Nrisimhadev's Appearance Day

So, now I’ll say a few words about this auspicious occasion, and Śrīla Avadhūt Mahārāj will also say something.

If we look at the pages of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, where is that Pastimes of Nṛsiṁhadev and Prahlād Mahārāj, appear. What precedes this discussion or description is that the six canto has just concluded with the Pastime of Vṛitrāsura and Chitraketu. And we heard in the very beginning of the Bhāgavatam. What is it? “Indrāri-vyākulaṁ lokaṁ…” and the famous “kṛṣṇas tu bhagavān svayam” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 1.3.28) śloka. That he deals with enemies of Indra, in this case Vṛitrāsura, it’s a very complicated story, but very interesting… And it’s interesting, it’s sometimes used as an identifier for Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. Saying, “It is that book that contains the story of Vṛitrāsura”. Like, why that would be singled out? Has some mystic implication as well. But this perplexing story cause Parīkṣit Mahārāj to inquire from Śukadev Goswāmī, if the Supreme Lord is equal to everyone. Like we hear, “samo ’haṁ sarva-bhūteṣu…” (Bhagavad-gītā: 9.29), he is equal to everyone. It seems like he was favoring Indra in that story you’ve just told, so I don’t understand it, it really seems like he was on the side, but we’re told that he is equal to everyone and he is impartial. And we should realize also this is going set up the platform for the presentation of śuddha-bhakti.

So, it’s really a critical point in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam to build up to this. Just heard this fantastic story, this Pastime and now we’re going to hear something even more extraordinary, and that’s the nature of Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, “nitya-nava-navāyamāna”, what you hear is newer and newer and fresher and more extraordinary. Who is urukramāṅghriṁ, who is of wonderful stride. What would be his next wonderful stride? There is always a surprise. Vāmanadev, one step, two step, where is the third step? Surprise! Urukram, urukrama means he of wonderful stride, or he of wonderful movement. Always systematically, thematically Guru Mahārāj’s telling, “Reality must be dancing”. What kind of strides are those for him of wonderful stride?

Herein Brahma-saṁhitā, “That world where all gesture, all movement is dance, all speech is song”. Uttama-śloka līlāyā – one of Kṛṣṇa name is uttama-śloka. Why are so many ślokas? His name is uttama-śloka. He likes the ślokas. We like them too. They are the perfect, the encryption of the glorification of Kṛṣṇa and just Reality is streaming from them real time.

So, anyway, Parīkṣit Mahārāj saying, “So, can you… if there was some doubt in someone’s mind as to Kṛṣṇa’s impartiality could you relieve that out?” Cause they hear He is equal to everyone. But He is also bhakata-vatsala, He naturally favors the devotees, that’s a given.

So, Śukadev Goswāmī responded by saying, “The so called enemies, what happens to them? They become liberated”. We heard earlier,

aho bakī yaṁ stana-kāla-kūṭaṁ
jighāṁsayāpāyayad apy asādhvī
lebhe gatiṁ dhātry-uchitāṁ tato ’nyaṁ
kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema
(Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Madhya 22.98)

I say earlier because even though if that will come later in the tenth canto was dealt  with earlier in the third canto. Vidura, Maitreya, Uddhava. An ecstatic rapture saying, Pūtanā approached him with a murderous intentions and she was liberated, given a position of mother, type of mother. So, he said, “It… this is how he treats his enemies, this is the point being made, the enemies are liberated, what generosity, ‘kaṁ vā dayāluṁ śaraṇaṁ vrajema’. If he liberates his enemies, then we can’t conceive how he reciprocates servitorship or friendship or familiar affection.

So, Śukadev Goswāmī tells, he said, “It’s interesting that you say this,…” and he begins telling the story of Śiśupāl. And we know Śiśupāl, the ultimate blasphemer of Kṛṣṇa, to what degree? We’re told, when he was a toddler, and could not speak, he was blaspheming Kṛṣṇa. Like, little children, who talk nonsense, his nonsense was have like, “Kṛṣṇa” and then something horrible in it. Śiśupāl… when he was a baby, he’s blaspheming Kṛṣṇa, but what does that tell us? If we had brought in some cycle analysis, they’d say, “Wow, this boy is obviously obsessed with this personality known as Kṛṣṇa.” So even when he was a toddler he’s thinking of Kṛṣṇa all the time. He’s absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa.

