Narsingha means one who is half lion and half man incarnation of Shri Hari. Lord Narsinghdeva is also known as Vighna- Vinashak, as he protects his devotees from all sorts of obstacles. So, this is the special incarnation of the Lord to protect his devotees and their devotion.

Lord Ganesha, also known as Vighna- Harta, that blessing of being Vighna-Harta was given by Lord Narsinghdeva himself. Well, His form appears to be very fearful. But this form is the most loving, merciful & beautiful for his devotees.

Mother Sarasvati resides in the lotus mouth of Lord Narsinghdeva, and Mother Lakshami rests on his chest. This unique incarnation was to protect his beloved devotee, Prahlad, from his cruel father, Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu was a demon who won all three worlds and was always jealous of Lord Vishnu. But as his son, Prahlad was the devotee of Lord Vishnu. So because of False Ego & Jealousy, Hiranykashipu always tries to put Prahlad in miserable and dangerous situations to kill him. But in Inspite of all tortures, Prahlad always remains engaged in singing the names and glories of Lord Hari. This constant chanting of the Lord’s name always saved Prahlad from disasters.

By getting frustrated with so many plans to kill Prahlad, One-day Hiranyakashipu asked him, Who is Protecting you all the time? Is Your Lord present everywhere & in everything? Prahlad replied, Yes, He is omnipresent. Hiranyakashipu becomes angry and asks, is he also present in this Pillar? Again Prahlad replied, yes, He is.

Hiranyakashipu, ghastly, hammered that Pillar with his weapon. As a result, Pillar falls in breaks into pieces. Out of this Pillar, The most ferocious form of Lord Narsinghdeva appeared in front of Hiranyakashipu.
 

By considering this opponent as same as others. 

Hiranyakashipu just started fighting with him. But this time, He was proven wrong. So Lord Narsinghdeva killed him by tearing his stomach with his three highly sharp nails. He killed him so that every word of Lord Brahma’s boon was also fulfilled that either man or Animal would not kill Hiranyakashipu, Neither in the daytime nor at night, Neither inside nor outside the house, Neither on land nor in the sky, e.t.c.

Even after killing Hiranyakashipu, Lord Narsinghdeva was roaring, and everyone was fearful. No one was willing to go near him. But then Prahlad just went near him, withholding a garland for him.
 

After seeing him, Narsinghdeva becomes quiet and loves Prahlad by allowing him to sit on his lap. So, this incarnation is simply the most merciful incarnation of the Lord, which occurred merely to protect his devotee, Prahlad, as He killed Hiranyakashipu. May he similarly kills all demons like Hiranyakashipu, which resides within us, in the form of Lust, anger, greed etc.

Sripad Madhavacharya sings in the glory of Lord Narsinghdeva that our Human Heart is full of Anarthas, which are natural obstacles on the path of Bhakti. Even Vajra of Lord Indra is not capable of removing these anarthas. The only one capable of doing so is Lord Narsinghdeva and his shape nails. Only He can save us from these obstacles of devotional life.

So, Let’s celebrate this auspicious occasion of Narsingha Chaturdashi and Pray unto his Lotus feet always to protect us & our devotion.

Hare Krishna

Fasting Till Dusk

(Only Ekadashi Prasadam tobe taken)

The literal meaning of Sita is a plough. Mithila state was drought-ridden. When King Janaka was ploughing the field, he found one baby girl. He took care of her and raised her as his daughter. Because the mother of the entire world, Janaki, appeared from the earth when Janaka was ploughing the field, he named her ‘Sita’.

