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Some additional thoughts on "adbhuta kesari" posting.

From the Bhakti List Archives

champakam • January 30, 2003 


The very interesting write-up of SrI Sadagopa Iyengar brought back 
some memories of some additional anubhavam-s that I had come across 
during the sahasra nAma write-up for this nAma.  I have made some 
modifications to the original posting, and am including the re-
written material below.  I request SrI M. K. Krishnaswamy and Smt. 
SrImati Raja to update the write-up for this nAma in the web pages 
that they maintain.

-dAsan kRshNamAcAryan

21.  nArasimha vapuh

He Who is possessed of a body of man and lion combined.

SrI BhaTTar captures several thoughts about this incarnation of 
bhagabvAn in one sentence in his commentary: sva-bhaktyantarAya 
nivAraNam  bhkata-bhayApaha  tadapekshA  samakshaNa  pratipannayathA 
kAma  divya mahA-nRsimha samhananh. 

1.	This incarnation shows a removal of impediments to devotion 
to Him.
2.	He takes incarnations at will. 
3.	His incarnations are divine.
4.	They remove the fear of His devotees .
5.	The incarnations are assumed the moment the request is made.
  
SrI rAdhA kRshNa SAstri elaborates on these, and add his own anubhava-
s.  Among his additional thoughts are:

6. This incarnation shows that when it comes to bhagavAn, 
our "normal" rationalization should not be applied to anything 
associated with Him.  For instance, we know that man is the best 
evolved species in the thinking capability (brain power).  Similarly, 
lion is the most evolved in physical  strength.  Its strength is 
located in its body and its powerful nails.   So, in order to destroy 
a powerful asura such as hiraNya kaSipu, it would have made a lot 
more sense if bhagavAn had taken a form with the head of a human 
being (with the associated highly evolved brain), and the body of a 
lion (the most evolved with respect to physical strength).  BhagavAn 
does exactly the opposite - the head of a lion, and the body of a 
human being.  This is a simple illustration of the point that He is 
beyond our capabilities of analysis. 

BhagavAn does whatever it takes to fulfill the request of His 
devotee, irrespective of whether it shows Him in the best light or 
not.   ANDAL refers to His varAha incarnation as "mAnam ilAp panRi" - 
the shameless boar with dirt dripping from all over its body, to go 
after another rAkshasa, hiraNyAksha, the brother of hiraNyakaSipu.
 
7. Anyone who observes a scene of an ausra being torn to pieces with 
its nails by a lion-faced form with a human body, will be terror-
stricken.  And yet, we see prahlAda standing in great reverence, 
unperturbed, and pleased at having the divya darSanam of the Lord.  
But seeing the same form, hiraNya kaSipu was terror-stricken as the 
half-man-half-lion form emerged from the pillar.  Thus, at the same 
time, with the same form, bhagavAn was pleasing to the eye of the 
devotee, and causing terror to the devotee's enemy.   This is another 
revelation of the greatness of bhagavAn – that simultaneously He is 
endowed with all opposites at the same time.
  
8. In addition to the aspect of His being able to induce fear or love 
at the same time, there is the beauty aspect to His form of half-man 
half-lion.  Just for a moment, think of some human form with the head 
of a lion appearing in front of us, and imagine the aversion that 
this sight will induce in us.  Not so with Lord nRsimha.  He was 
absolutely beautiful in this form, as SrI BhaTTar elaborates in the 
next nAma – SrImAn – because He is always associated with SrI or 
Lakshmi. 
 
9. In normal course of life, something that came from breaking a jaDa 
form such as the pillar should be expected to be another piece of the 
same jaDa form.  One should expect a live form to be originating only 
from another life form. Here, the narasimha avatAram illustrates the 
unusual, which can happen only because BhagavAn is the divya purusha, 
and in matters relating to Him, we should not be applying normal 
logic as we are used to do.

SrI satyadevo vAsishTha does not support the interpretation that 
bhagavAn had an actual mixed body consisting of some aspects of man 
and some aspects of lion.  Instead, he suggests that the nAma means  
that He took a normal form that possessed the best aspects such as 
the strength of a lion, and the best aspects of man such as the 
ability to think.  We will not go into the merits of this 
interpretation.  Only the interesting philosophical aspect that he 
brings out is dealt with here.  He sees in this nAma the illustration 
that neither karma alone, nor j~nAna alone, are sufficient in the 
fulfillment of any undertaking, and that both are needed.  He quotes 
from the Srtuti-s in support:

   idam me brahma ca kshatram ca ubhe Sriyam aSnutAm  (yajur. 32.16)

   yatra brahma ca kshatram ca samya'ncou caratah saha    |
   tam lokam puNyam pra~jnesham yatra devAh sahagninA   ||  (yajur. 
20.25)

As a lesson to take from this nAma, SrI vAsishTha makes the point 
that whatever action one undertakes, this should be done after fully 
analyzing and understanding the consequences associated with this 
action.  One can also extrapolate from this the thought that it is 
not enough to have the ability to use force, but also along with 
that, one should know how to use this force, when to use this force, 
etc., in order for the force to have beneficial effects.
  











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