Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.1.11 Prabhupāda Teaching Nṛsiṁha Prayers

[Govindam record plays] [break]

[long pause]

Prabhupāda: [indistinct] Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama... And where is the center [indistinct]

Devotee: I am just from New York.

Prabhupāda: Oh? Where is that slip yesterday you gave me? That mantra, nṛsiṁha-mantra? There was one extra mantra. You have got, everyone, slip? This.

Namas te, narasiṁhāya, prahlāda, hlāda-dāyine, hiraṅyakaśipor, vakṣaḥ, śilā-ṭaṅka, nakhālaye.

namas te narasiṁhāya prahlādāhlāda-dāyine hiraṅyakaśipor vakṣaḥ- śilā-ṭaṅka-nakhālaye

[I offer my obeisances to Lord Narasiṁha who gives joy to Prahlāda Mahārāja and whose nails are like chisels on the stonelike chest of the demon Hiraṅyakaśipu.]

ito nṛsiṁhaḥ parato nṛsiṁho yato yato yāmi tato nṛsiṁhaḥ bahir nṛsiṁho hṛdaye nṛsiṁho nṛsiṁham ādiṁ śaraṅaṁ prapadye

[Lord Nṛsiṁha is here and also there. Wherever I go Lord Nṛsiṁha is there. He is in the heart and is outside as well. I surrender to Lord Nṛsiṁha, the origin of all things and the supreme refuge.]

[devotees sing with Prabhupāda]

tava kara-kamala-vare nakham adbhuta-śṛṅgaṁ dalita-hiraṅyakaśipu-tanu-bhṛṅgam keśava dhṛta-narahari-rūpa jaya jagadīśa hare jaya jagadīśa hare, jaya jagadīśa hare

[O Keśava! O Lord of the universe! O Lord Hari who have assumed the form of a half-man, half-lion! All glories to You! With the wonderfully sharp nails on Your beautiful lotus hands You have ripped apart the wasplike body of Hiraṅyakaśipu.]

The meaning of this mantra, that "I offer my humble obeisances to Lord Nṛsiṁha, who is the source of bliss to Prahlāda, but," hiraṅyakaśipor vakṣaḥ, "but his father, Hiraṅyakaśipu, on his chest the nails of His finger is just like chisel cutting the stone."

The same Personality of Godhead is prahlāda āhlāda-dāyine. Āhlāda means pleasure. For Prahlāda... Prakṛṣṭa-rūpeṅāhlāda, prahlāda. A devotee is, being always in Kṛṣṅa consciousness, naturally he is in blissfulness. Still more, when he meets or associates with his Lord, still more blissfulness. That is the position of the theist devotee. Whereas the atheist nondevotee, he's always feeling like a strike of the chisel, like..., what do you call? Stone cutting chisel. Nakha. Nakhālaye. Simply by the nails of His finger. All right.

Where is that book? Now this Bhāgavatam. Yes. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya.

śrī-śuka uvāca varīyān eṣa te praśnaḥ kṛto loka-hitaṁ nṛpa ātmavit-sammataḥ puṁsāṁ śrotavyādiṣu yaḥ paraḥ [SB 2.1.1]

[Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: My dear King, your question is glorious because it is very beneficial to all kinds of people. The answer to this question is the prime subject matter for hearing, and it is approved by all transcendentalists.]

śrotavyādīni rājendra nṛṅāṁ santi sahasraśaḥ apaśyatām ātma-tattvaṁ gṛheṣu gṛha-medhinām [SB 2.1.2]

[Those persons who are materially engrossed, being blind to the knowledge of ultimate truth, have many subject matters for hearing in human society, O Emperor.]

nidrayā hriyate naktaṁ vyavāyena ca vā vayaḥ divā cārthehayā rājan kuṭumba-bharaṅena vā [SB 2.1.3]

[The lifetime of such an envious householder is passed at night either in sleeping or in sex indulgence, and in the daytime either in making money or maintaining family members.]

dehāpatya-kalatrādiṣv ātma-sainyeṣv asatsv api teṣāṁ pramatto nidhanaṁ paśyann api na paśyati [SB 2.1.4]

[Persons devoid of ātma-tattva do not inquire into the problems of life, being too attached to the fallible soldiers like the body, children and wife. Although sufficiently experienced, they still do not see their inevitable destruction.]

tasmād bhārata sarvātmā bhagavān īśvaro hariḥ śrotavyaḥ kīrtitavyaś ca smartavyaś cecchatābhayam [SB 2.1.5]

[O descendant of King Bharata, one who desires to be free from all miseries must hear about, glorify and also remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the Supersoul, the controller and the savior from all miseries.]

etāvān sāṅkhya-yogābhyāṁ sva-dharma-pariniṣṭhayā janma-lābhaḥ paraḥ puṁsām ante nārāyaṅa-smṛtiḥ [SB 2.1.6]

[The highest perfection of human life, achieved either by complete knowledge of matter and spirit, by practice of mystic powers, or by perfect discharge of occupational duty, is to remember the Personality of Godhead at the end of life.]