So, it culminates when Śiśupāl is at, we’re told Kṛṣṇa will tolerate a hundred insults, Śiśupāl is insulting Kṛṣṇa, fifty, sixty, seventy, Kṛṣṇa’s keeping try, eighty-five, ninety-three, ninety…, when he gets to a hundred, He chops his head off, and then they see Śiśupāl’s soul like the brahmajyoti appears in the sky, illuminating everything and then merges into the body of Kṛṣṇa. Which ostensibly appears to be svarūpya mukti.

(So, Mahārāj, I wouldn’t worry about them too much, so, anything that’s moving won’t be good, yeah, Avadhūt Mahārāj is forever the servitor, the facilitator, the impresario, come from that world, from Italian, to do something that… make things in such a way as to give a favorable impression, ito impress, impresario).

So, therefore they saw this Śiśupāl, who was offencive since he was a toddler toward Kṛṣṇa, he gets a svarūpya mukti, and he hated Kṛṣṇa and then the point is made about the intense absorption, Nārada said, “yena tena prakāreṇa manaḥ kṛṣṇe niveśayet…” (Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu: 1.2.4), somehow or other the mind has to become absorbed in thinking of Kṛṣṇa, and then he tells the story, well Śiśupāl, and his cowherd Dantavakra, that was the particular birth, but before that, there was Kumbakarna and Rāvaṇa, and before that was Hiraṇyākṣa and Hiraṇyakaśipu, in this way they are telling or laying the ground work for the Prahlād charit, a Pastimes of Prahlād Mahārāj and Nṛsiṁhadev .

And so,… cause we hear,… and somehow we’re seeing there’s a connecting thread between, through these Pastimes, so here is Hiraṇyākṣa, plants the Earth into the nether regions and Lord Viraha came to save the Earth, and to kill Hiraṇyākṣa. Hiraṇyakaśipu was seeking vengeance and therefore Viṣṇu was his sworn enemy.

So, we know that to venge the death of his brother and also to establish his supremacy to be the Lord of all I survey, this is supremacy of the Universe, he engages in thousands celestial years of austerities to the point where his body was covered, there was an anthill covering his form, his body was totally eaten away, somehow the life airs were still within his bones, he was doing this austerity that caused consternation to the demigods, they appeal to Brahma. And Brahma came to see him, and Brahma sprinkled some nectar on his…, and then his form reappeared and this muscular developed to the extreme like you could say, the steroids of his austerities produced this extraordinary muscular form, and he appealed to Bramha for a boon.

And what was that boon? We know, I not to be killed by any creature, created by you, Brahma is the creator. He wants immortality, but he knows that may not be possible in the conventional sense, so he’s trying trough selective criteria get more immortality through the back door, so to speak, by saying, “I’ll never be killed by any creature, created by you, not in the day or in the night, not inside or outside, not by anything living or dead, thinking of all the other things I can ask for. Then just strayed out immortality and with this contract I’ve got immortality.” And Brahma grants all of these boons.

And then we’re told that actually in Bhagavad-gītā, how’s Bhagavad-gītā connected to this? Among the daityas, means the demons, among the demons when Kṛṣṇa’s, the vibhūti chapter,… ‘of this I’m that, ‘of this I’m that’, and says, “Of the daityas, the demons, I’m the devoted Prahlād.”

So, here one point Hiraṇyakaśipu’s wife Kayādhu is pregnant with Prahlād, but it’s unknown to the Gods that it’s Prahlād Mahārāj they kidnapped her and want to engage in infanticide, have the baby born and then kill, thinking he will be a great demon, the son of Hiraṇyakaśipu. Narād Muni comes and says, “No, actually this is the great devotee.” How great? We also hear in the Bhāgavatam, svayambhūr, śambhuḥ, manuḥ, kapilo, nāradaḥ, prahlādo, bhīṣmo, janako… he is listed as one of twelve Mahājans. The great “dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyām mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta 17.186). The great devotees who are delivering real substantial religion.

