"The story of the hunter who saw Lord Nrsimha" thanks to Minketana Rama das

[Paramananda das]

"The story of the hunter who saw Lord Nrsimha"

In his previous life, Padmapada was known as Sananda. Sanandana was the main student of Adi Shankara. He lived in the Chola country. Once a monk gave him the mantra of Narasimha. Sananda really wanted to see the Lord of the mantra - Narasimha. Therefore, he left his home and found a secluded place in the forest. He sat down to meditate, representing the image of the Lord of Narasimha and chanting the Narasimha mantra.
One day a hunter came out of the forest to him. He was surprised to see Sananda, and asked what a similar man was doing in the jungle, full of wild animals. Sananda felt that a person could not understand the talk of mantra and meditation. So he just said that he came to the forest in search of a wild beast. The hunter replied that he knew the forest far and wide, and offered to help him find this beast. Then Sananda described to him the image of Narasimha, who was a man-person. The hunter was terribly surprised, because for many years in the forest he had never seen anything like it. Sananda casually remarked that an animal cannot be seen by such an ignorant person as a hunter. But the hunter did not consider himself an ignorant person and loudly swore that if he didn’t present an animal before Sananda before the sun set the next day, he would kill himself. With a determined look, he departed.
Sananda laughed at him, not taking the hunter's oath seriously. But the hunter took the incident as a challenge and began to scour all the nooks of the forest. The image of Narasimha completely captured his thoughts. But he could not find him anywhere. This task so absorbed him that he forgot about food and sleep, and his mind relentlessly followed the image of Narasimha. By the next evening he was completely exhausted, but Narasimha did not find. The sun was setting, and the hunter lost all hope. He swore that he would either find Narasimha or kill himself. Finding nothing more suitable, he plucked several creepers from the trees and prepared to commit suicide by hanging himself. At that moment he heard a terrible roar. He turned around and in front of him stood the beautiful and clear image of Narasimha. Hunter pissed off. He scolded the strange creature for its elusiveness, then twisted his hands and feet with a liana, dragged it to Sananda and said: "Behold, my lord, your Narasimha." Sananda could not believe his eyes. He saw in front of him a hunter holding one end of a vine in his hand. The other end was obviously wrapped around the Deity, previously invisible to him. He, however, heard the roar of Narasimha.
Sananda was shocked that Narasimha appeared before a low hunter, but remained invisible to him, despite years of study. After reading his thoughts, Narasimha said: “Sananda, you do not have to see me at this birth. Although you will be chanting my mantra for a very long time, you will not be able to achieve the desired bhavana (relationship), so I will not be able to appear before you. Moreover, in your ignorance you insulted a hunter, calling him unworthy. But in two days he attained the greatest accuracy of mind (citta ekagrata). Therefore, I had to appear in front of him and give myself a tie. In this life you are worthy only to hear my voice. But do not despair. By exercising in this life, you will be able to realize My image in the next life. At the appropriate moment in your other life, I will enter into you and fulfill an important purpose.”
After Sanandhana by his sheer love, dedication could dissolve Lord Narasimha bhagavan in himself. It is not him seeking Lords darshan. Instead lord gave darshan through him.

"The story of the brahman Bhattahari"

In southwestern India, in the state of Kerala, near the sea coast is the famous and ancient Vishnu Guruvayur temple, founded by Lord Parashurama.
In the city where the temple stands, there lived a brahman named Bhattahari. He was not a Vaisnava, but a tantrik, and possessed mystical powers. Being a godly man, he used these powers to help others. He was also a famous poet.
Once a relative came to him who suffered from an incurable disease. The poor man appealed to many, but no one could heal him. Bhattakhari tried to cure by all means known to him, but nothing helped. In the end, he resorted to the last resort - out of compassion, he took the disease and transferred it to himself with thoughts: "Now I will just have to find some way to cure." So he cured his relative, but he fell seriously ill himself. Bhattakhari tried to heal using his knowledge of tantra and mystical powers, but nothing acted, and then he went to a wise man and begged him for help. That sage replied mysteriously: "Start enjoying with fish."
Bhattahari left in bewilderment. He sat at home and thought: "What does all this mean?" And a friend came to visit him. "Did you go to that wise man?" - he asked. “Yes, I saw him,” answered Bhattakhari. "And what did he say?" “He said,“ Start enjoying with fish. ”I don’t know what it means. If it means that I have to eat fish, then I won’t do that, as I am a brahmana.” His friend thought and said, "No, I think it means the following: you should start enjoying the pastimes of Krishna, and above all the games of Matsya, His incarnations in the form of fish."
Bhattahari thought, "Yes, it seems to be true. But I am not a Vaisnava. My soul does not lie with Vishnu and His incarnations." With these thoughts, he went to bed.
The Lord of the Guru-Vayur temple, the four-armed deity Vishnu, appeared to him in a dream and said: "I want you to write a beautiful poem in the size of one hundred and four quatrains and glorify ten My Avatars in these hundred verses." Bhattahari woke up feeling very inspired. The Lord himself explained to him how to “begin to enjoy with a fish,” and now his doubts have been dispelled.
He began to compose a poem, but since he had no experience of devotion, he still felt confused. He addressed the Srimad-Bhagavatam, but indecision arose again in his mind. He went to the Deity in the temple and prayed: “Dear Lord, in the poem I want to describe exactly how you moved as Hiranyakasipu in the form of Nrsimha, but there are no such details in Srimad-Bhagavatam. How can I describe this? " Then the deity revealed this image to him; The Lord showed how he moved, and the brahman described what he saw.
He also wanted to know how Krishna broke the pot and stole the butter and yogurt from the elder gopis. "How did you break the pots?" asked Bhattahari. - "Your flute or something else?" And then the Lord appeared before him in the form of Krishna with a whistle in his hand. All these subtleties Bhattakhari described in his beautiful poem, which was called "Narayaniyam".
Having written this poem, he read it in front of the Deity in the temple and was immediately healed. The poem was truly beautiful, the brahmans from the temple immediately asked him: "Please read this poem every day, on the first darshan." They granted him a special place to sit, from which he read his poem every morning. Gathered were heard. This became a custom: before seeing a deity, everyone necessarily listened to a poem about the games of the Lord. It was believed that in this case a person can appreciate the beauty and greatness of the Lord. Hearing "Narayaniyam" became the meaning of the morning visit to the temple.
At that time, three kings ruled Kerala. In the morning they came together for darshan and also listened to “Narayaniyyam” from Bhattahari. In this way, he became a prominent and revered Vaisnava and expert in the Lilas of Krishna.