Follower of vedas

1. What Is Hinduism?

A Christian, visiting India from the West, would surely think it strange if he or she was told by an Indian, "You are a follower of Jordanism." Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, hails from the region of the Jordan river. But it is unlikely that Christians, Jews and Muslims would like their faiths being lumped together under such an artificial, unscriptural category as "Jordanism." Yet just this sort of thing was done to the followers of the indigenous religions of India. The word "Hinduism" is derived from the name of a river in present-day Pakistan, the Sindhu (also known as the Indus). Beginning around 1000 AD, invading armies from the Middle East called the place beyond the Sindhu "Hindustan" and the people who lived there the "Hindus". (Due to the invaders' language, the s was change to h.) In the centuries that followed, the term "Hindu" became acceptable even to the Indians themselves as a general designation for their different religious traditions. But since the word Hindu is not found in the scriptures upon which these traditions are based, it is quite inappropriate. The proper term is vedic dharma; the next two paragraphs briefly explain each of these words.

The word vedic refers to the teachings of the Vedic literatures. From these literatures we learn that this universe, along with countless others, was produced from the breath of Maha-Vishnu some 155,250,000,000,000 years ago. The Lord's divine breath simultaneously transmitted all the knowledge humankind requires to meet the material needs and revive his dormant God consciousness of each person. This knowledge is called Veda. Caturmukha (four-faced) Brahma, the first created being within this universe, received Veda from Vishnu. Brahma, acting as an obedient servant of the Supreme Lord, populated the planetary systems with all species of life and imparted the Vedic scriptures as the guide for spiritual and material progress. Veda is thus traced to the very beginning of the cosmos.

Some of the most basic Vedic teachings seen within modern Hinduism are:

* Every living creature is an eternal soul covered by a material body. 

* The souls bewildered by maya (the illusion of identifying the self with the body) must reincarnate from body to body, life after life. 

* To accept a material body means to suffer the fourfold pangs of birth, old age, disease, and death. 

* Depending upon the quality of work (karma) in the human form, a soul may take its next birth in a subhuman species, the human species, a superhuman species, or may be freed from birth and death altogether. 

* Karma dedicated in sacrifice as directed by Vedic injunctions elevates and liberates the soul. Dharma is the essential nature of the Veda. The term dharma is translated as "duty," "virtue," "morality," "righteousness," or "religion," but no single English word conveys the whole meaning of dharma. The Vedic sage Jaimini defined dharma as "a good the nature of a command that leads to the attainment of the highest good." Now, there are different opinions as to what the highest good is that the Veda commands mankind to attain. These different opinions are the basis of the multifarious kinds of religious worship seen today within so-called Hinduism. From out of the gamut of Hindu piety, three great religious traditions emerge: Smarta-brahmanism, Shiva-shaktaism, and Vaishnavism. Each tradition is associated with one of the tri-murtis, the three main deities of Vedic dharma: Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu.

The Smarta-brahmanas or hereditary priests preside over the religious affairs of millions of ordinary Hindus. These priests conduct the services for the different devatas (demigods) that bless common people with material benedictions (wealth, family happiness, good health and so on). The Smarta-brahmanas are grouped in gotras (families) that are said to descend from Caturmukha Brahma. They uphold and defend the caste system (jati-vyavastha) which determines a person's social position in Hindu society. For a Smarta-brahmana, the main qualification of brahmanism (priesthood) is birth in a brahmana-gotra.

The Saivites and the Shaktas worship Shiva and his feminine energy Shakti, who is addressed by names like Devi, Durga, Parvati and Kali. While Brahma is the lord of cosmic creation, Shiva is the lord of cosmic devastation. Shakti is the goddess of the total material nature, or prakriti. Because Shiva is very easily pleased, those who desire rapid material advancement for little effort are especially interested in worshiping him and Shakti. The worship of Ganesha and Muruga (Kartikeya) is associated with Saivism, because they are both sons of Shiva. Also associated with Saivism and Shaktaism are left-and right-hand tantra.

Vaishnavism is the worship of Vishnu, the controller of the sattva-guna, the mode of goodness, by which everything is maintained. Brahma controls rajo-guna, the mode of passion, and Shiva controls tamo-guna, the mode of ignorance. Of these three states of material existence, goodness is topmost. The universe is created and destroyed again and again. These cycles of work by Brahma and Shiva are maintained eternally by the goodness of Vishnu. The name Vishnu means "all-pervading." Lord Vishnu dwells in the hearts of all beings as the Supersoul, as well as within every atom. He is also the total form of the universe (visvarupa) and the origin of Brahma and Shiva. Beyond the universe, Vishnu has His own transcendental abode called Vaikuntha, the spiritual world. The original and most intimate form of Vishnu is the all-attractive, ever-youthful Sri Krishna. Lord Krishna, the eternal, omniscient, and incomparably blissful Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the speaker of the Bhagavad-gita, the most important text of the Hindu religion. The Bhagavad-gita rejects caste by birth and any form of worship motivated by material desire. Complete surrender to Krishna is said to surpass all other commands of dharma in the Vedas (see {Bhagavad-gita 18.66}). Surrender to Krishna delivers the soul from the cycle of repeated birth and death (samsaracakra) and returns the soul back home, back to Godhead.

2. What Is Vedanta?

The highest degree of Vedic education, traditionally reserved for the sannyasis (renunciants), is mastery of the texts known as the Upanisads. The Upanisads teach the philosophy of the Absolute Truth (Brahman) to those seeking liberation from birth and death. Study of the Upanisads is known as vedanta, "the conclusion of the Veda." The word upanisad means "that which is learned by sitting close to the teacher." The texts of the Upanisads are extremely difficult to fathom; they are to be understood only under the close guidance of a spiritual master (guru). Because the Upanisads contain many apparently contradictory statements, the great sage Vyasadeva (also known as Vedavyasa, Badarayana, or Dvaipayana) systematized the Upanisadic teachings in the Vedanta-sutra, or Brahma-sutra. Vyasa's sutras are terse. Without a fuller explanation, their meaning is difficult to grasp. In India there are five main schools of vedanta, each established by an acarya (founder) who explained the sutras in a bhasya (commentary).

Of the five schools, one, namely Adi Shankara's, is impersonalist. Shankara taught that Brahman has no name, form nor personal characteristics. Shankara's school is opposed by the four Vaishnava sampradayas founded by Ramanuja, Madhva, Nimbarka, and Vishnusvami. Unlike the impersonalist school, Vaishnava vedanta admits the validity of Vedic statements that establish difference (bheda) within Brahman, as well those that establish nondifference (abheda). Taking the bheda and abheda statements together, the Vaishnava Vedantists distinguish between three features of the one Vastu Brahman (Divine Substance):

* Vishnu as the Supreme Soul (Para Brahman). 
* The individual self as the subordinate soul (Jiva Brahman). 
* Matter as creative nature (Mahad Brahman). The philosophies of the four Vaishnava sampradayas dispel the sense of mundane limitation ordinarily associated with the word "person." Vishnu is accepted by all schools of Vaishnava vedanta as the transcendental, unlimited Purusottama (Supreme Person), while the individual souls and matter are His conscious and unconscious energies (cidacid-shakti). 

