Nrisimha Chaturdasi is celebrated world wide as the auspicious day of the advent of Lord Nrisimhadeva, who appeared to protect His devotee Prahlad from the malicious designs of his atheistic father Hiranyakasipu. The Lord appeared not to protect many devotees but just one devotee, a tiny five year old boy Prahlad. That is the magnanimity of the Lord.
The only fault of Prahlad was that he was Krishna conscious and a devotee. Since demons are averse to the holy name, Prahlad’s Krishna consciousness was a great sore in the eyes of his father and he devised many gruesome ways to kill the child. Imagine, a father wanting to kill his own child for being Krishna conscious! But, every time the Lord came and saved the little boy from the cruel hands of his demoniac father. This incited the father’s anger all the more and he came out with more and more novel methods to exterminate his little son. So the time was now ripe for the Lord to take drastic action against Hiranyakasipu and kill him.
Hiranyakasipu, however, had won the favour of Lord Brahma after long years of tapasya and obtained from him a whole list of benedictions. He wanted immortality as a benediction but since Lord Brahma could not grant that he took it from him in an indirect way in the form of many benedictions. And one of the benedictions was that no man or animal could kill him. That is why the Lord had to assume the form of a half man and half lion to kill him. No one could kill him in the sky, water or land. No one could kill him with any weapons. He could not be killed during daytime or in the night. So, the Lord kept all the benedictions of Lord Brahma intact and killed him on His lap with His nails at dusk.
Lord Nrisimhadeva is not only a protector of the devotees but also removes all obstacles from the path of devotional service.
Nrisimha Chaturdasi is celebrated by ISKCON Chowpatty with a lot of splendor. Devotees fast till dusk and many programmes unfurl during that time. Beautiful dramas enacted by the children of Gopal’s Fun School bring out the essence of this pastime of the Lord. An abhishek (bathing ) ceremony takes centre stage amidst the reverberations of the chanting of the holy names. The hidden dialogue between the kirtan and the accompanying musical instruments reaches a crescendo mesmerizing one and all. Glorification of the Lord in the form of a pravachan follows bringing in a stony silence in the hall. As usual, the programme signs off with a dinner prasadam for all.
Please come and take advantage of Lord Narasimha’s and Prahlada Maharaj’s special mercy.
Festival Schedule
8:30 A.M to 10:00 A.M : Katha by H.G. Govinda Prabhu.
6:30 P.M to 7:00 P.M : Abhishek.
7:00 P.M to 8:30 P.M : Katha by H.G. Gaur Gopal Prabhu.
8:30 P.M to 8:45 P.M : Cultural Program.
8:45 P.M : Maha Arati.
9:30 P.M : Darshan Closes.
