20230504 Lord Narasiṁha Caturdaśī Address

The following is an address given by His Holiness Jayapatākā Swami Mahārāja on May 4th,2023 in Dallas, Texas, USA The address was given on the occasion of Lord Śrī Narasiṁha Deva Caturdaśī celebrations.

mūkaṁ karoti vācālaṁ paṅguṁ laṅghayate girim
yat-kṛpā tam ahaṁ vande śrī-guruṁ dīna-tāraṇam
paramānandaṁ mādhavaṁ śrī caitanya iśvaram

Hariḥ oṁ tat sat!

Jayapatākā Swami: Today is the very auspicious day of Narasiṁha Caturdaśī! Lord Narasiṁhadeva on this tithi appeared. In our Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, there is a history how He came out after sunset, out of a pillar because Hiraṇyakaśipu was challenging, is your God everywhere? Prahlāda Mahārāja said, yes! He is everywhere? Is He in the pillar? He then smashed it! A sound came, all over the universe, a horrendous sound. And then Lord Narasiṁhadeva came out.

I came in here, they had abhisheka of Lord Narasiṁhadeva, and I saw Ugra Narasiṁhadeva abhiṣeka. In Māyāpur I was watching this morning, and they had a three hour abhiṣeka. 200 liters of milk, going on and on and going on. Then I was told that in Delhi they installed Lakṣmī Narasiṁha, and I switched over and searching ISKCON New Delhi, and sure enough they were installing and doing a mahā-abhiṣeka for Lakṣmī Narasiṁhadeva! Someone told me that in Guntur, they were installing Lakṣmī Narasiṁhadeva, so I switched to Guntur, and saw that. Today is a special day in this month of Vaiśākha every activity we do for Kṛṣṇa is multiplied by a 100-times. So, you are attending this function and also the initiation ceremony, taking prasāda, all these things, you get a 100 times benefit.

Haribol! I was reading the Purāṇas, and once before Lord Narasiṁhadeva He appeared. In this līlā in our Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Hiraṇyakaśipu worshiped Lord Brahmā and he got special blessings. Like he could not be killed in the day or night, and different things. Almost he worshiped Lord Śiva in the Padma Purāṇa I was reading, and he got almost the same blessings, something was different. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, he could not be killed in or out. He was killed in the doorway. Neither in or out. In the Padma Purāṇa he did not ask that. He asked more or less everything else. Apparently, Hiraṇyakaśipu, he was torturing his son, abusing his son the same way. He told his son that if your God does not appear by sunset, I will kill you. In this case, we have a temple here, imagine a temple 100 miles wide and 200 miles long. In that vast stadium or what you call it of Hiraṇyakaśipu everyone inside was having good health, blessed with good food, all material benefits. On side of it, they had a large throne with Hiraṇyakaśipu on it. Millions of people glorifying Hiraṇyakaśipu kī…

Devotees: “Jaya!”

Jayapatākā Swami: No! No! I did not say, “jaya!” Anyway, Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He came flying outside the pandal, outside the big stadium. Everybody was amazed who was this half man half lion entered into the big stadium, pandal. Then Hiraṇyakaśipu said, “Oh! No beast allowed.” But Narasiṁhadeva, He did not care about what Hiraṇyakaśipu said. He in His big form. Hiraṇyakaśipu sends his air force, “Get Him!” Lord Narasiṁhadeva’s hairs, His whiskers, His mane, the airplanes, the jets hit like flies that hit those machines they have, chik, chik! Narasiṁhadeva goes closer and closer and Hiraṇyakaśipu starts shooting missiles at Him. But Narasiṁhadeva caught the missiles and threw them down. Then Hiraṇyakaśipu did not know what to do. So he then flew in the air with his own weapons and tried to fight with Lord Narasiṁhadeva and there was a big fight going on. Just after sunset, Lord Narasiṁhadeva sat on Hiraṇyakaśipu’s throne and He bifurcated his belly. Haribol! Jaya Narasiṁhadeva kī jaya! Narasiṁhadeva kī jaya! Narasiṁhadeva kī jaya! So two days of Brahmā, with different Narasiṁhadeva pastimes. And I just wanted to share that one with you. Many times devotees did not hear this pastime. Of course, various soldiers, demons they attacked Lord Narasiṁhadeva but He destroyed all of them. And then He was so angry, a little boy, a devotee, was being persecuted, abused, for no reason! Nobody could approach Him. Even Lakṣmī Devī, She never saw Him so angry. Then Lord Brahmā told Prahlāda Mahārāja, because of you He came, you go and talk to Him. So then Prahlāda Mahārāja, he approached Narasiṁhadeva and Narasiṁhadeva touched him on the head. Thus he was empowered to speak. So he spoke, he glorified the Lord. He humbled himself, said he was born in a demoniac family, but by Your mercy I am able to speak something. Then he spoke very nice prayers to Lord Narasiṁhadeva.

