Sri Narasimha Lila

Oct 14, 2016adminKrishna Katha4

Read Narasimha Lila to know how a doorkeeper in Vaikuntha takes birth as demon
Hiranyakashipu and is killed by Lord Narasimha.

Sages visit Vaikuntha: Once upon a time, the great sages, Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatana and
Sanatkumara visited Vaikuntha. There are seven gates in Vaikuntha loka and when the sages
tried to enter the seventh gate, the door keepers, Jaya and Vijaya stopped them by blocking
the way with their staff, and thereby offended the sages. The sages cursed them to take birth in
the material world. The door-keepers repented for their mistake.

Jaya and Vijaya cursed: At that time, Supreme Lord Vishnu, appeared there and informed that
the punishment given by the sages was actually ordained by Himself. The door-keepers, Jaya and
Vijaya would take birth in a demoniac family and they would be firmly united with Him in
thought through mental concentration intensified by anger. He also confirmed that they would
return to Vaikuntha soon. Thus Jaya and Vijaya took birth in this material world as Hiranyaksha
and Hiranyakashipu, the sons of sage Kashyapa and Aditi.

Lord Varaha, the boar incarnation: Hiranyaksha was so powerful that he brought all three
worlds under his control. He challenged Varuna to fight with him, but Varuna deva directed him
to Lord Varaha, the boar incarnation of the Supreme Lord Vishnu. Hiranyaksha was killed in the
combat with Lord Varaha. Hiranyakashipu wanted to avenge the death of his brother. To become
immortal, he undertook severe penances at Mandarachala to please Lord Brahma.
Hiranyakashipu, the King of Demons: When Lord Brahma appeared in front of him, he asked for
immortality. But even Brahma was not immortal. How could he grant immortality to someone?
So Brahma agreed to give him any benediction other than immortality. So the demon asked
Brahma that he should not be killed by a human being or an animal or demigod or any other
entity, living or non-living. He also prayed that he should not be killed at any place, neither in
the daytime nor night, by any kind of weapons. He further requested to award him supremacy
over the entire universe and perfection in mystic powers. After receiving the benedictions from
Lord Brahma, Hiranyakashipu terrorized the entire universe. He conquered the ten directions and
brought every one under his control.

Narada saves Kayadhu: When Hiranyakashipu went to Mandarachala to execute severe

austerities, his wife, Kayadhu, was pregnant. The demigods headed by Indra attacked the demons
and arrested Kayadhu. They wanted to kill the child as soon as it took birth. Narada Maharishi
stopped Indra and revealed that the child would be a great devotee of Lord Hari. He took
Kayadhu to his hermitage and gave her instructions on spiritual knowledge. The child in the
womb of Kayadhu attentively listened to the instructions of Narada Maharishi and became a
great devotee of Lord Vishnu.

Prahlada instructs his class mates: The child was named Prahlada. Hiranyakashipu entrusted his
son Prahlada, to Chanda and Amarka, the two sons of Shukracharya, for education. They tried to
teach him politics, economics and other material activities; but Prahlada did not care for such
instructions. He was always meditating on the Supreme Lord. When Hiranyakashipu came to
know about this, he was extremely angry and chastised the teachers for teaching the child about
Vishnu-bhakti. But when it was proved that they were innocent, he decided to kill the child.

Hiranyakashipu tortures his son: The order carriers of the demoniac king tried to kill the child
by striking him with deadly weapons, putting him under the feet of elephants, subjecting him to
hellish conditions, throwing him from the peak of a mountain etc., but they could not kill him.
Hiranyakashipu became more and more agitated. He challenged Prahlada, “Where is your God?”
and Prahlada replied that God resided everywhere. Pointing to one of the pillars in the palace
Hiranyakashipu asked: “Is your God within this pillar?” and the child answered “Yes. He is.” At
once he forcefully struck the pillar and shattered it into pieces. From inside the pillar, the
Supreme Lord Hari, appeared as Narasimha (the half-man half-lion incarnation).

Narasimhadeva, the protector of devotees: He was neither in the form of a human nor an
animal. He used His nails as weapons and killed the demon during the twilight period (neither
day nor night) sitting on the threshold of the palace (neither inside nor outside) by keeping him
on His own lap. Thus the Supreme Lord killed the demon and protected His devotee without
violating any of the benedictions awarded by Lord Brahma.
Related Links: Narasimha Jayanti | Narasimha Lila | Narasimha Pranama | Narasimha
Ashtottara