SB 7.9.19 – Nrsimha-caturdasi

Giriraj Swami: So as we heard, tomorrow is a very auspicious day called Nṛsiṁha-caturdaśi. It is the Appearance Day of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. And the history of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva is described in the scripture called Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Our basic sacred text is the Bhagavad-gītā, but then more advanced than the Bhagavad-gītā and more elaborate than the Bhagavad-gītā is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Bhagavad-gītā is 700 verses long and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is 18,000 verses long. And Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam describes the history of the appearance of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. 

There is a very important word in Sanskrit called līlā. Līlā means play or pastime. The Lord engages in līlā or pastimes for His pleasure and for the benefit of His devotees and all living entities. So this pastime begins when two of the Lord’s gatekeepers in Vaikuntha, named by Jai and Vijay were cursed to fall down into the material world. Of course, ordinarily they could not be cursed but again, this was part of the Lord’s desire to enjoy this pastime because as stated in the Vedanta sutra and the beginning of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam—janmādy asya yataḥ—that the absolute truth is He from whom everything or everyone emanates. That means that whatever propensities we have exist originally in the absolute truth. And just as we have the fighting propensity, the Lord also has a fighting propensity. But who can fight with the Lord? No ordinary person can fight with the Lord. So these two devotees, Jai and Vijay understanding that the Lord wanted to fight and wanting that all of the Lord’s desires should be fulfilled they voluntarily, again it was all part of the Lord’s plan, but they voluntarily accepted the curse to take birth as demons. Demons means enemies of the Lord, for three births. So one of the three births was Hiranyakasipu who performed extremely severe austerities. If one performs austerities one will get power, and depending on one’s disposition one can use those powers either for the good or the bad. 

Hiranyakasipu, being the demon, performed very severe austerities but for his own aggrandizement. And he became so powerful in his austerities that he created a disturbance in the universe to the extent that Lord Brahma, who is the chief deva or demigod in the universe came to Hiranyakasipu to ask him what boon he wanted so that he would stop performing these austerities that were disturbing the universe. And Hiranyakasipu said, “I want to become immortal.” Lord Brahma replied, “I cannot make you immortal, I myself I am not immortal.” Then Hiranyakasipu thought that indirectly he would become immortal by asking for various boons.

So he asked, “I shall not be killed in the day or in the night.” And Lord Brahma said, “tathasthu,” (so be it). “I will not be killed inside of a building or outside.” Lord Brahma said, “So be it.” “I will not be killed by any weapon.” “So be it.” “I will not be killed by any man or demigod.” “So be it.”

And like this Hiranyakasipu placed so many conditions on his death that he thought that he would be in effect immortal. Hiranyakasipu had a son named Prahlada who was a devotee of Krishna. And that also is surprising but it happens that the father is a demon and the son is a devotee. And Hiranyakasipu considered Vishnu to be his enemy. And when he found that Prahlada was a devotee of Vishnu (Vishnu means Krishna. Vishnu is a form of Krishna) he tried to kill Prahlada in so many ways. But in every case Prahlada was saved by the mercy of the Lord. Hiranyakasipu was just unable to kill him although he was so powerful. So finally he asked Prahlada, “From where do you get your power?” And Prahlada replied, “I get my power from the same source that you get your power- from God, from Vishnu.” And Hiranyakasipu did not like that answer at all and he said, “Where is this God of yours?” And Prahlada said, “He is everywhere.”

“Oh! He is everywhere? Is he in this pillar (indicating pillar in the palace)?” And Prahlada said, “Yes, he is.” He said, “Then I am going to kill your God.” And he took out his sword to smash the pillar and out of the pillar emerged this wonderful form of Nṛsiṁhadeva which you can see here. I hope you can see it. And this painting very nicely depicts what happened. So Nṛsiṁhadeva emerged from the pillar. And after playing with Hiranyakasipu for a while, they were fighting but for the Lord it was just play, at dusk the Lord picked up Hiranyakasipu, placed him on His lap, and Nṛsiṁhadeva is a half lion half man, and so with His nails he tore apart the body of Hiranyakasipu keeping intact all of the boons that Brahma had given to Hiranyakasipu. One boon was that he would not be killed during the day or night and so Nṛsiṁhadeva killed him just at dusk; neither day nor night. He was not killed by any weapon but he was killed by the nails of the Lord. He was not killed indoors or outdoors but Nṛsiṁhadeva killed him just on the threshold between inside and outside. And yes, He kept all the promises of Brahma intact and He killed Hiranyakasipu.

