Originally posted by: desigrl05
*Tulsi tell Tripti about something from the Gita/Ramayan/Mahabharata upon how one sought himself to be God and at the end Thakurji had delivered his justice*
The story is about Hiranyakashipu, who was the king of demons. He was very powerful and wanted everybody to worship him as God. He did severe tapasya (askesis) of Lord Brahma. Lord Brahma asked Hiranyakashipu to ask for any boon. Hiranyakashipu said, "I want to be immortal."
Lord Brahma said, "That is not possible. You are born. Therefore, one day, you will have to die. Ask something else."
Hiranyakashipu said, "Let me not meet death from any of the living beings created by you - humans, animals, snakes, gods, demons. Let me not die either inside a house or outside. Let me not die in the day time or in the night time. Let me not die on the ground or in the sky. Give me sole lordship over all the living beings and deities. Give me all the mystic powers."
Lord Brahma gave Hiranyakashipu these boons.
One of the sons of Hiranyakashipu was Prahlad. Prahlad was of highly good character and he was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu tried a lot to prevent Prahlad from worshipping Vishnu. He even tortured Prahlad a lot, though Prahlad was his own son. But Prahlad continued to worship Vishnu. Hiranyakashipu became so angry that he ordered that Prahlad be killed. Demons tried all options to kill Prahlad, but Prahlad survived.
One day, Hiranyakashipu said to Prahlad(pointing towards a pillar), "If your God is present everywhere, he should be present in this pillar. I am going to kill you. Let your God come and save you."
Saying this, he hit the pillar hard. Vishnu came out of the pillar in His Narasimh(also called Nrisimh) incarnation. His form was of half man and half lion. He took Hiranyakashipu at the door of the palace. So, it was neither inside nor outside. It was time between day and night, so neither day nor night. Narasimh dev was neither man nor lion; He was not created by Brahma. He kept Hiranyakashipu in His lap(so neither on ground nor in sky) and killed him with His sharp nails.
Edited by akhl - 17 years ago