So, Prahlād is born and parallel to that, Śiśupāl when he is a toddler, he’s blaspheming Kṛṣṇa, when Prahlād went to school, you know the Sanskrit alphabet begins with ‘ka’. It is the first letter ka-kha… ja-jha ña, pa-pha ba-bha ma… etc, like like we have ABCs, I don’t know what they have in Russian, but in English they have ABCs. Here ka, when hears ka, his body would start trembling, cause it made him think of Kṛṣṇa, even hearing the alphabet, Prahlād Mahārāj is so exalted in consciousness, that he thought of Kṛṣṇa, and he would go to ecstatic swoon, in front of his classmates, whom he told when he would preach to them, “kaumāra ācharet prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha…” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.6.1) when should you take up Kṛṣṇa Consciousness? Sometimes in India they say, “Well dharma, artha, kāma, mokṣa, first you do dharma up to the age of twenty-five, then artha – twenty-five, and kama – up to fifty, then retirement and then maybe when your, in your mid-fifties - late sixties, mokṣa, somehow that part never happens, sixties, seventies, it’s going far and far. That’s not what Prahlād Mahārāj says, “kaumāra ācharet prājño dharmān bhāgavatān iha…”, you should take up Kṛṣṇa Consciousness as soon as possible preferably in childhood. When you’re child. That’s when you should start culturing Bhāgavat-dharma, Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

So, but still, one devotee used to…, Hṛdayānanda Mahārāj, he used to joke, that so many devotees, like Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa Prabhu, he was in this forth year of college, pre-med, about to become a doctor, it’s like right before graduation, Garga Muni Mahārāj comes, preaches to him, he leaves everything and within weeks he’s in Dhaka, in Bangladesh, in the middle of Bangladesh world, they are preaching. And there are so many other stories like that. So, Hṛdayānanda Mahārāj he used to joke, he’d say, “So, these parents they wanted their children to grow up to be doctors, lawyers, etc., and they became devotees. And now I see they are devotees parents, they want their children to grow up and be devotees, and they become doctors, lawyers, [laugh].

So, Hiraṇyakaśipu, he wanted Prahlād to be trained in his gurukul, but Śukrāchārya’s son, that’s the Guru Śukrāchārya’s son and some others, they are going to train Prahlād to become what sometimes they will say in India, a first-class demon [laugh]. I asked Maṅgal Mahārāj about his nephew who comes to see me sometimes, Sāgar, “Oh, how is he doing?” “They are training him to be the first-class demon” [laugh]. So, Hiraṇyakaśipu wanted Prahlād to be a demon magna cum laude. So, they are training him there and then we are told the gurukula teachers they want to present Prahlād to Hiraṇyakaśipu, for like a review, they dressed him very nicely and bring him before, and he looks so cute and charming, and Hiraṇyakaśipu says to Prahlād, “Prahlād, what’s the best thing you’ve learned in school?” Like I asked children that sometimes, they say they’re studying so many things, I go, “Oh, what do you like the best?” So, Hiraṇyakaśipu, “What’s the best thing you’ve learned at school so far?” And Prahlād Mahraj says, “śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam archanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.23).

To hear about, remember, to glorify Kṛṣṇa, to serve his lotus feet, to engage…, he outlines the nine different processes of devotional service. And Hiraṇyakaśipu is like, “What?! Viṣṇu, who killed my brother? That Viṣṇu? You’ve been polluted by the enemy!” So, he is telling the teachers, he wants to chastise them, he is thinking they’ve been compromised, the very teachers themselves are being compromised. And so he questions them and they are saying, “No, we didn’t teach him these things”.