3. What Is Siddhanta?

Each Vedantist school is known for its siddhanta, or "essential conclusion" about the relationships between God and the soul, the soul and matter, matter and matter, matter and God, and the soul and souls. Shankara's siddhanta is advaita, "nondifference" (everything is one; therefore these five relationships are unreal). All the other siddhantas support the reality of these relationships from various points of view. Ramanuja's siddhanta is visistadvaita, "qualified nondifference." Madhva's siddhanta is dvaita, "difference." Vishnusvami's siddhanta is suddhadvaita, "purified nondifference." And Nimbarka's siddhanta is dvaitaadvaita, "difference and identity."

The Bengali branch of Madhva's sampradaya is known as the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya, or the Chaitanya Sampradaya. In the 1700s this school presented Indian philosophers with a commentary on Vedanta-sutra written by Baladeva Vidyabhushana that argued yet another siddhanta. It is called acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which means "simultaneous, inconceivable oneness and difference." In recent years this siddhanta has become known to people all over the world due to the popularity of the books of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Acintya-bhedabheda philosophy maintains the same standpoint of "difference" as Madhva's siddhanta on the fivefold relationship of God to soul, soul to matter, matter to matter, matter to God, and soul to soul. But acintyabhedabheda-tattva further teaches the doctrine of shaktiparinamavada (the transformation of the Lord's shakti), in which the origin of this fivefold differentiation is traced to the Lord's play with His shakti, or energy. Because the souls and matter emanate from the Lord, they are one in Him as His energy yet simultaneously distinct from Him and one another. The oneness and difference of this fivefold relationship is called acintya, or inconceivable, because, as Srila Prabhupada writes in his purport to Bhagavad-gita 18.78, "Nothing is different from the Supreme, but the Supreme is always different from everything." As the transcendental origin and coordinator of His energies, God is ever the inconceivable factor.

4. Shankara and Buddhism

 Sometimes Shankara's advaita-vedanta commentary is presented in books about Hinduism as if it were the original and only vedanta philosophy. But in fact Shankara's philosophy is more akin to Buddhism than vedanta. Buddhism is a nastika, or non-Vedic, religion. Before 600 AD, the time of Shankara's appearance, most Vedantist scholars did not endorse a doctrine of impersonalism. Evidence gathered from the writings of pre-Shankara Buddhist scholars shows that their Vedantist contemporaries were Purusa-vadins (purusa = "person", vadin = "philosopher"). Purusavadins taught that the goal of Vedanta philosophy is the Mahapurusa (Greatest Person). Bhavya, an Indian Buddhist author who lived centuries before Shankara, wrote in the Madhyamika-hrdaya-karika that the Vedantists of his time were adherents of the doctrine of bhedabheda (difference and nondifference). That Shankara borrowed Buddhistic ideas was noted by the Buddhists themselves. A Buddhist writer named Bhartrhari, a contemporary of Shankara, expressed some surprise that although Shankara was a brahmana scholar of the Vedas, his impersonal teachings resembled Buddhism. This is admitted by the followers of Shankara themselves. Pandit Dr. Rajmani Tigunait of the Himalayan Institute of Yoga is a present-day exponent of advaita-vedanta; in his book, Seven Systems of Indian Philosophy, he writes that the ideas of the Buddhist Sunyavada (voidist) philosophers are very close to Shankara's. Shankara inserted into Vedantic discourse the Buddhistic idea of ultimate emptiness, substituting the Upanisadic word brahman ("the Absolute") for sunya ("the void"). Because Shankara argued that all names, forms, qualities, activities and relationships are creations of maya (illusion), even divine names and forms, his philosophy is called mayavada (the doctrine of illusion).

However, to compare Brahman with the void is philosophically untenable. The Vedanta-sutra defines Brahman, not Maya, as the cause of everything (janmadyasya-yatah, Vedanta-sutra 1.1.2). How can that which lacks name, form, quality, and activity be the cause of that which possesses these features? Nil posse creari de nilo: "Nothing can be
created out of nothing." Mayavadi vedanta avoids the issue of causation by arguing that the world, though empirically real, is ultimately a dream. But dreams also have elaborate causes.

5. Differences Among the Four Vaishnava Sampradayas
The four Vaishnava sampradayas all agree that Vishnu is the cause, but they explain His relationship with His creation differently. In visistadvaita, the material world is said to be the body of Vishnu, the Supreme Soul. But the dvaita school does not agree that matter is connected to Vishnu as body is to soul, because Vishnu, God, is transcendental to matter. The world of matter is full of misery, but since Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12 defines God as anandamaya (abundantly blissful), how can nonblissful matter be His body? The truth, according to the dvaita school is that matter is ever separate from Vishnu but yet is eternally dependent upon Vishnu; by God's will, says the dvaita school, matter becomes the ingredient cause of the world. The suddhadvaita school cannot agree with the dvaita school that matter is the ingredient cause, because matter has no independent origin apart from God. Matter is actually not different from God in the same way an effect is not different from its cause, although there is an appearance of difference. The example of the ocean and its waves is given by suddhadvaita philosophers to illustrate their argument that the cause (the ocean) is the same as the effect (the waves). The dvaitadvaita school agrees that God is both the cause and effect but is dissatisfied with the suddhadvaita school's standpoint that there is really no difference between God and the world. The dvaitadvaita school says that God is neither one with nor different from the world --He is both. A snake, the dvaitadvaita school argues, can neither be said to have a coiled form nor a straight form. It has both forms. Similarly, God's "coiled form" is His transcendental nonmaterial aspect, and His "straight form" is His mundane aspect. But this explanation is not without problems. If God's personal nature is eternity, knowledge, and bliss, how can the material world, which is temporary, full of ignorance, and miserable, be said to be just another form of God?

6. Reconciliation of the Four Vaishnava Viewpoints
The Chaitanya school reconciles these seemingly disparate views of God's relationship to the world by arguing that the Vedic scriptures testify to God's acintya-shakti, "inconceivable powers." God is simultaneously the cause of the world in every sense and yet distinct from and transcendental to the world. The example given is of a spider and its web. The web emanates from the spider's body, so the spider may be taken as the ingredient cause of the web. But that does not make the spider and the web one and the same. The spider is always a separate and distinct entity from its web. Yet again, while the spider never is the web, the existence of the web cannot be separated from the spider.

There is a further lesson to be learned from this example: while the spider is clearly different from its web-creation, it nonetheless is acutely conscious of every corner of it. In philosophical terms, we could say the spider is transcendental to the web by its identity, yet simultaneously immanent throughout the web by its knowledge. This is a simple yet powerful demonstration of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva. Lord Krishna, in Bhagavad-gita 9.4 and 5, says He pervades the whole universe by His complete awareness of the spiritual and material energies that make up the creation. Yet at the same time, in His identity as the source of everything, He stands apart from the cosmic manifestation.

The web is compared to God's maya-shakti (power of illusion), which emanates from the Real but is not real itself. "Not real" means that the features of maya (the tri-guna, or three modes of material nature: goodness, passion, and ignorance) are temporary. "Not real" does not mean the material world does not exist. The essential ingredient (vastu) of the world is real, because it is the energy of God. But the form this energy takes at the time of cosmic creation is temporary. Therefore the maya-shakti is said to be unreal. Reality is that which is eternal: God and God's svarupa-shakti (spiritual energy). The temporal features of the material world are manifestations of the maya-shakti, not of God Himself. These features of maya bewilder the souls of this world, but they cannot bewilder God. God appears within this material world as the supreme person, yet He is not bound by this world, exactly as a spider moving anywhere in its web-creation is not bound by it.