prāyeṅa munayo rājan nivṛttā vidhi-ṣedhataḥ nairguṅya-sthā ramante sma guṅānukathane hareḥ [SB 2.1.7]

[O King Parīkṣit, mainly the topmost transcendentalists, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.]

idaṁ bhāgavataṁ nāma purāṅaṁ brahma-sammitam adhītavān dvāparādau pitur dvaipāyanād aham [SB 2.1.8]

[At the end of the Dvāpara-yuga, I studied this great supplement of Vedic literature named Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, which is equal to all the Vedas, from my father, Śrīla Dvaipāyana Vyāsadeva.]

pariniṣṭhito 'pi nairguṅya uttama-śloka-līlayā gṛhīta-cetā rājarṣe ākhyānaṁ yad adhītavān [SB 2.1.9]

[O saintly King, I was certainly situated perfectly in transcendence, yet I was still attracted by the delineation of the pastimes of the Lord, who is described by enlightened verses.]

tad ahaṁ te 'bhidhāsyāmi mahā-pauruṣiko bhavān yasya śraddadhatām āśu syān mukunde matiḥ satī [SB 2.1.10]

[His lotus feet are placed over the whorls of the lotuslike hearts of great mystics. On His chest is the Kaustubha jewel, engraved with a beautiful calf, and there are other jewels on His shoulders. His complete torso is garlanded with fresh flowers.]

Prabhupāda: Then here text number 11.

etan nirvidyamānānām icchatām akuto-bhayam yogināṁ nṛpa nirṅītaṁ harer nāmānukīrtanam [SB 2.1.11]

[O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.]

Prabhupāda: Again.

Again.

[12:54]

Etan nirvidyamānānām. There are three classes of men. One class of men, karmīs, they are trying to enjoy the material resources. Icchatām, always desire: "I want this, I want this, I want this." And another class, they are con..., or rather, what is called? Frustrated. After trying utmost, "I want this, I want this, I want this," when at the end do not get anything, he is frustrated. That is called nirvidyā. "I don't want." Or actually one is satiated or disgusted: "No more material world. I don't want it." They are called nirvidyamānām. So the one class is trying to possess, and another class is trying to renounce: "I don't want."

And another class is akuto-bhayam. Akuto-bhayam. Who is akuto-bhayam? Akuto-bhayam means one who does not fear. And who does not fear? Because fearfulness is one of the items of our conditional life. Āhāra-nidrā-bhaya-maithuna [Hitopadeśa 25]: eating, sleeping, fearing and mating.

[Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special property of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life. Therefore without spiritual life, humans are on the level of animals.]

So who is without any fear? That means he's also liberated. He's not in the material platform: transcendental, who is out of the limits of fearfulness.

So akuto-bhayam means the devotees. The devotees, just like Prahlāda Mahārāja, his father teased him in so many ways, but he was not at all fearful. He was simply thinking of Nṛsiṁhadeva and he was fearless. So only the devotee who has fully surrendered to Kṛṣṅa, he can be fearless. Nārāyaṅa-parāḥ sarve na kutaścana bibhyati [SB 6.17.28].

[Devotees solely engaged in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṅa, never fear any condition of life. For them the heavenly planets, liberation and the hellish planets are all the same, for such devotees are interested only in the service of the Lord.]

Nārāyaṅa-parāḥ means devotees who have dedicated their life to the service of Nārāyaṅa, Kṛṣṅa. Na kutaścana bibhyati. He does not fear in any condition of life.

So here, icchatām akutaḥ. Icchatām means those who are desiring. Nirvidyamānām means those who are not desiring; renouncing. And the other class, akuto-bhayam, fearless. And yoginām. Another class—mystic yogīs. So generally, these four classes men are there. So Śukadeva Gosvāmī says that for all of them, either he is karmī or he is jñānī or he is yogī or he is bhakta. Karmī means fruitive worker, and jñānīs means empiric philosophers, and yogīs, mystic, I mean to say, yogīs, and bhaktas, and the devotees. Generally, these four classes of men.

So Śukadeva Gosvāmī gives his judgment. Nṛpa, "My dear king, for all these classes of men," nirṅītam, "it is already decided." This is Vedic conclusion. You haven't got to search out. You have to take information from the authority. So here Śukadeva Gosvāmī is authority, that "For all these classes of men, this is decided conclusively." What is that? Harer nāmānukīrtanam [SB 2.1.11]: chant Hare Kṛṣṅa.

[O King, constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, and also those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.]

Either you are jñānī, either you are yogī, either you are karmī, you desiring something or not desiring something, but you have got your objective, perfection of life. So if you want that, then chant Hare Kṛṣṅa, Hare Kṛṣṅa, Kṛṣṅa Kṛṣṅa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Karandhara: We're going to pose. We're just about ready. Everyone can pose?

Prabhupāda: This is all right. Oh, yes, special pose.

Karandhara: If everyone stands up and dances, then we won't be able to... You can sit for just a minute longer.

Prabhupāda: So chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. Sit down for a moment.

[japa] Chant. Chant.

[18:57] [Viṣṅujana leads kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [prema-dhvani] [end]