APPEARANCE OF GOD NARSIMHA

Among the ten incarnations of God, Narsimha was the fourth. There are as such twenty-four incarnations in all, but ten incarnations are considered as main. Sequence of these ten incarnations is thus :

Among all these incarnations one is the form of Lord Narsimha. He has half-human and half-feline appearance. God appeared in this strange form to save the life of his devotee Prahlada who had been constantly tortured by his father the demon Hiranyakashipu for his devotion to Lord Vishnu.

Because of a boon from Lord Brahma, demon Hiranyakashipu had grown corpulent. He then began to assume himself greater than God. He had sought a boon from Brahma that he could be killed neither by human nor by animal, neither in a day of in night, neither on earth nor in the sky, neither inside the home, nor outside it etc.

With that boon he had begun to take himself as immortal.He than began to cast doubt at the reign of God. And defeating a few powerless and helpless creatures, he declared himself as God and proclaimed no one should worship God. Instead, he ordered his subject, to worship him as God. But his own son Prahlada was just opposite to him. He had a unshakable faith in Lord Vishnu And despite continuous harassment and torture by his father Hiranyakashipu, Prahlada did not change, his course. Hiranyakashipu tried every possible means to kill Prahlada - like got him dropped from top of the hill, again in a very deep well, got him thrown before a mad elephant, got him imprisoned in a secluded cell for months without food and water, but every time those efforts ended in failure. Yet Hiranyakashipu did not accept the power and grace of God, and thought that because of some drawback in the system, someone was secretly helping Prahlada.

Hence at the end he decided to kill Prahlada himself So he got Prahlada tied with a pillar and got himself ready with a mace to kill him. Feeling assured of the success of his own attempt, Hiranyakashipu asked Prahlada haughtily : "Now tell me where is your God?" "Every where", he replied Prahlada,, in you, in me stays my God." "Even in this pillar" asked infuriated Hiranyakashipu. "yes" came reply. "Ok call him, Let us see where is your God". Shouting these words, Hiranyakashipu hit Prahlada, with his mace. But the blow missed Prahlada and fell on the pillar instead. As soon as the mace hit the pillar, it broke with a loud, frightening sound and Lord Narsimha emerged from it. Lord Narsimha then dragged Hiranyakashipu to the threshold of the palace and putting him on his thighs, he killed him with his mighty nails.

TAVAKARA KAMALAVARE NAKHABH
ADBHUT SHRINGAMA
DALIT HIRANKASHIPU TANUBHRINGAMA |
KESHAVADHRITA NARAHARI RUPA,
JAYAJAGADISH HARE ||

Meaning : O Jagdish (Lord of the world) O Hari, O Keshava in Narsimha form, may the victory always adorn you. On the excellent, lotus like hands of yours, strange horn like nails are present that killed the humble being Hiranyakashipu. These lines have been taken from GEET GOVIND and describe the scriptural appearance of Lord Narsimha. Now let us try to understand the meaning hidden behind this appearance.

THE MEANING OF NARSIMHA's APPEARANCE

From his half-human, half-feline appearance, God preaches about the sequential development of creation. First of all he appeared in fish form which is purely aquatic organism. In fish form, God saved Vedas during the great deluge (Prahalaya). Then he appeared in turtle form also a water-loving organism to support Mandarachala mountain during the churning of sea by the gods and the demons. Then in boar-form God recovered the earth from the abysmal depth where demon Hiranyakshu had hidden it. Boar is an animal that loves both - land and water. Next in the line of sequential development, God appeared in half- human and half-lion (animal) form. This form also tells that no one can develop suddenly. Even the human being passes since birth through sequential developmental stages. At the time of birth, human-baby is fishlike. Then it passes through turtle and boar stages. The teenage stage is a mixture of humane and animal virtues. Ultimately, a person attains complete human like characters.

DEVOTIONAL ASPECT

God is always ready to take any form to protect his devotees who are dependent on him. God is always kind to his devotees, and it was solely out of kindness that he appeared in half-human, half-feline Narsimha form. It also implies that in order to protect or save his devotee God gives up all the bindings. Hence, if an organism wishes to receive his grace, it must certainly develop faith for God first.