7. Sanatana-dharma
Brahman, the Absolute Truth, the goal of vedanta, may be achieved in two ways. One way is by vedanta-darshan, or the philosophical comprehension of the conclusion of the Vedas, as described previously. Another way is by sanatana-dharma, the eternal religion of vedanta. Both darshan and sanatana-dharma are taught in the Bhagavad-gita, spoken by Sri Krishna to His disciple Arjuna 5000 years ago at Kuruksetra.

Darshan is explained in Bhagavad-gita 7.19:

bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma su-durlabhah

"After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is. Such a great soul is very rare."

Sanatana-dharma is explained in Bhagavad-gita 18.66. This verse is the culmination of the entire text:

sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah "Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear."

In both darshan and sanatana-dharma, surrender to Krishna is the goal, because Krishna is the goal of the Vedas, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita 15.15: vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham, "By all the Vedas, I am to be known. Indeed, I am the compiler of vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas."

What is the difference between religion (dharma) that is eternal (sanatana) and religion that is not eternal? The noneternal religion, which in Bhagavad-gita 18.66 Krishna asks us to give up, is of two types: bhoga-dharma and tyaga-dharma.

Bhoga-dharma, the religion of work (karma) for sensual pleasure in this life and the next, is summed up in Bhagavad-gita 2.42-43 thusly:

"Men of small knowledge are very much attached to the flowery words of the Vedas, which recommend various fruitive activities for elevation to heavenly planets, resultant good birth, power, and so forth. Being desirous of sense gratification (bhoga) and opulent life (aisvarya), they say that there is nothing more than this."

Tyaga-dharma, the religion of withdrawal from karma, is rejected by Lord Krishna in this verse:

"Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection." (Bhagavad-gita 3.4)

Sanatana-dharma, the eternal religion, is bhakti-yoga, the yoga of devotional service to Lord Krishna. Shunning both work for selfish pleasure and the stoppage of all work, the bhaktiyogi works only for Krishna's pleasure. Bhakti-yoga liberates the soul from entanglement in the web of tri-guna (the three modes of material nature) and transfers the liberated soul to Krishna. Krishna's transcendental personal form is the source and basis of the impersonal Brahman effulgence (brahmajyoti), which shines forever beyond the darkness of material nature. This is all confirmed in Bhagavad-gita 14.26 and 27:

"One who engages in full devotional service, unfailing in all circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman."

"And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness."

Sanatana-dharma is exemplified in the lives of the mahatmas, or great souls. Their religious practices are described in Bhagavad-gita 9.14 and 15:

"O son of Prtha, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible."

"Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion."

Krishna spoke the Bhagavad-gita shortly before the beginning of the Kali-yuga, the present age of darkness, sin, and quarrel. After Krishna departed this world, mayavada philosophy became prominent. Because mayavada philosophy denies that Krishna is the eternal, transcendental Personality of Godhead, and because it distorts His teachings on bhakti-yoga with impersonal speculation, it thwarts both the method and goal of sanatana-dharma. Modern Hindus, confused by mayavada ideas, think mundane politics and social work are the method of dharma. And they think the goal of dharma is the impersonal jyoti (light). The mayavadis claim the jyoti is the truth behind God's personal form. But this claim is in direct opposition to Bhagavad-gita 14.27. Thus the path of the mahatmas given in the Bhagavad-gita is lost in much of Hinduism today.

Taking compassion upon the unfortunate, misguided souls of Kali-yuga, Lord Krishna descended again, only 500 years ago, to show mankind by His own example how to practice sanatana-dharma according to the Bhagavad-gita. This incarnation of Krishna is the Golden Avatara, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Chaitanya accepted initiation from Isvara Puri of the Madhva Sampradaya. From Madhva's school, Lord Chaitanya accepted two principles: (1) opposition to and defeat of mayavada philosophy, and (2) worship of the transcendental form of Lord Krishna as the path of eternal religion. The first principle is darshan, and the second is sanatana-dharma. These two principles are the philosophical and religious foundation of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), established by His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

In Bhagavad-gita 4.2, Lord Krishna declares that the principles of eternal religion are handed down via the guru-parampara (disciplic succession). The parampara system protects eternal religious principles from corruption by unauthorized teachers who, without following the principles themselves, interpret the Bhagavad-gita through their speculative opinions. The disciplic succession of Madhva and Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is known as the Brahma Sampradaya, because it originates with Brahma, who received Vedic knowledge from Krishna at the beginning of creation. Brahma's disciple is Narada, and Narada's disciple is Vyasa, who composed the Vedanta-sutra. After Lord Chaitanya accepted this sampradaya as His own, it was called the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya. In our time, this disciplic succession and its teachings of sanatana-dharma are represented to the whole world by ISKCON. Following in the parampara tradition, members of ISKCON refrain from adharma (irreligion) in the form of meat-eating, illicit sex, gambling, and intoxication, and follow sanatana-dharma as shown by the mahatmas.

8. The Avataras of Godhead
After explaining that eternal religious principles are handed down via guru-parampara, Lord Krishna then told Arjuna that from time to time, the system of disciplic succession breaks down. This is called dharmasya glanih, the disruption of dharma. When dharma is disrupted, humanity's very purpose is disrupted. The Vedic scriptures state, "Both animals and men share the activities of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. But the special capacity of the humans is that they are able to engage in spiritual life (dharma). Without spiritual life, humans are no better than animals." (Hitopadesa) In order to save humanity from the animalism of irreligion, Lord Krishna says tadatmanam srjamy aham: "At that time I descend Myself."

(B.g. 4.7)

When Sri Krishna descends from the world of spirit into the world of matter, His appearance here is called avatara. The Sanskrit word avatara is often rendered into English as "incarnation." It is wrong, however, to think that Krishna incarnates in a body made of physical elements. The seventh and eighth chapters of Bhagavad-gita distinguish at length between the material nature (apara-prakrti), visible as the temporary substances of earth, water, fire, air and ethereal space, and God's own spiritual nature (para-prakrti), which is invisible (avyakta), eternal (sanatana) and infallible (aksara). When the Lord descends, by His mercy the invisible becomes visible. As Krishna states in B.g. 4.6, "I descend by My own nature, incarnating in My form of spiritual energy" (prakrtim svam adhisthaya sambhavamy atma-mayaya). In 4.9 He declares, janma karma ca me divyam, "My appearance and activities are divine." Only fools think Krishna takes birth as does an ordinary human being (B.g. 9.11).