Now after He killed Hiranyakasipu His anger did not subside. He was angry because Hiranyakasipu was torturing, was trying to kill the Lord’s devotee Prahlada. But He was also angry because He apprehended that Prahlada might be upset with the Lord for killing His father. And Prahlada responded by quoting a very important verse. He spoke a very important verse that even saintly persons take pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed. Our spiritual master Srila Prabhupada recalled this verse once when he was visiting his guru’s ashram in Mayapur, in Bengal in India. And Srila Prabhupada’s spiritual master Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura came onto the balcony of his residence and he saw a snake in the garden, and he ordered the disciples to kill the snake. And generally, devotees are non-violent, they won’t kill even a mosquito. So our Srila Prabhupada was surprised that, Oh, guru Maharaja ordered that they kill the snake. But later he came across this verse by Prahlada Maharaja that even saintly persons take pleasure when a snake or a scorpion is killed. Then he said, “What Guru Maharaja did was right.”

So when the Lord appeared many great personalities, spiritual personalities from all over the universe came to try to pacify Him but no one could pacify Him. And finally they said Prahlada (who was only five years old), they said, “Prahlada, you should pacify Him. He has come for your sake.” And so Prahlada offered many beautiful and instructive prayers to Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva. And I have selected one of those to be the topic of tonight’s discussion.

This is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Seven, Chapter Nine: “Prahlada Pacifies the Lord With Prayers. Text Nineteen. Please repeat.

Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

Again, please repeat.

bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha
nārtasya cāgadam udanvati majjato nauḥ
taptasya tat-pratividhir ya ihāñjaseṣṭas
tāvad vibho tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām

I will read the Sanskrit.

bālasya neha śaraṇaṁ pitarau nṛsiṁha

nārtasya cāgadam udanvati majjato nauḥ

taptasya tat-pratividhir ya ihāñjaseṣṭas

tāvad vibho tanu-bhṛtāṁ tvad-upekṣitānām

TRANSLATION

My Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Through parental care, through remedies for different kinds of disease, and through means of protection on the water, in the air and on land, there is always an endeavor for relief from various kinds of suffering in the material world, but none of them are guaranteed measures for protection. They may be beneficial temporarily, but they afford no permanent benefit. Despite the presence of a father and mother, a child cannot be protected from accidental death, disease and various other miseries. No one can help, including the parents. 

COMMENT

Once I was with Srila Prabhupada in his room in Juhu, Bombay and in the distance he heard a child crying. And he quoted this verse, the parents don’t want the child to be in pain or misery but still the child is crying because even the parents cannot protect the child without the mercy of the Lord.

PURPORT (continued)

Despite the presence of a father and mother, a child cannot be protected from accidental death, disease and various other miseries. No one can help, including the parents. Ultimately the shelter is the Lord, and one who takes shelter of the Lord is protected. This is guaranteed. As the Lord says in Bhagavad-gītā (9.31), kaunteya pratijānīhi na me bhaktaḥ praṇaśyati: “O son of Kuntī, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes.” Therefore, unless one is protected by the mercy of the Lord, no remedial measure can act effectively. One should consequently depend fully on the causeless mercy of the Lord. Although as a matter of routine duty one must of course accept other remedial measures, no one can protect one who is neglected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

So for example, if we are sick we may take help from a physician and medicine. As Srila Prabhupada said, “Of course as a matter of duty we must accept remedial measures but they cannot be effective without the mercy of the Lord.” And that applies to whatever measures we take to protect ourselves or to improve our situations. 

PURPORT (continued)

Although as a matter of routine duty one must of course accept other remedial measures, no one can protect one who is neglected by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In this material world, everyone is trying to counteract the onslaught of material nature, but everyone is ultimately fully controlled by material nature. Therefore even though so-called philosophers and scientists try to surmount the onslaught of material nature, they have not been able to do so. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (13.9) that the real sufferings of the material world are four — janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (birth, death, old age and disease). In the history of the world, no one has been successful in conquering these miseries imposed by material nature.

COMMENT

So yes, jamna, birth—people try to use sinful contraceptive methods to stop birth but still birth is going on. There is always concern about overpopulation but still birth is going on and the population is increasing. Janma-mṛtyu, mrityu means death—Nobody wants to die. People are trying to find a way to escape death but they have not been successful as sure as death. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā, old ae—Nobody wants the miseries of old age. But again, there has not been any way to counteract the mysteries of old age or stop the miseries of old age. And vyādhi, disease—Again, physicians and medicine can help with the grace of the Lord cure some diseases but other diseases will come. And if in fact we were able to eliminate disease then the hospital should close down, the doctors and nurses should be unemployed. But to the contrary, we have not been able to stop disease but rather there is always demand for more hospital beds, more doctors, more nurses and so on. 

So these four miseries that are mentioned by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gītā – birth, death, old age, and disease cannot be stopped by any material means, although we don’t want them but we have to suffer them unless we take the proper counteraction.

PURPORT (continued)

Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (13.9) that the real sufferings of the material world are four — janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (birth, death, old age and disease). In the history of the world, no one has been successful in conquering these miseries imposed by material nature. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ. Nature (prakṛti) is so strong that no one can overcome her stringent laws. 

