Krsna Kirtana Songs est. 2001                                                                                                                                                      www.kksongs.org

Glorifying Lord Sri Nrsimhadeva

Today, April 30, 2007, is the auspicious advent of Sri Krsna in His fiercest incarnation yet. Unlike His form of Sri Vamanadeva, whose nature is gentile, or Sri Ramacandra, whose nature is calm and brings reservoir of pleasure, Lord Nrsimhadeva is the form that brings supreme joy to His devotees and immense fear to sinners and non-devotees. As His appearance day is today, this article will discuss His pastimes briefly, and some bhajans and kirtans that could be sung to glorify Him.

The famous pastime of Lord Nrsimhadeva is found in the Seventh Canto of the Srimad Bhagavatam. The story takes place in Vaikuntha, the holy abode of Lord Visnu, where there were two gatekeepers, Jaya and Vijaya. One day, four great sages, who appeared to look like four young boys, wanted to enter Vaikuntha to meet Lord Visnu. Jaya and Vijaya did not know who the four sages were and turned them away from the door of Vaikuntha. Offended by the lack of respect of the two gatekeepers, the four sages cursed Jaya and Vijaya to take born on earth. For a devotee who is engaged in the Lord’s direct service, this is the worst punishment to receive, for they will be separated from the Lord. Saddened and afraid, the two gatekeepers sought refuge of Lord Visnu. Lord Visnu gave them two options to redeem their curse. They may take fourteen births as His devotees or three births as His non-devotees. Not being able to bear the load of fourteen births, Jaya and Vijaya opted for the latter option. Lord Visnu assured Him that He will kill them in each of their three births.

Jaya and Vijaya later took birth as Hiranyaksa and Hiranyakasipu. The former was killed by Lord Varahadeva, the boar incarnation of Krsna. In a desire to avenge the death of his brother, Hiranyakasipu did severe penance for many years in order to please Lord Brahma. After pleasing Lord Brahma, Hiranyakasipu requested for a boon that he may not be killed in the daytime or nighttime, at home or outside of his home, neither on the ground, sky, heavenly planets, or hellish planets, neither by a man or animal, demon or demigod, or through any weapons. Brahma granted this boon, which made Hiranyakasipu very arrogant. Assuming he was immortal, he harassed the people who adhered to religious principles and duties, known as dharma. He tried to kill Vaisnavas, devotees of Lord Krsna, and instate worship of himself. Even demigods began to worry at this buildup and misuse of power.

Despite Hiranyakasipu’s sinful ways, he had a son who was about five years old with the name of Prahlada. Prahlada, since his birth, chanted the name of Lord Sri Krsna and had the greatest faith in Him. He tried to preaching to his father to forsake his perception that Lord Visnu is his enemy and surrender to Him, but Hiranyakasipu would not listen. He got very angry about the disobedience of his son that he ordered demon soldiers to harass Prahlada in many ways. Prahlada was thrown off a cliff, but Lord Krsna saved him. He was put near a pit of snakes, but he walked away unharmed. Prahlada was the target in the path of an angry elephant, but he was saved by the mercy of the Lord. Hiranyakasipu’s sister, Holika, was given a boon to be protected by fire, but when she sat on the pyre with Prahlada on her lap, it was Prahlada who walked away without a burn, while Holika got burnt and died.

Hiranyakasipu was frustrated that Prahlada was not being killed by any of the obvious means. He asked his son more information about his God as to who and where He was. When Hiranyakasipu pointed to the pillar and asked his son if Lord Krsna is in there, Prahlada humbly said that Krsna is everywhere. With his mace, Hiranyakasipu broke the pillar and out came the ferocious form of Sri Krsna, known as Nrsimha (nara = human, simh = lion). He had the face of a lion, but the remainder of His body looking like a man’s. He placed Hiranyakasipu on His lap, slightly above the ground and below the sky right between the entrance to his house. It was neither day nor night, but evening time. Lord Nrsimhadeva was neither a man, animal, demon, nor demigod, for He is beyond those designations. Finally, He was not going to kill Hiranyakasipu with weapons, but with His own lotus-like fingernails. He ripped Hiranyakasipu’s stomach and finally killed him, keeping Brahma’s boon honored. Prahlada worshipped Him with great devotion and the demigods approached Prahlada to calm Nrsimhadeva down, as He was in his angry forms at the time (Ugra Nrsimha). Prahlada said various prayers to calm Him down as well as to glorify Him.