God has many incarnations. But of all of them, that form described in Bhagavad-gita 11.50 as the most beautiful (saumya-vapu) is God's own original form (svakam rupam). This is the eternal form of Krishna, the all-charming lotus-eyed youth whose body is the shape of spiritual ecstasy. The Srimad Bhagavata Purana confirms that Krishna is the original form of Vishnu: ete camsa-kalah pumsah krishnas tu bhagavan svayam indrari-vyakulam lokam mrdayanti yuge yuge, which means, "All of the incarnations of Vishnu listed in the scriptures are expansions of the Lord. Lord Sri Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead. All avataras appear in the world whenever there is a disturbance created by the atheists. The Lord incarnates to protect the theists." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.3.28)

The Srimad-Bhagavatam provides us with the authorized list of scheduled incarnations of Godhead, of whom the dasavatara (ten avataras) are particularly celebrated. The ten are Matsya (the Lord's form of a gigantic golden fish), Kurma (the turtle), Varaha (the boar), Sri Nrsingha (half-man, half-lion), Parasurama (the hermit who wields an ax), Vamana (a small brahmana boy), Sri Rama (the Lord of Ayodhya), Baladeva (Lord Krishna's brother), Buddha (the sage who cheated the atheists), and Kalki (who will depopulate the world of all degraded, sinful men).

There are two broad categories of avataras. Some, like Sri Krishna, Sri Rama and Sri Nrsingha, are Vishnu-tattva, direct forms of God Himself, the source of all power. Others are individual souls (jiva-tattva) who are empowered by the Lord in one or more of seven ways: with knowledge, devotion, creative ability, personal service to God, rulership over the material world, power to support planets, or power to destroy rogues and miscreants. This second category of avatara is called shaktyavesa. Included herein are Buddha, Christ and Muhammed.

The Mayavadis think that "form" necessarily means "limitation." God is omnipresent, unlimited and therefore formless, they argue. When he reveals His avatara form within this world, that form, being limited in presence to a particular place and time, cannot be the real God. It is only an indication of God. But in fact it is not God's form that is limited. It is only the Mayavadis' conception of form that is limited, because that conception is grossly physical. God's form is of the nature of supreme consciousness. Being spiritual, it is called suksma, "most subtle." There is no contradiction between the omnipresence of something subtle and its having form. The most subtle material phenomena we can perceive is sound. Sound may be formless (as noise) or it may have form (as music). Because sound is subtle, its having form does not affect its ability to pervade a huge building. Similarly, God's having form does not affect His ability to pervade the entire universe. Since God's form is finer than the finest material subtlety, it is completely inappropriate for Mayavadis to compare His form to gross hunks of matter.

Because they believe God's form is grossly physical, Mayavadis often argue that any and all embodied creatures may be termed avataras. Any number of "living gods" are being proclaimed within India and other parts of the world today. Some of these gods are mystics, some are charismatics, some are politicians, and some are sexual athletes. But none of them are authorized by the Vedic scriptures. They represent only the mistaken Mayavadi idea that the one formless unlimited Truth appears in endless gross, physical human incarnations, and that you and me and I and he are therefore all together God. And since each god has a different idea of what dharma is, the final truth, according to mayavada philosophy, is that the paths of all gods lead to the same goal. This idea is as unenlightened as it is impractical.

When ordinary people proclaim themselves to be God, and that whatever they are doing is Vedic dharma, that is dharmasya glanih, a disturbance to eternal religious principles. Therefore Krishna came again, 500 years ago, as the Golden Avatara, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He established the yuga-dharma, the correct form of sanatana-dharma for our time. Sri Chaitanya's appearance was predicted in Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32: "In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by congregational chanting of the holy names of God."

The Avatara of the Deity and the Holy Name

The transcendental vibration hare krishna, hare krishna, krishna krishna, hare hare / hare rama, hare rama, rama rama, hare hare is the avatara of the Lord in the form of the holy name (kali-kale nama-rupe krishna-avatara, from Chaitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 17.22). Anyone can prove to his own satisfaction that the Lord and His name are not different simply by chanting this spiritual sound constantly. The proof is the transcendental bliss (kevala-ananda) that envelops the soul the more the holy name is chanted. This higher taste renders insignificant the taste for degraded material pleasures like illicit sex, meat-eating, gambling and intoxication. Anarthopasamam saksad bhakti-yogam adhoksaje: the eternal religion, or the yoga of pure devotion (bhakti) to Krishna, is evinced by the disappearance of sinful habits (anarthas.)

As Krishna appears in the sound of His holy name, so also He appears within the arca-avatara, His incarnation as the Deity worshiped in the temple. The central focus of every ISKCON temple around the world is the worship of Krishna's Deity form as represented in stone, metal, wood or as painted pictures. Through ceremonial services (puja) conducted according to Vedic tradition, the devotees fulfill the Lord's injunction in Bhagavad-gita 9.27: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer or give away, and whatever austerities you perform --do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me." This puja purifies the minds and senses of the devotees and connects them to Krishna in an attitude of love.

Mayavadis decry service to the Deity as idol worship. They argue that God is not present within the Deity, because He is everywhere. But if He is everywhere, then why is He not within the Deity as well? Moisture is also everywhere, even within the air. But when one needs a drink of water, he cannot get it from the air. He must drink the water from where water tangibly avails itself to be drunk: from a faucet, a well, or a clear stream. Similarly, although God is everywhere, it is in His Deity form that He makes Himself tangibly available for worship.

9. Liberation in Krishna Consciousness

"Back home, Back to Godhead" 
--what does it mean? It means the return of our consciousness to Krishna. Consciousness is the symptom of the soul and the reservoir of our desires. As conscious souls, each one of us is a tiny aspect of Krishna's personal spiritual potency (see Bhagavad-gita 15.7). Just as Krishna is eternally a person, so are we. But now our original personal nature is covered by Maya (illusion). Maya diverts consciousness away from Krishna. The temporary forms of the material world then beco
me the objects of our consciousness and all its desires. Thus prema (the soul's love for God) is perverted into kama (lust for material sense gratification). As long we confuse lust for love, we must take birth in this world again and again. For a devotee of Krishna, the method of liberation from birth and death is the method of purifying consciousness and desires until the ecstasy of pure Krishna consciousness is achieved. As the word ecstasy indicates (Greek ekstasis, "outside the body"), Krishna consciousness transports the soul beyond identification with the material body.

All the great religions of mankind teach that this present life is meant to cultivate the afterlife of the soul. Among the various sects within Judaeo-Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism, two paths of cultivation can be discerned: 1) the path of elevation, and 2) the path of salvation.

1) The elevationists aim for an elevated state of material happiness in the afterlife. Their hope is to join their family and friends in the celestial realm known as heaven in the Bible and svarga in the Vedas. The Bhagavad-gita warns that although life in heaven is much longer than on earth, it is not eternal: "When they have thus enjoyed vast heavenly sense pleasure and the results of their pious activities are exhausted, they return to this mortal planet again. Thus those who seek sense enjoyment by adhering to the principles of elevation achieve only repeated birth and death." (Bhagavad-gita 9.21)

2) Salvationists, on the other hand, aim to be saved from their mortality. Buddhists, Mayavadi Hindu Vedantists, as well as Judaeo-Christian and Islamic Sufi mystics, often speak of salvation as the surrender of the mortal self to the eternal light that is Nirvana, Brahman or God. Some speak of salvation as a state of unbroken prayerful contemplation upon a personal deity. These are descriptions of impersonal Brahman and Paramatma realization. Impersonal Brahman, as explained in previous articles, is the formless effulgence of Lord Krishna's personal form. Mystics and yogis who are able to negate their minds' attachments to the world of material form may lose themselves within this formless light. Paramatma is Krishna's form as the Supersoul, who dwells within the hearts of all living beings as the overseer and permitter (see Bhagavad-gita 13.23). Paramatma realization is semi-personal, because the salvationist's relationship to the Supersoul in the heart remains passive. More than wanting to serve God, the salvationist wants to be saved from death and rebirth. Thus impersonal Brahman and semi-personal Paramatma realization are incomplete.