Mother Sita has 12 transcendental names –

मैथिली जानकीः सीता वैदेही जनकात्मजा | कृपापियूषजलधिः प्रियार्हा रामवल्लभा ||
सूनायाना सुता विर्यशुल्काअयोनी रसोद्भवा | द्वादशैतानि नमामि वाञ्छितार्थप्रदानि हि ||
(श्री जानकी – चरितामृतम)

1. मैथिली
2. जानकी
3. सीता
4. वैदेही
5. जनकात्मजा
6. कृपापियूषजलधि
7. प्रियार्हा
8. रामवल्लभा
9. सूनयनासुता
10. वीर्यशुल्का
11. अयोनि
12. रसोद्भवा

Mother Sita could effortlessly pick up Shiv Ji’s bow in her childhood, placed on an eight-wheeled cart that could only be picked up by 500 people together. The condition of her marriage was to put a string on the same bow. No one among big-big demigods, Gandharvas, demons, etc., could even move the bow an inch. 

Lord Ramchandra not only put the string on the bow in a moment but also very sportingly broke the bow from the middle. Thus mother Sita was married to Lord Ramchandra.

After marriage, when Lord Ramchandra was exiled to live in the forest for 14 years, mother Sita considered it auspicious to go with the Lord. Sitaji, who had lived in comforts since childhood, accepted the harsh and challenging life of the forest graciously and, without a second thought, accompanied Lord Ramchandra Ji.

Ravana abducted Her from the forest, and several female demons tortured Her in Lanka. Even after that, She forgave them. She also had to undergo agnipariksha. She constantly faced challenges one after another. Mother Sita is the embodiment of sacrifice and dedication. The character of mother Sita portrays us as an ideal wife, a pious, dutiful woman with a forgiving, compassionate, and humble heart.  

Mother Sita has presented an example of a character that is exemplary for all of us. There was no reason for Her to grieve, but She certainly did it to educate us.

And the biggest lesson that Mother Sita Ji teaches us is this, just as the deer of gold attracted Her, She had to turn away from God. In the same way, we are also attracted to the golden deer of material desires. Thus, we leave God’s company and come into this world and struggle. We then have to pay the price for it throughout our lives, just as mother Sita had to pay in Lanka. So, as long as the living entities obey God’s will and His instructions, the living entities would remain happy, but when we separate from God and go against His will, then there would be the same problems as mother Sita had to face Lanka. 

We all have this human form of life, and if we don’t take advantage of this life, If we don’t serve God, then what to say? And for such people, scripture says that they are committing suicide. So that’s why we all should take shelter from the Lord’s internal potency on Sita Navami and make this human form of life victorious. 

Kartika month’s dark lunar fortnight’s eighth is known by the name BAHULASHTAMI. This day is quite special because this is also celebrated as Radhakund’s appearance day by people who live in Braj.

Srila Rupa Goswami is one of the main out of all the six Gaudiya Vaishnava Goswamis in Vrindavan. He writes about the glory of Radhakund in his famous treatise called Upadesha Mrita.

How and When RadhaKunda Appeared.?

Mathura’s holy land is said to be the best from divine Vaikuntha Dham because at this place supreme Lord was incarnated. The divine forest of Sri Vrindavan is superior to Mathura because lord Krishna composed his Rasalila there. Govardhan Mountain is more superior to Vrindavan because lord Krishna lifted it from his divine hands and this place is one of his various romantic pastimes and amongst all these places the supreme place is Sri Radhakund because it is filled with the nectar of the love of Lord Krishna. Now, who will be that acumen to not be interested in serving this divine RadhaKund situated at the foothills of Govardhan Mountain?

Radhakund appeared at midnight. Almost 5000 years ago from today, Kamsa used to send different demons to Vrindavan land to kill Lord Krishna.

Lord Krishna is a “Gwal Bal”. He is the son of the great king and Yashoda. He is loved by all the people of Braj. He is a supreme god.

THE STORY OF LORD KRISHNA’S BRAVERY

It is said that Lord Krishna before having his breakfast used to kill one demon every day which was sent by Kamsa.