Then Hiraṇyakaśipu says, “Prahlād, where did you learn this? About ‘śravaṇaṁ kīrtanaṁ viṣṇoḥ smaraṇaṁ pāda-sevanam archanaṁ vandanaṁ dāsyaṁ sakhyam ātma-nivedanam’? Where did you learn that? Is this something you came to this on your own conclusion or some other people told, where did you get this?” It has to be consistent with Kṛṣṇa Consciousness all along, like we hear bhaktyā sañjātayā bhaktyā, you can only get devotion from someone who has it. So, Prahlād Mahārāj responded saying,

matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā
mitho ’bhipadyeta gṛha-vratānām
adānta-gobhir viśatāṁ tamisraṁ
punaḥ punaś charvita-charvaṇānām
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.30)

“Matir na kṛṣṇe parataḥ svato vā”, – you can’t get Kṛṣṇa consciousness, you can’t get this on your own and it was Guru Mahārāj saying, “You have to connect with the power supply, the source. And not only… can you not get it yourself by your own endeavors? Even if you combine with others you still won’t get it. You won’t get it as a group endeavor, you won’t get it through democracy, it’s not ascending pluralistic democracy but descending exclusive theocracy.”

So, gṛha-vratānām, gṛha-varat – those who vowed, pledged the legends to the mundane, “adānta-gobhir viśatām tamisraṁ…”, then those whose freedom, idea of freedom is for the senses, not from the senses, they are rendering into deeper and deeper levels of darkness, “punaḥ punaś charvita-charvaṇānām”, doing what? Like chewing the chewed over and over again, whatever little bit of apparent taste may have been there in the beginning has vanished long ago. It says, “na te viduḥ svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.5.31). They’re thinking that what the heart wants how to find fulfillment, love, affection, that you’ll find in the superficial the external aspect of a thing, not realizing that it’s an internal culture, ”svārtha-gatiṁ hi viṣṇuṁ durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninaḥ.”

“Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānās, te ’pīśa-tantryām uru-dāmni baddhāḥ,” – he said, so it’s like, what is this world? It’s the blind leading the blind. What Śukadev tells in the beginning of Bhāgavatam, “apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ…,” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.1.2), those who cannot see the self, the soul, for what Guru Mahārāj said, “Socrates had to die for”, talking about the existence of, who can have no self-ability to self-see to see the self, it’s like the blind leading the blind, what will be the end result? And so, what is the solution?

naiṣāṁ matis tāvad urukramāṅghriṁ
spṛśaty anarthāpagamo yad-arthaḥ
mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ
niṣkiñchanānāṁ na vṛṇīta yāvat
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 7.5.32)

Prahlād says, “You have to be bathed in the dust of the lotus feet of a devotee”. “Mahīyasāṁ pāda-rajo-’bhiṣekaṁ” – and abhiṣekam pāda-rajaḥ, then you can have this. Cause Hiraṇyakaśipu thought, “Where did he get that?”

Then we hear, “When  Kayādhu was taken to the āśram of Nārada that there even though Prahlād was in the womb, in utero,  he is hearing all the instructions of Nārada Muni.

So, then Hiraṇyakaśipu realizes Prahlād is the enemy. It’s not that he’s just been naive victim and contaminated, nut he is the enemy. So, he decides to have Prahlād killed, give the orders, they are trying to kill him in so many ways. To have him trampled by elephants, thrown him of the mountain, speared, so many different things they tried, and somehow Prahlād survives all of this. Once Guru Mahārāj said…, because here, what is this an example of…, we hear, that, “gurur na sa syāt sava-jano na sa syāt pitā na sa syāj jananī na sa syāt…” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.5.18) When criteria for rejection, here father, who should be affectionate guardian, is vehemently, violently opposed to Kṛṣṇa Consciousness, the opposite of what the real guardian’s duties and responsibilities are. So, Guru Mahārāj’s making observations about this, said, “So, what is to tell us? If you decide to pursue Kṛṣṇa Consciousness prepare yourself for life of trouble” [laugh]. That’s one thing that we learn from this. So, the parents they may also try to obstruct.

Anyway, so Prahlād Mahārāj, he survives the attacks of Hiraṇyakaśipu, and this leads Hiraṇyakaśipu to wonder about the extraordinary power of Prahlād Mahārāj and to enquire from him, “Prahlād, where did you get this power?” And Prahlād’s answer is, “From the original source of all power. Where did you get your power? Where you’re getting your power, I am getting mine.” It’s like the Dylan Thomas line about, what is it, “That force…that drives…the fuse…and... the green flower drives my” (D.Thomas, “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower”), drive me, so it’s the Brahman-type description, but he’s taking it deeper. And really it’s the same source – where you get your power it’s where I get my power. And Hiraṇyakaśipu he is saying, “Oh, this God of yours, where is he located?” Prahlād Mahārāj, “He’s everywhere”.