Actually, Lord Narasiṁhadeva, in caitanya-līlā, there was a fisherman and he caught Lord Caitanya in his net. Lord Caitanya had thought that the ocean, the Bay of Bengal was the Yamunā, and ran into it and He was expanded out. So the fisherman, he caught Lord Caitanya and He was elongated. When he touched Lord Caitanya, he actually got love of Godhead. And he started chanting, he got frightened, he thought it was a ghost, he did not know what these symptoms were, he got frightened. So then he chanted Narasiṁhadeva mantra. But then he was feeling more ecstasy, he thought I am possessed by a ghost. So the devotees were looking for Lord Caitanya and Svarūpa Dāmodara he came, this man was chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare… and he said I am possessed by a ghost. Svarūpa Dāmodara said a person possessed by a ghost doesn’t chant the holy name, He said, “I know to exorcise, take the ghost out of away.” He slapped him chu chu.. then “Okay, ghost is gone! Where is Lord Caitanya?” “I don’t know. I caught a ghost in my net.” “Where is the ghost?” He saw Lord Caitanya, His bones had become completely disjointed. So they spread a cloth on the beach and put Lord Caitanya on it. They chanted in His ear. Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare, Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare! Then he came back to life. All His bones came together chu chu chu! The fact that the fisherman when he chanted the Narasiṁhadeva mantra, he was feeling more ecstatic, that proved to Svarūpa Dāmodara that Lord Caitanya must be here.

Anyway, we find that Lord Narasiṁhadeva, He protects our saṅkīrtana devotees, He protects different devotees. Naturally, when Śrīla Prabhupāda was sick we prayed to Lord Narasiṁhadeva. For us Lord Narasiṁhadeva is like special. Anyway, every avatāra has His particular mood. So Narasiṁhadeva, His mood is to protect His devotees. Who wants to be a devotee of Lord Narasiṁhadeva? He will protect you!

Lord Caitanya, He has His mood. You know what is His mood? Mercy! He gives out mercy. He is the most merciful avatāra! He is Kṛṣṇa with the mood of Rādhārāṇī, Kālacāndajī in the mood of Rādhārāṇī. So, I mentioned before how Kṛṣṇa was challenged by Rukmiṇī. “There is one thing You don’t, Rādhārāṇī knows, I know, You don’t know.” Kṛṣṇa said, “What is that?” “You do not know how much Your devotees love You and in what way we love You.” So Lord Kṛṣṇa said in Kali-yuga, “I will come as My devotee!” Three times He said it. So that coming is Lord Caitanya.

We worship Lord Narasiṁhadeva, and how He protects His devotees. Every avatāra has Their mood. But then in the altar we have Nitāi-Gaura, Rādhā-Kālacāndajī and Jagannātha Baladeva Subhadrā. At the lotus feet of Lord Jagannātha is the Lord Narasiṁhadeva picture. So, for us Lord Narasiṁhadeva, it is also very important to remember the Lord in that mood.

Anyway, today we are having initiation ceremony on this auspicious day, and there devotees they take the commitment to serve Kṛṣṇa, Rādhā-Kālacāndajī, for their whole life. So, that is the system. And we are very happy that you all attended this festival and heard some glories of Lord Narasiṁhadeva. Actually the Lord in His different forms are all transcendental. Although you may see it as a violent form of the Lord, actually, the Lord is all merciful! And even when He kills someone they get liberation. So, in Māyāpur we have a place in Godrumadvīpa called Narasiṁhapallī. Lord Narasiṁhadeva was flying over the earth and He saw this is where My pastimes happen in Kali-yuga as Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And He landed there and all the Devas, Indra, Vāyu, all the devas, they build small cottages on a nearby hillock, and it is known as Narasiṁhapallī and also as Devapallī. In Navadvīpa dhāma Lord Narasiṁhadeva was approachable, He was accepting their service.