CHAPTER 5 Everything unto God
[The following conversation took place in October 1987 at the Sringeri Shankara Math, Bengaluru. When I went to His Holiness during His morning āhnika to offer my namaskāras, I saw Him wiping tears of joy.]
His Holiness: I just completed the japa of the Narasiṁha-mantra. Suddenly, I remembered what happened when my Guru graced me with initiation into the Narasiṁha-mantra subsequent to His giving me saṁnyāsa. The memory brought tears of joy to my eyes. During the initiation, when my Guru was about to start voicing the dhyāna-śloka, I found myself spontaneously visualising Narasiṁha in my heart. As I heard and repeated the dhyāna-śloka, I realised with surprise and happiness that the form of Narasiṁha described therein and the one I was seeing matched.
Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha
{The import of dhyāna-śloka concerned is: “I worship Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha whose essential nature is absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, who is immaculate, who is established in yoga, whose countenance is very pleasing, who is glorious with numerous ornaments, who has three eyes, who bears (in His four hands) the (sudarśana) cakra, the pināka (bow) and the signs of granting fearlessness and boons, who is lustrous like the sun, who is fair in complexion like the moon, who has (the set of hoods of) the king of snakes (Śeṣa) serving as an umbrella over Him and who dwells in the middle of the ocean of milk.”
In 1976, in the course of His evening walk, His Holiness casually chanted this verse and then told me, “God, who is formless and of the nature of absolute existence, consciousness and bliss, appears as Śiva, Viṣṇu, Ambā (Divine Mother) and so on for the sake of His devotees. The form of Narasiṁha described in this dhyāna-śloka is itself suggestive of the actual non-difference between Śiva and Viṣṇu. That Narasiṁha is an incarnation of Viṣṇu is well known. Here, He is spoken of as being with Lakṣmī, the consort of Viṣṇu, as bearing the cakra, the weapon of Viṣṇu, and as having the hoods of Śeṣa as His umbrella, like Viṣṇu. Further, He is said to be in the middle of the ocean of milk. This too fits Viṣṇu. However, Narasiṁha is presented here, like Śiva, as three-eyed. He bears the pināka, the bow of Śiva. Further, like Śiva, and unlike Viṣṇu, Narasiṁha is described as very fair in complexion.”}
His Holiness: The words relating to the ‘pañcopacāra-pūjā (worship with five offerings, done after saying the dhyāna-śloka)’ took only some seconds for my Guru to utter and for me to repeat. Yet, I experienced no shortage of time in elaborately worshipping the Lord mentally in my heart with offerings of sandal paste, flowers, incense, lamp, food and so on. I can attribute only to divine grace the irresistible urge that led me to begin the worship. During naivedya, I served the Lord a variety of dishes in a jewel-studded golden plate, put a little food into His mouth, waited for Him to masticate and swallow and only thereafter offered another morsel. It was as if the several seconds miraculously became extended to over half an hour from my perspective. Even while performing the worship with concentration and dedication, I was able to see my Guru and repeat His words without delay.
{The ‘pañcopacāra-pūjā (worship with five offerings)’ is performed as follows:
Simultaneously touching the middle joint of the little finger with the tip of the thumb in both the hands and saying words to the effect, “laṁ (the bīja, seed-syllable, of pṛthvī, earth)! I present sandal paste to Him who is the essence of pṛthvī, earth.” Touching the upper joint of the thumb with the tip of the index finger and saying words to the effect: “haṁ (the seed-syllable of space)! I offer flowers to Him who is the essence of space.” Touching the middle joint of the index finger with the tip of the thumb and saying words to the effect, “yaṁ (the seed-syllable of air)! I submit the fragrance of incense to Him who is the essence of air.” Touching the middle joint of the middle finger with the tip of the thumb and saying words to the effect, “raṁ (the seed-syllable of fire)! I show a lamp to Him who is the essence of fire.” Touching the middle joint of the ring finger with the tip of the thumb and saying words to the effect, “vaṁ (the seed-syllable of water)! I serve an offering of divine food to Him who is the essence of ambrosia.” Touching the tips of the fingers of a hand with the tips of the corresponding fingers of the other hand and saying words to the effect, “saṁ (the seed-syllable of jagat, the world)! I offer worship with all articles of homage to Him, who is the essence of all.”}
His Holiness: When my Guru started to utter the Narasiṁha-mantra (after the pañcopacāra-pūjā), He placed His right palm on my head. He did not do this when He initiated me into other mantras such as the Medhā-dakṣiṇāmūrti and Śrīvidyā.