When one of Guru Mahārāj’s relatives saw him becoming too…, we’re talking about relative obstruction. One of his uncles saw he is too much inclined towards Kṛṣṇa Consciousness and renunciation.  He thought to put a damper on his theistic sentiments and he said, “You know, do you know, there are some stars we’re hearing from science they are so far away, their light has yet to rich the Earth. So, if there is a God, we are so insignificant. Do you think he has any time for people like us?” And Guru Mahārāj response to him was the recall of the Upaniṣhads, Īśopaniṣad,

tad ejati tan naijati
tad dūre tad v antike
tad antar asya sarvasya
tad u sarvasyāsya bahyatḥ
(Śrī Īśopaniṣad 5)

The thing is, He is very far away, but it says He is also nearest and dearest is there anywhere where God is not? Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-chayāntara-stham…” (Brahma-saṁhitā: 5.35) So his uncle was frustrated. Or as Guru Mahārāj would sometimes say this argument, how do they end?, ‘that man was silenced’. He said, “Is there anywhere where God is not?”

Or Bengalis tell Prabhupad, “Swāmījī, why do you always go to the temple and worshipping, God is everywhere.” Prabhupad said, “So He is not in the temple?” He is everywhere, accept the temple, that’s interesting. God is everywhere, but not in the temple [laugh].
Avadhut Mahārāj: In the temple you have to give donation.

Goswāmī Mahārāj: So, then Hiraṇyakaśipu sees the pillar like, just like that one right there. “Is your God in this pillar?” Prahlād, “Yes”. Once Prabhupad said, “Prahlād could see Nṛsiṁhadev peeping.” And Guru Mahārāj said, “Also we shouldn’t think, “Yes, he is everywhere,” he said, “but when that Nṛsiṁhadev will come out of the pillar that’s because of the love of Prahlād Mahārāj, we shouldn’t think this a chip thing.” Though Prahlād’s saying, “Yes”. We’re told Hiraṇyakaśipu in a fit of rage, he smashed that pillar with his fist. And we’re told a sound came out, the Universal shell  hard cracking sound that no one ever heard before, this like the way the thunderbolts crack the ether in the sky, this inconceivably loud and frightening sound came from the pillar and Hiraṇyakaśipu is like, “What was that?!”

And Nṛsiṁhadev appeared. And we’re told in the beginning that Hiraṇyakaśipu he was astonished to see this extraordinary form. As Jayadev Goswāmī wrote “tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgaṁ…,” (Daśāvatār-stotram: 4) ‘adbhuta’ means astonishingly wonderful, ‘narahari’ – Nṛsiṁha – narasiṁha – half man, half lion, keeping intact Bramha’s promise, not by a man, not by a beast. And Nṛsiṁhadev , he, Hiraṇyakaśipu, regaining his composure, he tried to attack Nṛsiṁhadev, they fought for some time, Nṛsiṁhadev let him escape to add some drama, some play, Hiraṇyakaśipu is like, “Oh, he is afraid of me!” Then Nṛsiṁhadev started laughing at him, but a sort of divine wild laughter that gave Hiraṇyakaśipu pause, that maybe things are not going his way.

Then finally Nṛsiṁhadev tired playing with him and sees the right time come, not the day or the night, but the sunset, that time, took him on his lap, to the threshold, not inside or outside, and put him on his lap, was not in the air, the sky or the land. And we’re told, it says, ‘tava kara-kamala-vare’, ‘kara-kamala’ means his hands looked like lotus flowers but they had nails coming out of them. So if you can conceive of lotus flowers that have these nails coming out. And then with this lotus palm nail he ripped opened the gut of Hiraṇyakaśipu, roaring and blood’s splattered everywhere, his blood all over Nṛsiṁhadev, blood all over his lotus palms with the nails, ‘kara nakha’ and ripped his intestines out and wore them as a garland. And started roaring the whole, he was so angry to see his devotee being abused like this. The beautiful loving devoted Prahlād, who is the friend of everyone, he is abusing him like this.

