Lord Narasimhadeva protects all the devotees who takes his shelter. Other than Lord Narasimhadeva no one can give us complete protection in this world. So, we should always pray to Lord Narasimhadeva for protection. Lord Narasimhadeva is plenary expansion of Lord Krishna. To protect his dear devotee Prahlada, the Supreme Lord Krishna appeared as Lord Narasimhadeva. He had the form of half man, half lion.
His ferocious form was instilling fear in the hearts of all. Just like a father begins seething in anger seeing someone harming his child. Similarly, Lord Narasimhadeva was extremely angry because Hiranyakashipu had tried to destroy Prahlad.
Lord Narasimhadeva appears to give joy to Prahlada
In few moments, he ripped apart the demon to pieces. He pulled out the intestine of the ruthless king and wore it as a garland. His hands, nails and mane were soaked in blood. With bloodthirsty eyes he looked around challenging anyone who had dared to inflict pain upon Prahlada. The greatest of the personalities like Lord Shiva, Lord Brahma and even his wife Goddess Lakshmi feared to go in front of him.
But he was giving pleasure (āhlāda) to Prahlada: prahlādaāhlāda-dāyine. As soon as Lord Narasimhadeva saw little innocent Prahlada he was pacified. When Prahlada started offering prayers, the Lord of the Universe became extremely pleased. He started showering unlimited blessings upon his dear devotee.
The Supreme Lord had appeared at the request of Prahlada and to show to people like us that he is always there for us. He gives complete protection to those who seeks his shelter. Even before he appeared from the pillar, he was protecting Prahlada from all the dangers. Prahlada was aware about Lord’s unconditional love towards all the living beings who are his own children.
Prahlada says – In any danger pray to Lord Narasimhadeva
The Supreme Lord creates the world, controls the world, maintains the world, and pervades the world. He is present everywhere. If we look for him within our heart, we will see him there too.
Prahlada saw him everywhere – within his heart and outside as well. So, he was free from all fear, free from all anxieties. He had complete faith that Lord Narasimhadeva will protect him because he had taken complete shelter of the Lord. To save himself from the wrath of his demoniac father he did not take shelter of anything material. Because all material solution simply aggravates the problem.
Prahlada explains it, “Although there are many remedies by which to get out of miserable life, any such remedies in the material world are more miserable than the miseries themselves. Srimad Bhagavatam 7.9.17
Prahlada gives us a message too. If we are in any danger, we should immediately pray to Lord Narasimhadeva for protection.
Father prays to Lord Narasimhadeva to save his daughter
Sometimes when we read these pastimes of the Lord then it does not look relevant to us. We think that these pastimes happened thousands of years ago and in today’s time it is not applicable. We have doubt in our mind, “Will the lord appear similarly from pillar as he appeared to protect Prahlada.” But if we look around, we would find that there are many devotees who have experienced the mercy of the Lord.
One of the incidents which is widely discussed among the devotee community in ISKCON is of a little girl who was saved by Lord Narasimhadev. The girl was very small may be 2-3 years old. Once she went with her father to the fields. While her father had some work to do, the girl started playing nearby.
While playing she went on the road. When his father looked around, he did not find her. To his utter dismay, he saw his daughter almost on the middle of the road. It was highway so heavy vehicles plied there.
He saw a big truck at a very high-speed coming towards the girl. He was quite far from her. The girl was too small to understand anything. Since the truck was speeding so for the driver to immediately apply the brakes would have been risky.
Father expected the worst. He folded his hands and started praying to Lord Narasimhadev to save his child. He closed his eyes because he did not want to see that gruesome moment. After few frightful moments he opened his eyes. His heart was pounding , eyes were filled with tears and his body was shivering. With great fear he looked towards the road.
Lord Narasimhadeva appears to protect the little girl from the jaws of death
And surprisingly he saw the little girl standing by the side of the road!
The way the truck was approaching towards the child, it would have crushed even a grown-up person. He ran towards her and picked her up in his harms, “Are you alright? How you came here? How did you save yourself from the speeding truck?”
The little girl said, “I am fine. As that big thing was coming towards me a man who had head of a lion came in front of me, picked me up and put me here.”
The man could not believe her words. She might have heard some story and that is what she is saying now. But he saw something unusual. On the girl’s shoulder there were some marks. He was confused. He decided to take the girl to a doctor.
The doctor examined the girl and said that these marks are rather strange. These are not of any humans. But looks like that of a lion. Father did not say anything much. But within the core of his heart, he knew that it was Lord Narasimhadev who merciful appeared to save his little daughter. He thanked the Lord again and again.
Always pray to Lord Narasimhadeva for complete protection
When devotees in Mayapur were attacked by miscreants then devotees asked Srila Prabhupada how they can protect themselves from these ruffians. Srila Prabhupada asked them to install the deity of Lord Narasimhadeva and worship him with love. The devotees installed the beautiful deity of Lord Narasimhadeva in Iskcon Mayapur temple and began worshipping him. And the Lord has been protecting the devotees in Mayapur from all difficult situations.
In all the Iskcon temples of the world, Narasima arati is daily sung in the morning and in the evening. Devotees also worship Lord Narasimhadev at home and daily sing Narasimha arati. This beautiful prayer has been written by Vyasdeva which glorifies the wonderful qualities of the Lord.
In this world there are miseries at every step – padaṁ padaṁ yad vipadāṁ (Srimad Bhagavatam 10.14.58). And if we want to save ourselves from all these sufferings then we should always remain under the shelter of Lord Nrsimhadeava. Let us bow down at his lotus feet again and again. We should offer him our heartful prayers. And let us bathe him with our tears of love. He is our only saviour. Other than him no one can protect us.
ugram viram maha-vishnum
jvalantam sarvato mukham
nrisimham bhishanam bhadram
mrityur mrityum namamy aham
“I bow down to Lord Narasimha who is ferocious and heroic like Lord Vishnu. He is burning from every side. He is terrific, auspicious and the death of death personified.”
