्र रुद्र अर्क किरीट कोटी संघाटि तांग्रि कमलामल कान्ति कान्त लक्ष्मी लसत्कुच सरोरुःराज हम्स लक्ष्मी नर्सिम्ह ममदेहि कराव लंबं So ब्रह्मेंद्र रुद्र अर्क किरीट कोटी किरीट किरीट refers to crowns कोटी कोटी is कोटी is crores So ब्रह्मेंद्र रुद्र अर्क किरीट कोटी So all the greatest devatas are mentioned over here So how they are all offering their obeisances to him ब्रह्मा is the primeval is the primeval god from whom all the gods who supervise the material world manifest ब्रह्मेंद्र रुद्र ब्रह्म इंद्र Now इंद्र refers to इंद्र is now is considered to be the king of the gods So if we see that way he is the king of the administrative gods ब्रह्मा जी is not directly involved in the day to day administration But among the devatas who are involved in the day to day administration इंद्र is the greatest So when we want to understand the greatness of a particular person what are the ways in which we understand it One is we can just know about the great attributes of that person say how much wealth that person has how much power that person has how much what are the accomplishments that the person has done Another way to know is that who are all the persons who are serving that person So if you want to know the greatness of a particular military commander and if we know that there is some there is a whole galaxy of famous commanders who have served under that commander then we understand oh he is not such a great person So like that there are different ways in which we can understand the glory of the supreme lord One way is by understanding his own glory oh he is the shelter of the material world he is the means by which you can come out of the material world his position is talked about in the first verse and then his those who are serving him who all are serving him is talked about in the next verse and then after that संगातितांग्रिकमलामलकांतिकांत So संगातित all of them together अंग्रिकमलामलकांतिकांत अंग्रि refers to his lotus feet So the vision that is given over here is किरील्ट is the crown Now the crown is worn by someone who is a king but all those crowns are bowing down and are touching the lotus feet कमलामलकांतिकांत and the effulgence of all those crowns is there near the lotus feet of the lord whose effulgence is greater it outshines all those effulgences and in this way the the highest part of those beings who are far higher than us that is the devatas their highest part is the part which आभूर्षियन that signifies their greatness that is their crown that is falling at the feet of lord Narasimhadeva संगाति तंग्रि कमलामलकांतिकांत अमलकांतिकांत spotless lotus feet are there and those they are being worshipped by the effulgent crowns of all the celestial administrators and then लक्ष्मी लसत्कुच सरोरुह राजहंस now another vision that is given over here is लक्ष्मी लसत्कुच सरोरुह राजहंस Lakshmi Devi she is in her own category she is the consort of the lord and yet while being the consort of the lord she is also in a position of glorifying him in the specific past time where Narasimhadeva and Prahlad and Hiranyakashipu intersect in that past time and Lakshmi Devi also offers Lakshmi Devi is also one of those who tries to offer prayers and pacify the lord but she also is not able to pacify but Allah pacifies but the point is she is also there who is glorifying she is out there glorifying him and here it is mentioned that लक्ष्मी लसत्कुच सरोरुह राजहंस राजहंस the royal swan so Lakshmi Devi is offering her with her description of her of her great beauty she who is very beautiful she who is the goddess of fortune she is offering herself in service of the lord and सरोरुह राजहंस just as in a lake the राजहंस is very sweet similarly the lake itself is beautiful and in that if there is a swan it looks even more beautiful similarly among all those who are serving and glorifying the lord Lakshmi Devi the beautiful goddess of fortune is also there serving the supreme lord glorifying the supreme lord and such is the lord लक्ष्मी नरसंभममदेः करावलम्म such is the lord whom she worships whom we worship whose benediction we seek and now after describing this in the third text onwards the description of the miserable, dangerous, treacherous material existence begins संसार गोर गहने चरतो मुरारे मारोग्र भिकार मुरुग प्रवर्धितस्या आर्तस्मत्सर निधिचे पिरस्या लक्ष्मी नरसंभमदेः करावलम्म so here संसार गोर गहने चरतो मुरारे मारोग्र भिकार मुरुग प्रवर्धितस्या आर्तस्मत्सर निधिचे पिरस्या लक्ष्मी नरसंभमदेः करावलम्म so what is mentioned over here is संसार गोर गहने चरतो मुरारे संसार गोर गहने चरतो मुरारे so in this संसार which is extremely dangerous which is very dark and deadly चरतो we have been wandering about not knowing where to go not knowing what to do not knowing how to live so just like if we are in a dark place which is also foreign if we are in our house and suddenly the power goes off then atleast we can grope and okay we know this is here, this is here and if I go here I can find a door if I go here I can find a candle and I can light it so if the place is dark and it’s familiar atleast we can move around but if the place is dark and unfamiliar then moving around also becomes very difficult so this material existence is dark and familiar for us संसार गोर गहने चरतो so we are wandering in this dark and unfamiliar material existence not knowing where we are and where we are meant to go not even knowing who we are actually चरतो मुरारे O Murari, O Lord who is the killer of the Muradiman so what has this guy मारोग्रभिकारमुगः प्रवर्धितस्यं so मारोग्रभिकारमुगः प्रवर्धितस्यं आर्तस्य मत्सरंदचि इपर्तस्यं पीडितस्यं पीडितस्यं we are actually tormented in this material existence and there are various translations or interpretations of this verse given essential point is that actually this material world is a place of great misery and here it is difficult for us to figure out how am I going to come out what exactly am I going to do by which I can protect myself by which I can save myself by which I can come out of material existence so in this particular series of verses various metaphors are used to convey how deadly how dangerous how treacherous how difficult to escape this material existence and they say लक्ष्मिनर्सिम्हममदेहि करावलंबम् so I pray to lord Narasimhadev please release me please protect me please deliver me लक्ष्मिनर्सिम्हममदेहि करावलंबम् so to that lord Narasimhadev I ask for help may he protect me may he release me thank you Hare Krishna