COMMENT

So Srila Prabhupada is quoting part of a verse from the Bhagavad-gītā here. But Krishna does say, eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā, that this material nature consisting of the three modes.

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī

mama māyā duratyayā

mām eva ye prapadyante

māyām etāṁ taranti te

So this material nature consisting of the three modes is very difficult to overcome. But one who surrenders to Me can easily cross over it. So that is our only hope, guaranteed hope and permanent hope.

PURPORT (continued)

Nature (prakṛti) is so strong that no one can overcome her stringent laws. So-called scientists, philosophers, religionists and politicians should therefore conclude that they cannot offer facilities to the people in general.

COMMENT

They are falsely posing as saviors. When in reality they cannot solve these basic problems of human existence.

PURPORT (continued)

They should make vigorous propaganda to awaken the populace and raise them to the platform of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

COMMENT

That is what they should be doing, not falsely posing themselves as saviors. And as Srila Prabhupada says, “One who poses as your friend is not your real friend but one who tells you that Krishna is your best friend, he is your real friend.”

PURPORT (continued)

Our humble attempt to propagate the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement all over the world is the only remedy that can bring about a peaceful and happy life. We can never be happy without the mercy of the Supreme Lord (tvad-upekṣitānām). If we keep displeasing our supreme father, we shall never be happy within this material world, in either the upper or lower planetary systems.

COMMENT

So just read the translation again.

My Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, O Supreme, because of a bodily conception of life, embodied souls neglected and not cared for by You cannot do anything for their betterment. Whatever remedies they accept, although perhaps temporarily beneficial, are certainly impermanent. For example, a father and mother cannot protect their child, a physician and medicine cannot relieve a suffering patient, and a boat on the ocean cannot protect a drowning man.

Hare Krishna.

So my dear devotees and friends if you like now you can ask questions or share reflections on today’s topic or I suppose anything related to spiritual development. Any questions or comments?

Yes.

Devotee: So many different puranas unless in other scriptures we talk about [Unintelligible 00:51:03–00:51:06] 

Giriraj Swami: Talk about?

Devotee: Shiva. . .[Unintelligible] and my question is why is there so much, why does the Shiva tradition contradict the Vishnu tradition so much so often? 

Giriraj Swami: Well, I am not sure on what basis you are making that statement but at the end of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated vaiṣṇavānāṁ yathā śambhuḥ, that Lord Shiva is the greatest Vaishnava. And there are many pastimes in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that demonstrate Lord Shiva’s benevolent nature as Vaishnava. One good example is when the demigods and the demons were churning the ocean and poison was produced and nobody knew what to do. But Lord Shiva being so benevolent and merciful, he drank the poison. And there are many pastimes of Lord Shiva in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. There is one with the Pracetas in which he congratulates them for being devotees of Vishnu and he says, “Because you are devotees of Vishnu you are very dear to me and because I am a devotee of Vishnu I am also dear to you.” So anyone who really understands the position of Lord Shiva will know that he is a Vaishnava, the devotee of Krishna who will not attempt to make a false sectarian divide between the Saivas and Vaishnavas. 

Devotee: But yet the Shiva Purana states that Hiranyakasipu was slained by, Nṛsiṁha drink blood of Hiranyakasipu, and Hiranyakasipu became enraged by the anger that was intrinsic within Hiranyakasipu after consuming him. It was in fact Shiva who took the form of Sharabha and there was an epic battle between the two and eventually that is how Nṛsiṁha released his body and went back to Vaikuntha, according to this Purana and others as well. So why is there such different depictions across the various texts. I find with this particular story, it almost seems like the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam cuts it short when in fact there is more chronology to the event.

Giriraj Swami: Well, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is considered the most authoritative scripture. Srila Jiva Gosvami who is considered the greatest philosopher of all time has established that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is the supreme evidence. And so we accept the version Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Its true there may be slightly different versions. And the differences can be explained in two ways: one is seeing the same thing from a different perspective, and the other which is often the case is that the same pastimes repeat themselves. And so one description of the pastime may differ from another description of the pastime because they took place at different times with slight variations.

Devotee: Make sense. Thank you.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

Devotee: Hare Krishna Maharaja. I just wanted to ask you about kind of free will and what does free will actually mean in the context of either in non-devotee or devotee, because it seems like if everything is Krishna’s will then do we really actually have free will or is it just an illusion as well?

Giriraj Swami: We do have free will. As I mentioned in the beginning janmādy asya yataḥ, that the absolute truth is He from whom every one emanates. And so we have the same qualities that He has. And He has complete independence and we have partial independence. And Krishna does not interfere with our minute independence.