A famous verse in Srimad-Bhagavatam explains how complete realization of the Personality of Godhead is to be cultivated.

sravanam kirtanam visnoh smaranam pada-sevanam arcanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

"Hearing and chanting about the transcendental holy name, form, qualities, paraphernalia and pastimes of Lord Krishna, remembering them, serving the lotus feet of the Lord, offering the Lord respectful worship with sixteen types of paraphernalia, offering prayers to the Lord, becoming His servant, considering the Lord one's best friend, and surrendering everything unto Him (in other words, serving Him with the body, mind and words) --these nine processes are accepted as pure devotional service." (Srimad-Bhagavatam 7.5.23)

After the steady practice of these nine processes awakens the ecstasy of love of Krishna in the devotee's heart, Krishna appears before the devotee. At that time all the senses of the devotee (the eyes, nose, ears, tongue, sense of touch) become the receptacles of the auspicious qualities of Krishna: His supreme beauty, fragrance, melody, youthfulness, tastefulness, munificence and mercy. The Lord reveals first His beauty to the eyes of the devotee. Due to the sweetness of that beauty, all the senses and the mind take on the quality of eyes. From this the devotee swoons. To console the devotee, the Lord next reveals His fragrance to the nostrils of the devotee, and by this, the devotee's senses take on the quality of the nose in order to smell. Again the devotee swoons in bliss. The Lord then reveals His sonorous voice to the devotee's ears. All the senses become like ears to hear, and for the third time the devotee faints. The Lord then mercifully gives the touch of His lotus feet, His hands and His chest to the devotee, and the devotee experiences the Lord's fresh youthfulness. To those who love the Lord in the mood of servitude, He places His lotus feet on their heads. To those in the mood of friendship, He grasps their hands with His. To those in the mood of parental affection, with His hand He wipes away their tears. Those in the conjugal mood He embraces, touching them with His hands and chest. Then the devotee's senses all take on the sense of touch and the devotee faints again. In this way, the devotee attains his rasa (spiritual relationship) with Krishna. There are five rasas: santa (passive awe and reverence); dasya (servitude); sakhya (friendship); vatsalya (parenthood); and madhurya (conjugal love). The most fortunate salvationists can attain only the santa-rasa. The four higher rasas are reserved for Krishna's pure devotees.

By flooding the senses with eternal nectar from the original, pure source of pleasure --God Himself --love of Krishna completely liberates the devotee from attraction to temporary material sense pleasures. Thus the consciousness of the soul completely takes shelter of its original position as an eternal associate of the Lord in the spiritual world. As long as he or she still possesses a physical body, the fully Krishna conscious devotee is called jivan-mukta, liberated while still within the material world. When he or she gives up the physical body, the fully Krishna conscious devotee remains forever with Krishna in the spiritual world. This is videha-mukti, liberation that transcends the material world altogether. According to the kind of rasa achieved, the soul in liberation displays a spiritual form as Krishna's eternal servant, friend, parent or conjugal lover. Just as our present material body permits us to engage in karma (physical activities), so the spiritual rasa-body permits us to engage in lila (Krishna's endlessly expanding spiritual activities).

Is Hinduism a Pagan Religion?

Lord : Brahma, Vishnu , Siva

Some American law-makers recently characterized Hinduism as pagan. This raises the question: is Hinduism a pagan religion?

The Abrahamic religious traditions, as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are collectively called, associate paganism with the worship of many gods, and their many idols. The former is condemned as polytheism and the latter as idolatry; and the two are viewed as inextricably intertwined forms of worship, which has been superseded in the aniconic monotheism and which these religions self-consciously uphold and propagate.

Hinduism at first blush appears to conform to paganism. It seems to worship many gods and seems to do so by worshipping different images. It thus comes across as polytheistic and idolatrous and therefore pagan. This perception fuels the missionary zeal of the Abrahamic religions to destroy such paganism.

There is only one problem with this scenario. It is based on a false presumption. It is true that there are many gods in Hinduism and that it abounds in image worship, but while these various gods are considered different gods in paganism as traditionally represented, in Hinduism they represent the various forms of the one and same God. Thus a plurality of gods does not denote polytheism in Hinduism but rather the plurality of the forms in which the same one God might appear. A new word such as polyformism may have to be coined, or an older word polymorphism may have to be invoked, to be set beside polytheism, to provide the corrective. The Hindu situation is characterized not by polytheism but what might be called at best “apparent polytheism,” because the reality underlying all the different gods is the reality of one God. Hence, ironically, the situation could also in a sense be described as one of “apparent monotheism,” in the sense that the one God appears in various forms.

Similarly, the various images of the various gods also reflect the same point. Any of the many forms, in which God might be seen as appearing, can be visually represented in Hinduism, as a way of focusing the mind on God. This should not be taken for some new-fangled apologetic exegetical sleight of hand performed by modern Hinduism. When the 17th century French traveler, Francois Bernier, was shocked by what he saw of Hinduism, this is how the pandits of Banaras explained the situation to him: “We have indeed in our temples a great variety of images. …To all these images we pay great honour; prostrating our bodies, and presenting to them, with much ceremony, flowers, rice, scented oil, saffron, and other similar articles. Yet we do not believe that these statues are themselves Brahma or Vishnu; but merely their images and representations. We show them deference only for the sake of the deity whom they represent, and when we pray it is not to the statue, but to that deity. Images are admitted in our temples because we conceive that prayers are offered up with more devotion when there is something before the eyes that fixes the mind, but in fact we acknowledge that God alone is absolute, that He only is the omnipotent Lord.’”


The explanation may not have convinced Bernier but Hindus apparently have no difficulty with it. Sometimes Abrahamic parents wonder whether this plurality does not end up leaving the Hindus confused, and particularly their children. For the Hindus, however, such plurality does not create any confusion of identity, no more than several pictures of us in our album, taken at different stages of our life and in different forms and dresses, causes us to become confused about our identity.

Thus no matter how paganesque Hinduism might appear, it is not pagan in the sense attributed to the word by Abrahamic religions. As a well-known scholar of Hinduism, who was also a missionary in India for a while, Klaus K. Klostermaier observes: “Many Hindu homes are lavishly decorated with color prints of a great many Hindu gods and goddesses, often joined by the gods and goddesses of other religions and the pictures of contemporary heroes. Thus side by side with Śiva and Viṣṇu and Devī one can see Jesus and Zoroaster, Gautama Buddha and Jīna Mahāvīra, Mahātmā Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, and many others. But if questioned about the many gods even the illiterate villager will answer: bhagvān ek hai – the Lord is One. He may not be able to figure out in theological terms how the many gods and the one God hang together and he may not be sure about the hierarchy obtaining among the many manifestations, but he does know that ultimately there is only One and that the many somehow merge into the One.”