{The overall meaning of mantra-rāja of Narasiṁha is, “I salute Nṛsiṁha, the fierce, heroic, great one who pervades all, the lustrous one with faces everywhere, the fearsome one, the auspicious one and the destroyer of death.”
His Holiness told me, in 1976, “Every word of this mantra is deeply significant. I shall illustrate this by briefly considering three of the words. A term describing the Lord in the mantra is ‘jvalantam’. That Narasiṁha is lustrous is a simple meaning. Consciousness is the light of lights; but for it, no luminary like the sun or a lamp would be visible. Narasiṁha ever shines as the light of consciousness. This is a deeper meaning. Another term of the mantra is ‘sarvatomukham’. This literally means that He has faces on all sides. The Upaniṣads teach that though devoid of all organs, the Supreme grasps everything everywhere. In this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘sarvatomukhaḥ’. The mantra speaks of the Lord as ‘bhīṣaṇam’. The word literally means, ‘fearsome’. The Bhāgavata-purāṇa conveys that when Narasiṁha slew Hiraṇyakaśipu and continued to be fierce, the gods and even Lakṣmī feared Him. The term fits the Lord in another way too. The Supreme ordains and enforces order in the universe. The laws of Nature are His. It is said, ‘Out of fear of Him, the wind blows. Out of fear of Him, the sun rises.’ In this sense, Narasiṁha is ‘bhīṣaṇaḥ’. The Nṛsiṁha-pūrvatāpanīya and Nṛsiṁha-uttaratāpanīya upaniṣads deal extensively with this mantra.”}
His Holiness: The moment my Guru chanted the mantra once and, following Him, I too did so, an amazing event occurred. He abruptly withdrew His hand from my head, joined His palms and gazed at me silently with deep reverence. My breathing stopped. The form of Lakṣmī-nṛsiṁha that I was seeing within me vanished. However, I began to experience the Lord as my Antaryāmin (Inner Controller), refuge and intimate well-wisher as clearly as one can see a fruit in one’s open palm. I ceased to regard the body, prāṇa, organs, mind and intellect as mine; everything was just His. I do not know how long I remained thus, motionless and immersed in bliss. All along, I did see my Guru keeping His palms joined and looking in my direction.
The form of Narasiṁha then reappeared and my breathing resumed. My mental state reverted to what it had been during my chanting of the mantra but with the difference that I now felt extremely intimate with Narasiṁha. At the same time, my Guru lowered His hands. He then recited the mantra two more times, giving me time to repeat His words.
After completing the initiation, my Guru said, “After you had said the mantra once, I saw just Narasiṁha in your place. That is why I jerked back my hand from your head and offered my salutation to Him. When His form disappeared and you reappeared, I proceeded with the initiation. Dedicate everything to Him.” All this came to my mind a short while ago.
Śrī Candraśekhara Bhāratī Mahāsvāmin
{His Holiness stopped speaking and continued with His āhnika. I prostrated before Him three times. As I did not wish to disturb Him and take His time further, I did not ask Him about the short-term and long-term impacts of the experiences. As I was starting to leave, He smiled and Himself provided the answer.} His Holiness: Throughout that day, offering everything to Narasiṁha was extremely easy. For instance, when I had my afternoon bath, I automatically felt that I was performing abhiṣeka to Narasiṁha who abided within me. During my bhikṣā (meal), I promptly visualised Him as accepting from within and eating whatever I put into my mouth. When I read a book after bhikṣā, He appeared to be listening from inside my heart as if I were reading to Him. As I walked, it spontaneously seemed that I was taking Him, who was within me, for a stroll. The next day onwards, however, I needed to consciously practise dedicating all my activities and their fruits to Him. I also started spending some time every day just for offering Him mental worship. The experiences of the day of initiation greatly facilitated both these and served as models. In a few months, karma-yoga became natural. From the time of initiation, Narasiṁha became very dear to me. As I have told you on several occasions, He takes care of me like a child, guides me, provides clarifications and sets right all the foolish things I say and do.
Conversing with Narasiṁha
Listening to Narasiṁha