And interestingly Guru Mahārāj in his poem to Saraswatī Ṭhākur where he says that family life is a…, he says friendship, worldly friendship is deception, colossal hooks – family life, and all this things about the mundane relationships, he said how will we realize this? He said, “By the radiance from the nails, he also uses ‘kara nakha’, thennails on the lotus palms of Saraswatī Ṭhākur and he quoted this śloka with regard to Nṛsiṁhadev. So, it’s by those radiant nails on the lotus palms of Nṛsiṁhadev these things are being revealed and he is, cannot be pacified. Bramha offers prayers, Śiva offers prayers, all the different gradations of devatās offer prayers Nṛsiṁhadev is still roaring.

Then Lakṣmīdevī seeing him in this mood, there’re saying, “Maybe Lakṣmīdevī you could…” “When he is like this I cannot…” [laugh]. But we’re also told in the other place that Lakṣmīdevī, she knows, this is Prahlād’s moment, it is meant to shine us spotlight on śuddha-bhakti, the pure devotion of Prahlād Mahārāj. She could pacify Nṛsiṁhadev, but she’s suppressing that aspect, and sending forth Prahlād Mahārāj.

And remember this roar, the roar that stuck fear into the heart of Hiraṇyakaśipu and all āsuric entities was not frightful to Prahlād Mahārāj this fearsome of Nṛsiṁhadev was not frightful to Prahlād Mahārāj. Once this man in San Jose was taking the tour of the āśram and he saw this poster of Nṛsiṁhadev on the wall, where Nṛsiṁhadev is like that, and the garland of intestine, and he looked at that, and he said at that and said, “Wow, he is not a happy camper” [laugh]. And I said, “No, he is.” So, what was frightening to Hiraṇyakaśipu, was not frightening to Prahlād Mahārāj. So, Prahlād Mahārāj approached him and he starts offering his prayers, and Nṛsiṁhadev became pacified. And we’re told, the took his, that same lotus palm, that just ripped Hiraṇyakaśipu apart, he petted the head of Prahlād Mahārāj with love and affection.

We see in a Devapali, Nṛsiṁhapali, where the deity of Nṛsiṁhadev is, it’s told to be there since the Satya-yuga, if you look carefully Prahlād Mahārāj, his head is bowed in his palm, he is bowed at the lotus feet of Nṛsiṁhadev, and Nṛsiṁhadev’s feet are upon his head.

And then those prayers, Prahlād Mahārāj, he is, outlining “yan maithunādi-gṛhamedhi-sukhaṁ hi tucchaṁ…” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.9.45), some of this ślokas they were very favorite to Śrīla Prabhupād, Śrīla Swāmī Mahārāj. He is talking about materialism, materialistic society, but at the same time saying, “But I feel some compassion for these people I want to… I don’t have any problem for myself, but I want to extend Krishna Consciousness to them”. So, it’s the basis for preaching Kṛṣṇa consciousness, and then he also mentions all of your different incarnations, “itthaṁ nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-deva-… avatārair…” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.9.38), all of the different forms you’re appearing.

And then he says this famous śloka at the end ‘chhannaḥ kalau’… “And then in the Kali-yuga, you come in the covered form, so you sometimes known as Triyuga, because that forth yuga incarnation is covered…,” so this is taken to be in indication of the appearance of Mahāprabhu, because what is covered by? “Rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ…” (Chaitanya-charitāmṛta: Ādi 4.55) The heart and halo of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī. So there is some mystical inscription in this ślokas and indication of Prahlād Mahārāja’s awareness of that and he also has a part to play in the Gaura-līlā.