This then is the great difference between Hinduism and the Abrahamic religions. Monotheism in Abrahamic religions represents the denial of gods in God, while the monotheism of Hinduism represents the affirmation of gods in God. Failure to recognize this tempts the followers of Abrahamic religions into branding Hinduism as pagan.



Source: Mr Arvind Sharma

Birks Professor of Comparative Religion, McGill University, huffingtonpost.com

WHAT is Incarnation : ( Avatara )

An incarnation is a manifestation of God on earth. Lord Krishna in the Gita states: “whenever righteousness declines and unrighteousness prevails, I manifest myself. For the protection of the righteous and the destruction of the wicked, and for the establishment of religion, I come into being from age to age”. Thus God took human form again and again to destroy evil. This doctrine reached its fullest development during the Puranic period (A. D. 300-1200).

The avataras or incarnations reconciled the unity of the divine with the multiplicity of local divinities, thus absorbing tribal, racial and community gods. Of the many avataras, those of Vishnu are the most popular, the best known of them being Rama and Krishna. The avataras of the epics are intermediaries between man and the divine. God manifests himself in forms that can be appreciated by even the most unsophisticated.

Avataras are countless, for besides the popularly known figures any saint or spiritual teacher can be said to be an avatara to some degree, being at least in part if not fully an embodiment of the divine.

AVATARS [Incarnations or Descents] of Vishnu

Of the three gods that are constitutive of the Hindu trinity, Vishnu (the Preserver) alone has avatars or incarnations. His principal counterpart, Shiva (the Destroyer), has offspring, such as Ganesh, but no avatars; Brahma (the Creator), meanwhile, ceased to have any importance with the passage of time, and today there is said to be only one Brahma temple in India, in the town of Pushkar in Rajasthan. The main lore about the avatars of Vishnu is to be found in the Puranas, though of course the Ramayana and the Mahabharata are critical sources for the two heroic avatars of Vishnu.

The idea of an avatar was distinct to Hinduism before a variation of it was introduced into Mahayana Buddhism, and it retains a pivotal role in Hindu theology and mythology. The idea of an avatar is predicated on the notion that from time to time, whenever evil or ignorance is on the increase, the Supreme Being must incarnate itself in some form, or descend to earth, so that the forces that stand for good might be reinforced. According to the Matsya Purana (47.32), "When the end of an Age rolls around and time has lost its strength, then Lord Vishnu is born among men. When the gods and demons go to war, then Hari [Vishnu] is born." Again, in the words of the Garuda Purana (1.13), "For the protection of his creation, the unborn, undying Vasudeva [another name for Vishnu] made various avataras", and (142.2): "When lord Hari descended in order to annihilate the law of the demons and to preserve the law of the Vedas and other laws . . . the unborn god assumed avataras." Though the word avatar is usually translated into English as "incarnation", and less often as "descent", an avatar can also be understood as an exemplar, as in the case of Rama, or as a vehicle for transmitting ideas to human beings; an avatar might also be viewed as an expression of God’s playfulness, wrath, or mere concern for human welfare – and as a warning. The Supreme Being (as Vishnu) might choose to incarnate itself in forms lower than humans, so that what the Greeks called the hubris or pride of man is checked; it might choose to manifest itself in forms – such as half man, half lion – that are incomprehensible from the standpoint of ordinary rationality, but that point to the animal tendencies within us, just as they suggest both that the enterprise of being human is always fraught with the most hazardous consequences, and that those forms of life which we habitually consider below us might have in them the intimations of divinity.

Vishnu is generally held to have ten incarnations, but the number ten is much less ‘traditional’ than is commonly believed. The Matsya Purana (47.32-52), for instance, enumerates twelve avatars, while the Garuda Purana (1.12-35) mentions twenty-two. The Bhagavata Purana likewise mentions twenty-two incarnations, but after enumerating them, it adds: "The incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable, like the rivulets flowing from an inexhaustible lake. Rishis, Manus, gods, sons of Manus, Prajapatis, are all portions of him." The ten incarnations of Vishnu take us from lower forms of evolution to divinities that appear in the guise of men. Though some might read in the narrative of the avatars a strict linear progression, the numerous texts belie such a mechanical interpretation. Vishnu is first said to have come down in the form of a fish (matsya), which saved the Vedas from being consumed by the asuras (demons), followed by a tortoise (kurma) and boar (varaha). In the form of a boar, Vishnu killed the mighty asura Hiranyaksha, whereupon the latter’s elder brother, Hiranyakashipu, swore to avenge his brother’s death. According to the Vishnu Purana, Hiranyakashipu practiced such immense austerities that the rivers and oceans trembled before him, the volcanoes spit fire, and the astral bodies went astray. Hiranyakashipu subjected his own son Prahlad, a devotee of Vishnu, to immense pain and suffering, and consequently Vishnu had to descend in the form of Narasimha, half-man and half-lion, to put an end to the demon’s life. These four incarnations are held to have appeared in the satya-yuga, or the first epoch of the world.

Bali, the chief of the Daityas or asuras in the treta-yuga, or the second age, had acquired immense powers on account of his austerities, and again Vishnu was approached by the devas, who sought freedom from Bali’s tyrannical behavior. In the guise of a dwarf, Vamana, Vishnu appeared before Bali, who in his generosity agreed to grant the dwarf as much land as he could cover in three steps. Little did he know what Vamana was capable of doing: with his first two steps, he astrode the entire earth, heavens, and universe; and as Vamana had no place for placing his foot anywhere, he stepped on Bali’s forehead. In his sixth incarnation, Vishnu appeared as Parasurama, or "Rama with the axe", armed with the mission of liberating the Brahmins from the yoke of the Kshatriyas. The seventh, eighth, and ninth avatars of Vishnu suggest the heroic, and to some degree, historic element. It is quite likely that Rama was a local hero, who was ultimately elevated to the status of a divinity; and in the Ramayana, which celebrates his exploits, he is described as an avatara of Vishnu who had perforce to kill the demon-king, Ravana. Krishna, the eighth avatara, was similarly most likely a hero or minor king at first, and in the Mahabharata he is described as a prince of the Yadava clan. He was eventually absorbed into the pantheon of Vishnu’s avatars, but assumed such importance that he was taken to be the Supreme Being himself. The Buddha appears as the ninth avatar, according to the puranas, and some scholars have pointed to this as an illustration of the tendency within Hinduism to absorb its rivals. Finally, the tenth avatar is yet to appear at the end of the present or kali-yuga: it is represented as Kalki, a figure seated on a white horse, with a drawn sword flashing away, cutting at the forces of evil.

Narasimha Avatar

During the Satya Yuga, Sage Kashyap and one of his wife Diti had two sons – Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu. Hiranyaksha troubled the humans and the Devas alike. The humans and the Devas unable to take it any more prayed to Lord Vishnu to protect them. Lord Vishnu being the Preserver incarnated as a Boar to protect the humans and the Devas. This avatar is called as Varaha Avatar.

 After the death of Hiranyaksha,Hiranyakasipu furious with the humans and the Devas, lead his army of asuras to attack them. However the Devas fought Hiranyakasipu and his men. Hiranyakasipu came to know that every time, Lord Vishnu helped the Devas to fight him back.