After speaking the Bhagavad-gītā to Arjuna Krishna says to him, “Now you have heard what I have said, yathechchhasi tathā kuru, now you do what you like. So He didn’t force Arjuna, He let him exercise his free will, yathechchhasi tathā kuru, you do as you like. And Arjuna replied, “naṣhṭo mohaḥ, that now my illusion has been removed; naṣhṭo mohaḥ smṛitir labdhā, I regained my memory; kariṣhye vachanaṁ tava- I am prepared to act according to your instruction.” So that should be our decision. Krishna doesn’t force us to come to that conclusion, but if we do come to that conclusion it is for our benefit.

It is said, not a blade of grass moves without the sanction of the Lord. And in one conversation in my presence with Srila Prabhupada in Juhu, Bombay he said, “That is true but sometimes the Lord gives His sanction reluctantly not willingly,” Because we have minute independence, if we insist on misusing our minute independence the Lord will not stop us, He will sanction but reluctantly, not happily. It is like you are here tonight, that was your exercise of your free will; made a good decision. You could have gone to other many other places but you didn’t, you came here.

Hare Krishna. Yes.

Devotee: Why did Krishna spend His precious life, eleven years taking care of cow? 

Giriraj Swami: I heard the taking care of cows, why did Krishna?

Devotee: Spend his precious life of eleven years.

Devotee: I asked same question to answer with talk to other swami, and I want your opinion.

Giriraj Swami: Why did Krishna spend His precious life taking care of cows? 

Devotee: Yes, prime life, eleven years; when he was a child he was taking care of cow.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: From one year to eleven. What is the reason?

Giriraj Swami: Well, one reason is Krishna loves cows. And the other reason is to show the example of how important it is to care for cows. Yes, cows are very important. In fact, when Srila Prabhupada visited our farm at Gita Nagari in Pennsylvania, he said that just spending time with the cows will automatically elevate you to the mode of goodness. So cows are very important. And they provide milk, and from milk we get so many products. And Srila Prabhupada said that the cow’s milk helps develop the finer tissues of the brain for spiritual understanding. We use the ghee not only for cooking, of course we do use the ghee for cooking, but also for performing yagyas, fire sacrifices, we put ghee into the fire. So yes, cows, they are like our mother. And the bulls kill the fields, I mean in traditional agriculture. And because they tow the fields they are like our fathers. So cows are very important and Krishna Himself by His example showed how important the cows are.

When Krishna was first given the charge of the cows to take them out to pasture His mother Yasoda gave Him shoes to wear. And He felt that it is not right, that He should have shoes and the cows shouldn’t. So He said He will wear shoes only if all the cows get shoes which was not possible. So He went barefoot just like the cows and imprinted the land of Vrindavan with His lotus footprints. Does that answer your question?

Devotee: I don’t know I got different answer from Yashomatinandan, Hamsaduta, Gurudas. I have been asking same question. I even asked one Bhima, “Why Krishna spent His precious life, eleven years just taking care of cow? He creates everything.

Giriraj Swami: Well, He did other things besides taking care of cows.

Devotee: Killing all the demons?

Giriraj Swami: Well, killing demons and enjoying with His boyfriends and girlfriends. And there could be many reasons. The fact that different senior devotees give different answers doesn’t mean that any of the answers are wrong. They may just be answering from a particular perspective and they might be answering taking into consideration the audience who is listening, besides you. So what impel you to keep asking this question?

Devotee: Well, Hamsaduta told me, Prabhupada told him, Nityananda, and he gave one mood.

Giriraj Swami: Sorry?

Devotee: Hamsaduta, he said, “Prabhupada told him, Nityananda, and one more devotee to start varnashrama-dharma.

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee: And that is why I keep asking that question.

Giriraj Swami: Srila Prabhupada definitely wanted varnashrama-dharma. And part of it is krishi goraksha, agriculture and cow protection.

Devotee: There maybe time for one more question.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Devotee: Thank you so much for sharing the Bhāgavatam for us and with us. I actually had a question about whether they needed any qualifications for it [Unintelligible]. And what I mean is I think I have read somewhere that to read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam you shouldn’t take it as stories, you shouldn’t take it as made up stories, you should actually have faith. And I think I struggle with that. However I do read Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and I was thinking whether I am committing an offense reading it if I am not. . . when I read it is just a fairy tale kind of thing to me. So I was just wondering maybe I should wait a little bit and then start reading Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam more.

Giriraj Swami: Well the general progression in terms of the scriptures that Srila Prabhupada gave us, is first Śrī Īśopaniṣad. Have you read Īśopaniṣad? Okay. Second is Bhagavad-gītā. Have you read Bhagavad-gītā?

Devotee: Not fully.

Giriraj Swami: Third is The Nectar of Devotion. Have you read The Nectar of Devotion? And fourth is Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So it would probably be good for you to have the background of those other scriptures first so that you can properly appreciate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Devotee: Thank you so much. 

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.