So, Prahlād Mahārāj pacifies Nṛsiṁhadev and Nṛsiṁhadev offers Prahlād so many boons and benedictions whatever you want, is yours. And we’re told, Prahlād Mahārāj… this is why it is śuddha-bhakti, the beginning of pure devotion, says, “na sa bhṛtyaḥ sa vai vaṇik” (Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 7.10.4). It’s not that I am worshipping you to receive something, I am not worshipping you in the anticipation of remuneration. So Prahlād is a little incensed by this suggestion. This is part of the līlā the Pastime, Nṛsiṁhadev is offering his boons to him and Prahlād Mahārāj is declining, “Why should I,… the Lord will not give the devotee something that’s bad for them. So, why would you give all this things? That might distract me from your lotus feet and the holy service of your lotus feet?” So, Prahlād speaks very nicely in that regard… establishing pure devotion and to answer that question we could say, “Then why is Nṛsiṁhadev offering those things?” Because they will not distract Prahlād Mahārāj. And when he realizes that all these things should be embraced in seva, in service he accepts them. And he is becoming the great King and the Pastimes continue.

And so it’s also consistent with the theme of Rūpa Goswāmī, the “nirbandhe kṛṣṇa-sambandhe yukta-vairāgyam uchyate…” What is yukta-vairāgya?

That the objects of the senses and the things of this world are not to be dismissed from being employed in the service of Guru Gaurāṅga Rādhā Govinda.

And just to conclude let’s say… Gurudev told once in Soquel he said when Nṛsiṁhadev  is expressing so much love and affection for bloody takes Prahlād in his, licking him with his tongue out of affection. So he told Prahlād Mahārāj told Nṛsiṁhadev, “And you’re also, you appear in many different forms,… He understands this is Kṛṣṇa, the form of Kṛṣṇa, although Nṛsiṁhadev is generally taking to be Vaikuṇṭha destined. Still in the background so when Nṛsiṁhadev we’re told after this when (leg is falling asleep). He in Ahovalam in South India he washes his hands. That plays sometimes bhaktas devotees go there on pilgrimage, and they see – the rocks are red from the blood of Hiraṇyakaśipu as he washed his hands there and… so he is… we take it as it took place in South India, this Pastime.

So, when Nṛsiṁhadev is flying back to his own abode, as he is going over Bengal, Gauḍa-deś and Māyāpur, saying, “Oh, yes, Prahlād said, “Chhannaḥ kalau…”,  hidden in the Kali-yuga, Mahāprabhu, this is where Mahāprabhu appears. So, Nṛsiṁhadev, he descends in what is now known as Nṛsiṁhapali. And which was sometimes called previously Devapali, because on the surrounding hills so many devas come. And while Nṛsiṁhadev was there they begin the worship of Nṛsiṁhadev from all of these different places. And then he, by his divine will, in that pukur, pond nearby some devotee bathing there discovers what’s now the mūrti of Nṛsiṁhadev  and Prahlād Mahārāj that’s in Nṛsiṁhapali.

Then Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur he resigns on the government service gets a transfer first to Kṛṣṇanagar when he is discovering Māyāpur Yogapīṭh and then Svarūpganj which is nearby, in the morning I’m a stone sit Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur… Ear witness, eye witness – the disciple of Saraswatī Ṭhākur, Parvat Mahārāj. He would hear Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur taking in the name of Kṛṣṇa three o’clock - four o’clock in the morning. He said, “Like someone crying out to his beloved off in the distance… Very fervently, very intensely, piteously taking the name of Kṛṣṇa.”

But Bhakti Vinod Ṭhākur notices that every day four-thirty or so, brahma-muhūrta time, some breeze is coming from Devapali and going towards Māyāpur. And Guru Mahārāj said, “By deep reflection he realize that Nṛsiṁhadev in Nṛsiṁhapali he is going every morning to attend the maṅgal-ārati of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu in the Yoga Pīṭh.

So, it’s extraordinary how all of these things are connected and linked. And as Guru Mahārāj said, “It may be that by dedicating yourself, pursuing Kṛṣṇa Consciousness that you on count of so many obstacles but what so we learn from this, that at the time for the greatest necessity, then what? Vighna-vināśana Nṛsiṁhadev, those obstacles on the path of devotion, the devotees accepting Kṛṣṇa as their guardian, they know that Nṛsiṁhadev will remove them.

Hare Kṛṣṇa! Jay Nṛsiṁhadev Bhagavān ki jay! Prahlād Mahārāj ki jay!