When Prahlad is a pure devotee, why does he offer prayers for bodily protection in Narasimha kavacha mantras?

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When Prahlad Maharaj is a pure devotee, why does he offer prayers like the Narsimha Kavacha, which is asking for bodily protection? Answer, the Narsimha Kavacha is a part of the, the Narsimha Kavacha is a part of a tradition of Tantra. Tantra involves using matter to reach spirit. Vedanta involves the separation of matter and spirit so that there can be focus on spirit.
For example, na iti, na iti, not this, not this. In this way we reject matter to focus on spirit. But matter can also be used for spirit.
For example, deity worship is an example. The deity is not considered to be material. At the same time, the deity is made of matter and the deity manifests through that matter.
So the divine manifests. So we use matter to approach transcendence and that can apply not just to the fact that there are deities, but there are so many other ways. We consider dhams, are ways in which we use, we use some material place.
It’s a transcendental place, but it is manifest in the material world at a particular geographical location. It is not restricted to that location. It is manifested at that location.
So similarly, it’s a, the Narsimha Kavacha uses the body and the desire for protecting the body as an impetus for remembering the Lord. So, for example, the different parts of the body, for example, are connected with different names of the Lord, which often are associated with maybe somehow that faculty. May that Lord protect my hands, who has powerful hands.
So by such a prayer, we might think that this is a prayer for the protection of the hands, but by in prayer associating our hands with the Lord, what happens is when we think of our hands, we think of the Lord. So the body and the bodily limbs can be used to think of the Lord and the Lord’s limbs. And in that way, we see that there is resourcefulness in creating avenues for remembering the Lord.
So that’s how we all can actually deepen our remembrance of the Lord. And ye nakena prakarena manah krishna nivesayet. Somehow or the other, fix the mind on Krishna.
Now, the Narsimha Kavacha itself does not give us any context of when exactly these prayers are offered. So we could say that Prahlad Maharaj was doing this as a part of Tantra Puja. Another could be that Prahlad Maharaj is the, he’s doing it for our instruction.
It’s like we have Bhaktivinod Thakur saying, amara jeevan sada pape ratha. My life is filled with sin, when actually there is no sin in his life. But he’s praying that way so that he can be, he can set an example for an instruction for us.
So now here, when Prahlad Maharaj is praying for protection of the body, it is that people are anyway going to want to protect their bodies and they may go to God for protecting their bodies. Then instead of simply praying, O Lord, protect my body, if there is a method by which their bodily consciousness can be used to enhance Krishna consciousness, then God consciousness in general, then why not do that or Narsimha consciousness? Why not do that? So is it that every single action that a pure devotee has to always demonstrate pure devotion? Not necessarily. Some actions may be spoken.
So some actions may be done and some words may be spoken to get people to even practice mixed devotion. V.C. Srila Prabhupada would sometimes speak to business people in India that I went to America with 40 rupees and now our temples have 40 crore rupees. So that means, now is he saying that by doing business with Krishna you will make so much profit? And is he that way alluring people to worship Krishna? Well, why not? They start it.
Afterward, they can come to a purer level. So Prahlad’s teachings are at various levels. And we could say either he is himself doing this worship and in that sense is offering the prayers, that is using his body to meditate on the Lord.
Secondly, he is using bodily consciousness of people in general to infuse their bodily consciousness with God consciousness. And more importantly for us is that this is an education for us of how our ordinary desires can also be spiritualized. And because Prahlad Maharaj is an example of how the Lord extraordinarily protected him, so naturally if a prayer for protection is offered by Prahlad, then it can attract and resonate with us.
And thus we can become also inspired to offer those prayers and become enriched in our devotion. So if Prahlad simply offers a prayer, I don’t care for my body, you do whatever you want, then how many of us can actually with a sincere heart offer that kind of prayer? So that way also we can see this is Prahlad Maharaj’s personal devotion be expressed in an inclusive way to also encourage us to develop devotion. Thank you.