‘If I am beat that Dark Lord, I need to have a boon to protect myself. Every time I attack the Devas or the humans, Vishnu thinks up of something to thwart my plans…I need to make myself powerful…With that one thought in his mind, Hiranyakasipu set out for jungles. I will pray to Lord Brahma. He is the Creator God…If I pray long enough, Lord Brahma may even grant me immortality…’

Hiranyakasipu started his meditation and soon forgot all about himself and his kingdom.Meanwhile Lord Indra the King of the Devas came to know that Hiranyakasipu was not leading his men. Realising that if he acted now, he would be able to destroy the Asuras such that they would never be able to attack him again…Now is the right opportunity for me to strike at the heart of the Asuras. Without Hiranyakasipu, their strength is halved…Now if I destroy the Asuras, even if Hiranyakasipu comes back, he would not have an army to follow his orders… Thinking so, Indra along with other Devas attacked the kingdom of the Asuras.

Just as Lord Indra had expected, without Hiranyakasipu, the Asuras were no match for him. The Asuras lost the war. Lord Indra drove away most of the Asuras. After destroying Hiranyakasipu’s capital, Lord Indra marched into Hiranyakasipu’s palace.

There he found Hiranyakasipu’s wife Kayadhu. I will take Hiranyakasipu’s wife as my prisoner, Indra thought, If Hiranyakasipu comes back, I may be able to use her as a hostage…Thinking thus, Indra was forcibly taking Kayadhu to Amravathi, Indra’s home in the heavens. It was at that time that Sage Narada appeared before Indra, ‘Indra STOP! What are you doing?’

 Sage Narada thundered looking at Indra pulling Kayadhu in his chariot. Indra asked his men to catch Kayadu while he turned to address the wandering Sage. Indra bowed at Sage Narada, ‘Sir, I have attacked the Asuras. Without Hiranyakasipu to lead them, I felt that this was the right time to destroy the threat of the Asuras…’ ‘Yes…yes…’ Sage Narada said angrily, looking at the devastation around him, ‘I can see that…Where does this woman come into this?’ Narada asked pointing an angry finger at Kayadu, ‘Did she fight you? It does not look like she raised any weapons against you, then why are you hurting her?’

Indra looked back at the Sage, ‘Sir, she is the wife of Hiranyakasipu, my rival… I am taking her prisoner…’ Indra looked at the fighting Kayadhu, ‘Sir if Hirayakasipu attacks us later, I can use her as a hostage…’

Sage Narada if possible looked even more angrily at Indra, ‘Fool! Just to win your battle, you will hurt another man’s wife, who has done no harm to you…’ Narada pointed a trembling finger at Kayadu, ‘She is pure and innocent…Taking her prisoner would be a great sin…’ Indra looked at the angry sage and realised that he had no choice other than to let Kayadu go.

Indra nodded at his men an they vanished from there leaving Kayadu in the middle of the ruined capital. Sage Narada helped the trembling Kayadu, ‘My daughter! Are you all right?..’ Kayadu looked shaken for a few minutes. She closed her eyes and took deep breaths trying to calm herself. Finally she opened her eyes and looked at the sage. She bowed at him,‘Thank you sir! Thank you for saving my life…I may be Hiranyakasipu’s wife sir, but he is the only man I have ever loved…If Indra had taken me, I would have killed him and myself…’ She said angrily gritting her teeth, clenching her hands into a fist, shaking slightly.

Sage Narada held up his hands, ‘Peace my child…I know you are carrying a child. Such anger is not good either for you or the child…’ Kayadu looked at the sage and again took a deep breath calming herself. Sage Narada waited until she was calm and spoke again, ‘What will you do now? Is there any place you know which is safe for you?’ Kayadu looked around her at all the dead asuras and thought, If I stay hear, Indra may come back...She shuddered slightly, At that time, the sage may not be there to speak for me…In my position, I may not be able to fight Indra…’ She thought thinking about the child in her womb…

She looked at the sage and bowed her head, ‘Great Sage! I have a request for you…’ She said looking at Sage Narada. Narada nodded his head asking her to continue. Kayadu spoke, ‘I will look after you as your own daughter...Would you please take me to your hermitage…If…if it is ok with you…’ She said feeling slightly desperate…

 Narada smiled. This was the reason Narada had come here – to take Kayadu to his home..It had started..Kayadu accompanied Sage Narada to his home and there Kayadu looked after the Sage well. Sage Narada found Kayadu to be extremely intelligent and with a quick grasp. In the evenings, Sage Narada would relax and tell Kayadu stories of Lord Vishnu….Hearing all this Kayadu developed a profound sense of attachment towards Lord Vishnu. In her womb, the young unborn baby also heard these stories and also loved Lord Vishnu. The time passed happily there…

Lord Brahma and the other Devas were meanwhile having a very big problem. The air of the heavens were becoming hotter and hotter and the Devas were finding it difficult to breathe. Wondering what had happened, the Devas searched that found that Hiranyakasipu’s penance was becoming so powerful that the air of the heavens was burning up. Unable to take it anymore, the Devas ran to Lord Brahma.

Lord Brahma agreed to meet Hiranyakasipu and went to earth to meet the Asura. What he saw there stumped Lord Brahma. Hiranyakasipu was so deep in his prayer that creepers had grown on him…Hiranyakasipu still did not know…

 Lord Brahma was touched with the devotion of Hiranyakasipu. He took some water from his Kamandalam and threw it on Hiranyakasipu. Slowly Hiranyakasipu got up from his trance. When the water fell on Hiranyakasipu, he emerged from the creepers new and fresh. He looked at the God of Creation and bowed, ‘My Lord!’ Lord Brahma looked at Hiranyakasipu touched, ‘Arise son! Your penance is unparalleled! You can have any boon you wish!’

Hiranyakasipu bowed and said, ‘My Lord! I wish to be immortal…’ Lord Brahma looked unhappy as he shook his head, ‘Son, all who are born have to die. I cannot change the laws of nature. Please ask for something else… Hiranyakasipu pouted…All my penances for nothing…Then Hiranyakasipu thought of something, Wait, if I ask for an impossible condition for death probably then...Hiranyakasipu thought fast and again bowed to Lord Brahma. ‘Lord, I wish for a boon…’

Lord Brahma gestured for Hiranyakasipu to continue. Hiranyaksipu spoke in clear tones, ‘Lord I wish that I cannot be killed by any man, God or animal or any other creature created by you. Nobody should be able to kill me at day or night, in heavens or in earth, in the day or the night either inside the house or outside the house, or with any weapons…’

When Lord Brahma heard this he stayed still for some time. He knew that granting this boon was not good considering that Hiranyakasipu had shown utter contempt for all other lives. But he also knew that he had no choice.

He had to grant whatever was asked of him. Hiranyaksipu’s penance had been very powerful. Narayana…I think you will need to take care of this… He thought as he said, ‘So be it Hiranyakasipu! Your wish has been granted.’ Saying thus Lord Brahma vanished from there. Hiranyakasipu overjoyed with the boon ran back to his kingdom.He was hurt to see that most of them were destroyed by the attack of Indra.

I will wreck revenge on Indra for this. Armed with the boon, Hiranyakasipu attacked Indra. Indra had no chance. The Devas were driven out of Devaloka. Hiranyakasipu became the ruler of the Heavens.
Hiranyakasipu found Kayadu and brought back his wife home.