One time Kamsa sent a demon named Arishta to kill Lord Krishna to Braj. Arishta’s demon was in the form of a bull and he was appearing huge and frightening. He started creating a mess just after his arrival and as soon as he saw Lord Krishna, he attacked him. The Supreme Lord Krishna is the king of all the powers. Lord Krishna grabbed him by his horns and slammed him hard. The demon got tired and was dripping from all the sweat but still, he got up with courage and attacked lord Krishna and then again lord Krishna held him by his horns and slammed him hard on the surface and killed the demon this time. After killing the Arishta demon, Lord Krishna went to Govardhan Mountain to meet gopis.

Sri Radha and all the Gopis jokingly said to lord Krishna that they cannot accompany him anymore because he has killed a bull and Bull is a symbol of religion. That is why he has sinned.

And if they will accompany him they will also get infected by that sin. If he wants to cleanse himself from sin then he will have to take bath in the holy rivers of all the pilgrimages of this entire universe. To make his devotees happy. Lord Krishna said that he doesn’t have to go anywhere, and he will call all the pilgrimages here and by the will of Krishna, all the holy rivers appeared before the Lord and were ready to serve him.

Then lord excavated a hole on the land with his heel and all the rivers in their liquid forms like Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati, Narmada, Kaveri etc entered in that pool.

Then Lord Krishna took a bath in that pool and after taking bath he said to all the Gopis that he is now clean by taking a bath in this pool but, you all took sides of that demon that is why you are all contaminated from the sin. You must take a bath in this pool to get cleaned from the sin. Gopis said that your pool has now been infected by the killing of that bull and that’s why we will not enter your pool but since we all accompanied you that is why we too have become corrupted by the conspiracy of killing the bull. We should also clean ourselves by taking a bath.

-Efforts made by all the Gopis and Radha

Then Princess Radha and all the Gopis saw a big hole made by one huge body part of arishtasur and then they all started digging the hole from their bangles, when it took a shape of a pool then all the Gopis from Mansi Ganga started pouring water from the pitchers into this pool by making a big line. When Krishna saw his other devotee’s gopis performing such a hard task he could not tolerate it. He called all the rivers and asked them to request Radharani, then all the holy rivers prayed personally to Radharani and begged for grace to let them provide help to all of them and let them fill water in the pool. Radharani then accepted the help and then the water from Shyam Kund went to Radha Kund. Thus, Radha Kund appeared.

Srila Prabhupada, Who is the founder Acharya of  ISKCON. He writes in the context of verse no. 10 of updeshamrita that Srimati Radharani is the supreme devotee of Lord Krishna and her kund Sri Radhakund is the holiest place. This is confirmed by an example from the Laghu Bhagavatamrta.

Yatha radha priya visnos
Yasyah kundan priyamantha
Sarva gopian saivaika
Visor atyanta Vallabha

The Never-Ending Love of Lord Krishna and Radha

The way Radharani is loved by Lord Krishna. The place of her bath is also equally (Radhakund) loved by him. Out of all the Gopis, she is the one who is loved by the lord the most.

After sometime when the lord went back to Vrindavan then Radhakund and Shyam Kund according to the wish of the Supreme Lord, became unacquainted.

Discovery of RadhaKunda by Lord Chaitanya

After this, almost 500 years before, Lord Chaitanya appeared as the most merciful incarnation.

Sri Chaitanya is Lord Krishna himself and in the spirit of Radharani.

Lord Chaitanya & Radha-Krishna, are not different. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared to establish Yuga dharma Harinama Sankirtana and to invoke the love of Radharani. When Chaitanya came to travel to Vrindavan then he discovered Radha Kund and Shyam Kund and at that time they were all known as the Gauri river and black river and were unacquainted with regular people. Later Raghunath Das Goswami excavated them and worshipped Radhakund. Goswamis have mentioned Radhakund’s mercy in many of their books.

On the auspicious occasion of BAHULASHTAMI, the Radha Kund which is the liquid form of Radharani and is filled by the love of Lord Krishna, pray that our contaminated heart gets cleaned up, we all achieve the supreme love of Lord Krishna and we all join in divine loving service of Radha-Krishna. 

Sri Radha kunda ki Jai!

Srila Prabhupada ki jai!