Lakshmi Narasimha~Prahlada.

Wishing all my friends a Very Happy Narasimha Jayanthi. Here is a small article written by me on “Narasimha Avatar and Prahlad” in my own little way that I grew up listening and reading about. Salutations at the Lotus feet of Lord Lakshmi-Narasimha … Stay Blessed, Spread Happiness ....  _/\_ _/\_

** "Narasimha Avatar" is the fourth Avatar/Incarnation of Lord Vishnu in a man-lion form to destroy evil and end religious persecution and calamity on Earth thereby upholding Dharma. According to the ancient scriptures, Lord Vishnu is believed to have taken ten incarnations know as “Dasha Avatar” to stop the reign of evil on this earth and bring peace and prosperity everywhere. In Bhagawat Purana it is described that Lord Vishnu took the form of Narasimha a form of part visualized as human like body with lion like face and large claws to destroy the demon King Hiranyakashipu and to protect his devotee Prahlada. 

** This is a story of King Hiranyakashipu, his son Prahlada and how Lord Vishnu took the form of Ugra Narasimha, a fierce form of Lion-Man to bring in justice in the world. The story goes that King Hiranyakashipu made austere penance and pleased Lord Brahma and obtained a boon of immortality from the Lord to seek revenge on Lord Vishnu for having slain his brother Hiranayaksa. Meanwhile when the King Hiranyakashipu had gone for tapasya/meditation, raising the opportunity the devatas and Lord Indra fought and won over the demons. Lord Indra abducted Queen Kayadhu wife of King Hiranyakashipu who was pregnant at that time with the intention of killing the child on birth. 

** Lord Narada who is always aware of what is stored in future and is an adherent devotee of Lord Vishnu, stopped him and advised him against doing so assuring him that the child yet to be born would be a loving devotee of Lord Vishnu and would be the very reason for upholding of the Dharma. Saying so Narada muni took her to his ashram for safety and she stayed there till the time her husband Hiranyakashipu returned. Kayadhu served Narada muni with great devotion and Lord Narada daily began preaching Bhagwat Dharma and spiritual knowledge to her and the unborn baby in her womb. This way, Narada muni saw to it that the baby in the womb received all the gyan/knowledge and learned the glories of Lord Vishnu, which prepared the child to become the greatest devotee in future. 

** By now Hiranyakashipu who had sat on meditation to seek boon from Lord Brahma had pleased him and assured via the boon that he could not be killed by man or beast or devil or god, at day or night, by steel or stone or wood, indoors or outdoors, or on earth or sky and that he could not be killed nowhere and by no one. Lord Brahma had no choice but to grant the boon. After having obtained the boon he began considering himself supreme to God as he was over confidant that now nobody could kill him. This made his arrogant and became a tyrant with an intent to conquer everything. He even forced his people to chant his name in place of Lord Vishnu’s and forbade them from praying to any God. 

** Once the child Prahlada was born and old enough he was sent to gurukul/school by his parents. Unlike other boys little Prahlada was not interested in playing or learning and was always engrossed in thoughts on Lord Vishnu. He even began to influence the other students telling them about Lord Vishnu which was banned by his own father. No amount of teachings could influence his mind nor take away his faith in Lord Vishnu and finally the teachers gave up and sent him back home. King Hiranyakashipu could not tolerate hearing Lord Hari/Vishnu praising from his own son and decided to give his severe punishment. Despite several attempts to change his thinking and punishments, Prahlada’s devotion to Lord Vishnu could not be taken away and it infuriated his father more and the demon ordered his own son to be killed. 

** When several attempts to kill the child were unsuccessful, the furious demon thought of carrying out the killing of his son himself. He demanded his son, that he be shown where Lord Hari was ? to which the child replied “Everywhere”, this infuriated the demon more and he said If that was so and Lord Vishnu was present everywhere, would he be present in the pillar too? near which Prahlada stood and if so, he would not kill the child himself and see how his Lord comes to save him. Saying so he hit the pillar with his fist and tried to kill his own son. As soon as Hiranyakashipu hit the pillar an extremely loud roaring sound was heard and the pillar broke up and out came a fearful form of Lord Vishnu in Narasimha Avatar with half body of human and the face of lion and hands having sharp long nails.

** The anger in the Ugra Narasimha form was so fearful that it took the demon Hiranyakashipu, by surprise. The roaring form of Narasimha took hold of Hiranyakashipu, carried him to the doorstep of the hall, laid him on his thighs and ripped him apart on the stomach with his sharp nails which killed Hiranyakashipu instantly. Narasimha Avatar was that of half lion and half man, this happened during twilight hours, which was neither day nor night. He sat on the threshold of the court room which is neither inside nor outside and pierced his nails into the body of Hiranyakashipu which was neither steel nor wood nor sword, thus abiding also by the boon given by Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu. 

** However, all was not over yet good and over. Though the Lord had saved Prahlada, his devotee, the rage within him could not be controlled. Even Prahlada stood in awe at his Lord’s rage and avatar though he was not scared. Lord Narasmha’s rage kept growing and the lion kept roaring and bashing things here and there so much so that even the Gods themselves could not calm him down and began to get scared. Goddess Lakshmi was watching the scene from Vaikunth and saw her husband’s uncontainable anger and began to get worried. The Gods came and pleaded to her to save the world from Lord Ugra Narasimha’s furious avatar. He was the almighty preserver of the universe and he had to be somehow cooled down and stopped. 

** Goddess Lakshmi appeared before her Lord who was now in Ugra Narasimha’s Avatar rage. She gently said, ‘Dear Lord, Why are you still so angry?’ Pointing at Prahlada, she continued, ‘Prahlada has been saved. Hiranyakashipu has met his end by your grace. Everything is back in order, Please calm down”. Having said this Goddess Lakshmi went ahead and sat on the left lap of Lord Narasimha, a small beautiful tiny figure compared to the huge Narasimha. Lord Vishnu looked into his beloved consort Lakshmi’s face and his anger began to cool down only a little bit. Goddess Lakshmi then requested Prahlada to come forward and sing a stotram to please the Lord. Prahlada touched Lord Narasimhas feet and started to praise the lord and slowly and steadily the anger vanished and there was a pleasing look in the Lords face. 

** Finally, with the prayers from Prahlada and with the presence of his consort Goddess Lakshmi, Lord Narasimha got completely cooled down and came back to his original Lord Vishnu form.The universe had been saved and all the gods heaved a sigh of relief and thanked Goddess Lakshmi for her timely intervention. When Narasimha is seen with Goddess Lakshmi, his face is handsome and gentle. He is then known as “Lakshmi-Narasimha”. But when alone and the avatar takes on a terrifying form that is feared by all things evil and immoral it is known as "Ugra Narasimha". Prahlada was then crowned as the emperor of the kingdom who ruled for many years as an able and honest King and the faith in Lord Vishnu was once again spread wide and all through the kingdom and all people lived happily. 

** Disclaimer : I have adapted and written this short story to the best of my knowledge from net, friends and various other sources. I have read through a lot of articles on this particular incidence of incarnation of Lord Vishnu in Narasimha Avatar and each one had their own adaptions some of which I had never really heard off too. I grew up listening to this story of Prahlada in this manner and read them so in comics too through my childhood. I have condensed and wrote this small article on my own way to the best of my ability. I have also included Google pictures and the picture credits goes to them. My sole intention of writing short stories is apart from the fact that I love writing them, I also want the future generations to know a little bit of the same too. If I have hurt anybody’s sentiments in the process, It is not intentional and in no way meant to offend anybody or any religion. Plz. do excuse me for the same.