The Most Powerful Vishnu Avatar: Lord Narasimha
Narasimha is an avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu, one who incarnates in the form of part lion and part man to destroy an evil, end religious persecution and calamity on earth, thereby restoring Dharma.
Narasimha iconography shows him with a human torso and lower body, with a lion face and claws, typically with a demon Hiranyakashipu in his lap whom he is in the process of killing. The demon is powerful brother of evil Hiranyaksha who had been previously killed by Vishnu, who hated Vishnu for killing his brother. Hiranyakashipu gains special powers by which he could not be killed during the day or night, inside or outside, by god, demon, man or animal. Coronated with his new powers, Hiranyakashipu creates chaos, persecutes all devotees of Vishnu including his own son.Vishnu understands the demon's power, then creatively adapts into a mixed avatar that is neither man nor animal and kills the demon at the junction of day and night, inside and outside. Narasimha is known primarily as the 'Great Protector' who specifically defends and protects his devotees from evil. The most popular Narasimha mythology is the legend that protects his devotee Prahlada, and creatively destroys Prahlada's demonic father and tyrant Hiranyakashipu.
There are several pastimes or miracles associated with Lord Narasimha.
A true story that happened some 10 years ago in South-Africa. The father and the daughter who experienced this event told this story to my friend, a sannyasi and devotee of Lord Nrisimhadev. This stories was also found in the newspapers, and several witnesses of this truck-accident after this incident became devotees of Lord Nrisimhadev.
This happened to a simple Vaishnav family that lives there. They had a back then 5 years old daughter. This girl was a great `fan’ of Nrisimhadeva. she found Him simply funny, as he looked half lion half man and felt very attracted to Him. She often told her playmates about her favorite God, a lion and the kids always wondered about what of God this could be a lion. What can a five years old girl know about God, she wasn’t initiated, not even her parents, as far as I can remember. The father of the family followed a guru and surely later accepted initiation. But there was a small Hindu-community they were in close touch with. So, one day the girl was playing outside with her ball together with other kids, beside the street. The ball, how else could it be, fell on the street, and the girl ran after her precious ball.
There was nearly no traffic, a rarely used country road. But this time a very fast truck came running down the road. The girl in her play didn’t see the truck coming. The father was in the first floor of the house and saw his baby girl running on the street but he also saw the huge truck coming down, closer to his daughter with huge speed. The father yelled at her, but she didn’t hear him. So he jumped out of the window of this first floor to save his daughter, and broke both his legs, when coming down, and remained laying on the ground in pain.
He had to watch how his little girl was hit by the truck and thrown through the air, some 20 meter away. All children and neighbors around who observed this froze the blood. The father later said his only desire when he saw this was to die.
From the other direction came a police car that also witnessed the accident. The truck went on and the policeman stopped his car across the street to stop him. The truck-driver hardly stopped his truck and he seemed to be very drunk.The policeman immediately called the ambulance and ran over to the motionless laying girl in the grass.The closest hospital was a small private clinic and the ambulance came, but refused to take the girl, being afraid they wouldn’t have the necessary devices and machines to help the injuries the girl must have. They advised the policeman to call the main hospital, as only they could efficiently help her, as her spine must be broken, etc. The policeman was in despair, not even knowing where the father of the girl was.
Actually he didn’t even know if the girl was still alive, as he didn’t dare to touch her, not knowing how injured she was. However, in the end she was brought to a right hospital, the policeman accompanied the girl, and also finally the father there. The chief-doctor heard then what has happened to the girl, and they immediately x-rayed her to see first results. The policeman wanted to rest assured how the girl was doing, and waited there to see the results.
Everybody was shocked to hear what terrific accident had happened to the girl. So the nurse brought the x-ray pictures to the doctor, who became very upset and started yelling at the nurse she should for-God’s-sake bring the right pictures, things were about death and life. He threatened to fire her, as it was unacceptable to make such mistakes. The nurse was scared and didn’t understand what was happening. Those were the pictures of the five year old girl that was hit by the truck. The nurse wasn’t aware yet of what had happened to the girl.The doc said this cannot be on the x-ray there was not a single broken bone. So, the doc all the time again and again repeated impossible it can’t be’. Then suddenly the girl awoke from her faint and then told a story at full consciousness which made its tour through the media.
In the moment she picked up the ball from the street, she saw the truck coming up to her. And the only thing she could do was to yell out for help. She didn’t call for mommy or daddy, but for her Nrisimhadev. In this moment when the truck should hit her, she suddenly saw how Nrisimhadev picked her up from the ground, smiled at her, and said, `don’t be afraid, nothing will happen to you’. The girl continued her story that the Lord had put her on the other side of the street into the grass. But when putting her down, He accidentally scratched her waist, which still hurt her a bit.
She spoke about how beautiful Nrisimhadev was, His hair, His eyes, etc. But his claws were very sharp, He should cut them and he wore a golden dhotie, etc. The doctor didn’t understand anything and told the policeman she still was in shock and hallucinated, which is normal.
So, the girl was profoundly checked for any injuries, but the only injury they found on her body were those scratches and the doctor said this must be from a wild animal like a lion, as he had cases like this before. So, he was disturbed and asked if they had brought the girl to hospital as this one was injured by a wild animal, not a truck. Nobody was clear what had happened. The same doctor and the nurse who took care of her later became devotees, as they later learned from the parent who `that lion’ was.
As we can see miracle still today happen. Not only in Mahabharata, Puranas or shastras that are more than thousands of years old. The little girl was very attracted to this form of God, and in her despair she called Him for help. Lord Nrisimhadev did not look if she was initiated and have the right to call His name He protects His devotees, that sincerely worship Him in their hearts. I am sure this little girl was no common soul, who knows what she did in her previous life. The sannyasi heard that she very much liked to eat sweets, and prepared a big plate full of sweets for her to rest assured she will not be able to eat it all up. He gave her the mounted plate of sweets, she took some of the sweets and ran out playing with her friends.
As soon as she was gone of the room, the sannyasi went over that plate and took the rest, as for him, this was the best mahaprasad available! This sanyasi name is Indradyumna Maharaj. Who last time has met Lord Nrisimhadev? Narada Muni maybe?? The girl for sure, and she must be a great soul.
Jai Narsimhadev!