Since the appearance of Lord Nrsimhadeva, devotees have always worshipped Him and glorified Him. In a humble attempt, some bhajans and kirtanas will be examined. The first and perhaps the most common one is what is known as the Nrsimha Pranama with the first words as Namaste Narasimhaya. This is almost always sung after an arati or sometimes a lengthy kirtana. The reason why this is sung is to protect oneself from any offenses that occurred knowingly or unknowingly during arati. The Nrsimha pranam is almost always followed by the fourth verse of Srila Jayadeva Goswami’s Dasavatara Stotram (Pralaya Payodhi Jale).

Some temples will have a fire yajna ceremony where they chant the Nrsimha kavaca bica mantra (Om Hrim Pram Ksraum) one-hundred eight times. In Mayapura, some temples will have this mantra sung in place of the previously mentioned Nrsimha pranama. After singing the Nrsimha kavaca bica mantra, they usually move to the fourth verse of the Dasavatara Stotram. Very similar to the Nrsimha kavaca bica mantra (“The fundamental sound vibration of the shield [kavaca] of Nrsimha”) is the Nrsimha kavaca stotram (Nrsimha Kavaca Vaksye). The prayer glorifies Lord Nrsimhadeva and humbly prays for protection of various body parts, just as one would get a shield to protect their bodies. Another mantra in relation to the Nrsimha kavaca is Ksraum Bhagavate Narasimhaya known as the Nrsimha Kavaca Mantraraja. It’s a powerful protection prayer that offers a powerful glorification that sees the Lord in His terrific form. Another wonderful prayer written by Madhvacarya is a string of glories of the Lord’s nails! The Sri Nrsimha Nakha Stuti (Pantasman Puruha) is proof that pure devotees glorify the Lord in love without fear, for fear will be destroyed by Sri Nrsimhadeva.

Like Madhvacarya, many devotees who are from South India have great knowledge of Lord Nrsimhadeva. As KKSongs.org primarily features songs from the Brahma Sampradaya, there are occasional songs that are in our song collection that are from the Sri Sampradaya. The first is the Nrsimhastakam by Paramhamsa Yati Jiyar with the first words of Srimad Akalanka Paripurna. Another song common to South Indians, especially by devotees of Sri Venkatesvara, is a Telugu-cum-Sanskrit bhajan Jaya Jaya Nrsimha Sarvesa. A bhajan that Ramanujacarya devotees sing, although in a shorter form, is the Sri Nrsimha Astottara Sata Nama Stotram (Jaya Narasimha Sri Narasimha). This song is the one-hundred eight names of Lord Nrsimha arranged in a metrical form in order to perform this song in kirtan. The refrain of the Sri Nrsimha Astottara Sata Nama Stotram was a verse by Lord Caitanya in His prayer to Lord Nrsimhadeva. Another example of the Lord’s incarnation glorifying Nrsimhadeva is when Lord Krsna took the form of Lord Ramacandra. On His quest to bombard Lanka to punish the sinner Ravana, He entered the holy abode of Sri Nrsimha known as Ahovala. Sri Rama sang the five verses to glorify Lord Nrsimhadeva known as the Nrsimha Pancakam (Ahovalam Narasimham Gatva).

What is presented in this article is only a small portion of the glories of Sri Nrsimhadeva. As we enter the deeper phases of the Age of Kali, devotees can only pray for protection from Lord Nrsimhadeva to help remove any obstacles that come in the path of devotion.