Lord Caitanya's darsana of Nrsimhadeva...
...or was it Lord Nrsimhadeva's darsana of lord Caitanya? Upon seeing the Deity of Lord Nrsimha in the temple, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu offered His respectful obeisances by falling flat. Then, in ecstatic love, He performed various dances, chanted, and offered prayers.
sri nrsimha jaya nrsimha jaya jaya nrsimha
prahladesa jaya padma mukha padma bhrnga
“‘All glories to Nrsimhadeva! All glories to Nrsimhadeva, who is the Lord of Prahlada Maharaja and, like a honeybee, is always engaged in beholding the lotuslike face of the goddess of fortune.’
PURPORT
The goddess of fortune is always embraced by Lord Nrsimahadeva. This is mentioned in the commentary on Srimad Bhagavatam written by the great commentator Srila Sridhara Svami. The following verse was composed by Sridhara Svami's commentary SB.10.87.1:
vag-isa yasya vadane laksmir yasya ca vaksasi
yasyaste hrdaye samvit tam nrsimham aham bhaje
“Lord Nrsimhadeva is always assisted by Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, and He is always embracing the goddess of fortune to His chest. The Lord is always complete in knowledge within Himself. Let us offer obeisances unto Nrsimhadeva.”
Similarly, in his commentary on SB.1.1.1 Sridhara Svami describes Lord Nrsimhadeva in this way:
prahlada-hrdayahladam bhaktavidya-vidaranam
sarad-indu-rucim vande parindra-vadanam harim
“Let me offer my obeisances unto Lord Nrsimhadeva, who is always enlightening Prahlada Maharaja within his heart and who always kills the nescience that attacks the devotees. His mercy is distributed like moonshine, and His face is like that of a lion. Let me offer my obeisances unto Him again and again.”
“‘Although very ferocious, the lioness is very kind to her cubs. Similarly, although very ferocious to nondevotees like Hiranyakasipu, Lord Nrsimhadeva is very, very soft and kind to devotees like Prahlada Maharaja.’” Sridhara Svami's commentary on SB.7.9.1.
Lord Caitanya is Lord Nrsimhadeva
Lord Caitanya is Avatari, the one in whom all other Avataras reside. One day while hearing the Visnu Sahasranama, the 1000 names of Lord Visnu, upon hearing teh name of Lord Nrishadeva, theeyes of Lord Caitanya became red and all the hears on His body stood on end, he took a club in His hand and stormed through the streets, people fled in all directions in great fear, then the Lord came to his senses.
On another occasion Nrsimhananda brahmacari made an offering to his Deities of Lord Caitanya, Lord Jagannatha and Lord Nrishmadeva, he had three seperate plates one for each of the Deities then in meditation he saw that Lord Caitanya ate all the three plates. Nrsimhananda complained to the devotees and cooked again.
The next year, Sivananda went to Jagannatha Puri with all the other devotees to see the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
One day, in the presence of all the devotees, the Lord raised these topics concerning Nrsimhananda Brahmacari and praised his transcendental qualities. The Lord said, “Last year in the month of Pausa, when Nrsimhananda gave Me varieties of sweetmeats and vegetables to eat, they were so good that I felt I had never before eaten such preparations.”
There is no doubt that Lord Caitanya is non-different from Lord Nrsimhadeva.
This present age of kali is greatly blessed by Lord Caitanya, it is touched by the special mercy of the Lord in all respects, thus all the Deities are also touched by the merciful mood of Lord Caitanya and thus when we are presently approaching Lord Nrsimhadeva we are dealing with Lord Nrsimha Caitanya.
Hiranyakasipu dissappeared
Then Lord Nrsimhadeva took the demon on his lap and was ready to rip the demon apart and just then Hiranyakasipu disappeared. Upon examination it was found that the demon got stuck under the nails of the Lord.
tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-srngam
dalita-hiranyakasipu-tanu-bhrngam
kesava dhrta-narahari-rupa jaya jagadisa hare
"O my Lord, Your hands are very beautiful, like the lotus flower, but with Your long nails You have ripped apart the wasp Hiranyakasipu. Unto You, Lord of the universe, do I offer my humble obeisances."
Thus the powerful demon, that had the entire universe overwhelmed with fear was no more than an insignificant insect for the Supreme Lord.
From the Nrsimha Purana told by Sacinandana Swami
Prahlada attracted by love
The Supreme Lord, out of His causeless mercy is displaying his unlimited opulences. Each and every aspect of the Lord is wonderful and amazing and a manifestation of His kind love for all living beings, it is aimed to offer fullfledged happiness to the recipients of that mercy. 'Prahlada' means 'prakrsta rupene ahlada' or the living being in his constitutional position who is happy to the fullest extent.
What life threathening situations did Prahlada not go through, yet all throughout the greatest trials and tribulations Prahlada was simply meditating on the mercy of the Lord, thus he was always overwhelmed in transcendental love. Prahalada was always taking shelter of the Lord, but he was not only turning to Him at the time of danger. Prahlada was abhayam, fearless, but not merely the fearlessness of one who knows that he is not this body, but rather an eternal spirit soul; Prahlada's fearlessness was due to being fully absorbed in ecstatic love. Thus Krsna attracts by His love!
Srila Prabhupada said; "So we are worshiping Krsna. His simple business is, as we have described, Radha-Madhava, He is lover of Srimati Radharani. Krsna means lover. This very word Krsna means "all-attractive." You can attract by your love, not by anything else. Therefore His name is Krsna." SP lect. Delhi 16 Nov.'73
Krsna's bedtime story
" O my rising dark moon, my child, you are not asleep?"
" No sleep has not yet come to Me."
" Listen my son, I will tell you a bedtime story that will make you fall asleep"
"What is this story I have never heard? Please tell it."
Mother Yasoda then told the story. When she came to the sentences, " Then Lord Nrsimha appeared form the pillar. Lord Nrismha was very eager to rip the demon to shreds." A smile suddenly arose on child Krsna's lips.
-Sri Sarvananda, Padyavali pada 2.152
Why Prahlada did not die for poison, from fire or snakes...
Sanda and Amarka were becoming desperate they saw that their end was near. They questioned Prahlada, how it was possible that they gave him poison and he did not die, they tried to burn him in fire and it didn't work, and they threw him in a snake pit to no avail.
Prahalada explained that poison was his uncle. His true father was Narayana and the Lord's consort had appeared from the milk ocean, and prior to her poison had appeared from that same ocean, as her elder brother. Thus poison was Prahlada's uncle and would not harm him. And fire was the mouth of Visnu for accepting oblations in sacrifice and the Lord would certainly not harm his son Prahlada. And even when Prahlada was thrown in a pit with snakes they did not bite the boy. Prahlada explained that His father, Lord Visnu was always resting on a bed of snakes, so when a child plays on His father's bed, how can any harm become him?
Vedanta Desika, a 12th Century Sri Vaisava told by Kripamaya Prabhu.
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