Despite Kayadu asking Hiranyakasipu to change his ways, Hiranyakasipu tormented the humans and the Devas alike, but no one was able to raise a voice against him.It was at this time that Kayadu gave birth to a fine young baby boy – he was named Prahlad. As Prahlad was growing up, Hiranyakasipu became more and more powerful and he started committing more and more atrocities

However Prahlad was quiet different from his father. Unlike his father Prahlad never hurt another living being. He was a strong devotee of Lord Vishnu and liked praying to the Dark Lord. Prahlad was kind gentle and firm to all people around him. While everyone was scared of Hiranyakasipu, all the people loved Prahlad. Hiranyakasipu once asked Prahlad to come and sit on his lap. He lovingly stroked Prahlad’s hair, ‘Son! What a fine son you are! Tell me son, how are thing going in your school?’

‘Father!’ Prahlad looked at his father lovingly, ‘I have learnt that Vishnu – the Dark Lord is the Ruler of the Three worlds and that if we are devoted to him, he will always be there for us…’
Hiranyakasipu stopped stunned for a few seconds. He got angry, but with great difficulty curbed his anger. He nodded his head and sent for the boy’s teacher. He asked Prahlad to go and play with friends as he wanted to talk to the teacher alone. When the teacher appeared, Hiranyakasipu was furious.

The Guru quailed with fear. He stammered, ‘L..Lord…Lord…I did not teach him these things…’ Hiranyakasipu shook his head furiously, ‘Watch over the child! Someone is teaching him these useless things…’ The guru nodded his head and quickly went away from there, least Hiranykasipu get more angry.

At the school, the Guru taught Prahlad about how Hiranyakasipu was the Lord of the three worlds and how he was to be worshipped…However Prahlad was distracted when he heard this. He shook his head, ‘No sir! This is not right! Lord Vishnu is the Lord of the three worlds. The whole universe exists because of him…’ The guru became furious and afraid at the same time. Furious that Prahlad was defying him openly in the class for all the students to hear and afraid that if Prahlad repeated this to his father, Hiranyakasipu may become furious with him.

‘Who..who taught you that?’ He asked Prahlad furiously. ‘It is the truth which can be found anywhere, if you know where to look…’ Prahlad said looking straight at his teacher. The guru dragged Prahlad back to his father’s palace. He went to Hiranyakasipu, ‘Sir! I have tried everything…The boy keeps on repeating what he said. He would not tell me from where he learnt this…’

Hiranyakasipu got more and more furious as he heard this. Anger blinded him. This is no son of mine…If these are the things he is teaching, he does not have any right to live…HIranyakasipu called his men, ‘Guards! Take this boy and kill him with your swords.’ The guard looked anxiously at Hiranyakasipu wondering whether he had indeed ordered for killing the prince. Hiranyakasipu angrily looked at his men and yelled, ‘NOW!’

The men fell over backwards and pulled Prahlad with them. They took out their swords. The first guard struck Prahlad and watched surprised as the blade fell from the hilt…Prahlad looked unharmed and without fear. All the guard together struck Prahlad only to find their blades breaking off even before it struck Prahlad.

Bewildered they turned to Hiranyakasipu. Enraged Hiranyakasipu then ordered Prahlad to be bitten by poisonous snakes. However the bites of the snake did not affect Prahlad at all.

Prahlad then sat under a tree deep in meditation to the Dark Lord. Furious Hiranyakasipu turned on mad elephants at Prahlad to trample him. Hiranyakasipu was stunned when he saw the mad elephants sitting peacefully before Prahlad looking at him.

Hiranyakasipu called his sister Holika. ‘Sister Holika! I need your help!’ Holika bowed to Hiranyakasipu, ‘Speak my Lord!’Hiranyakasipu said harshly, ‘You have received a boon from the Lord that fire cannot harm you! I want you to use that boon now.’ Holika frowned looking at Hiranyakasipu for explanations. ‘My son Prahlad!’ Hiranyakasipu spat out, ‘He..defies me openly…I don’t want to see his face again…I want to kill him..He is no son of mine…I want you to take Prahlad in your lap and hold him tight, so that when I set both of you on fire, he would….’Hiranyakasipu said venomously.

 Holika held her hands, ‘I understand my Lord!’ Without question Holika picked up the meditating Prahlad and put him on her lap. After she had sat down, Hiranyakasipu set fire to them..That will be the end of him…

However Hiranyakasipu had not calculated the power of devotion. Prahlad gave no sign of even knowing what was going on around him. However Holika, the one who was immune from fire started burning.
The fire of her sins burnt her…When the fire finally burnt out, Prahlad was sitting in the middle of a charred place not a hair out of place, whereas Holika was nowhere to be seen…

Now Hiranyakasipu felt afraid. He went to Prahlad and pulled the boy up. The boy woke up as if from a trance, looking around him. Hiranyakasipu shook him, ‘YOU SAY YOUR VISHNU IS EVERY WHERE?

He yelled, ‘Where is your Vishnu now? Is he here, behind this tree, Is he here in this setting son, Is he inside my palace? IS HE IN THIS PILLAR?’ Hiranyakasipu yelled loudly.

Prahald looked at his father straight in the eye, ‘Yes father! Lord Vishnu is everywhere…’

 Enraged Hiranyakasipu kicked the pillar and said angrily, ‘THEN WHERE IS HE?’

Hiranyakasipu stopped stunned as he saw the pillar shatter and from the pillar emerged a ferocious…What is that? It has the face of a lion and the body of the man…Hiranyakasipu hastily stepped back, looking at the half man-half lion.

He shook his head unable to believe himself, when the half-man half-lion bellowed loudly, ‘I am Narasimha, the avatar of Narayana, and I have come here to kill you…’ Narasimha advanced with glowing eyes. Before Hiranyakasipu could escape, Narasimha caught him with his clawed fingers, in a vice like grip.

Hiranyakasipu struggled against grip, but it was of no use. Narasimha took Hiranyakasipu and dragged him to the threshold of the door [neither inside nor outside the house] and placed him on his lap [neither sky nor the earth] and there killed Hiranyakasipu with his claws [without weapons], at twilight [neither day nor night].After killing Hiranyakasipu, Narasimha let out a loud roar and sat on Hiranyakasipu’s throne.

All the Asuras had escaped from there seeing the ferocious beast. Even the Devas were afraid to go near Narasimha. However unafraid, Prahlad went forward. There was nothing but love in his eyes. ‘My Lord! You have come to protect me…I knew you would come…’

 Looking at the face of Prahlad, Narasimha smiled, ‘Yes son! For you I have come!…’ Prahlad looked at his father’s body and looked at Narasimha, ‘Do not worry son! You do not know his story!
He is my doorkeeper Vijaya. He was born here because of a curse. After three more births he will attain his place back in Vaikunta…Do not worry about him…’
Prahlad nodded his head, ‘I want nothing more, my Lord!’ Narasimha shook his head, ‘No son! You are meant to rule your people. You will come to Vaikunta after you have completed your work on earth as your people’s ruler…’
Prahhlad nodded his head

once more. Prahlad became the benevolent ruler of the Asuras, who prospered during his reign and gave up there old cruel ways.