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Home , Incarnation, Kali (demon), Mahavishnu, Mohini, Parashurama

The Lord's Warrior - Part 1

Date: 2011-05-05 Author: Narahari das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

On the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Trithiya, Parasurama Jayanthi (appearance of Lord Parasurama) let us meditate on His glories. The purana is replete with glorification of Lord Parasurama. The following Bhagavatam shloka (2.7.22) explains the purpose of this glorious incarnation.

kshatram kshayaaya vidhinopabhrtam mahaatmaa dhrug ujjhita-patham narakaarti lipsu uddhanty asaau avanikantakam ugra - viiryas trih sapta kritva urudhaara parashvadhena

"When the ruling administrators, who are known as the , turned astray from the path of the Absolute Truth, being desirous to suffer in , the Lord, in His incarnation as the sage Parasurama, uprooted those unwanted kings, who appeared as the thorns of the earth. Thus He thrice seven times uprooted the kshatriyas with His keenly sharpened chopper."

Srila Prabhupada explains in the purport as follows the purpose of this great incarnation: "Every state and its administrators, regardless of the nature of the administration — monarchy or democracy, oligarchy or dictatorship or autocracy — have the prime responsibility to lead the citizens toward realization. This is essential for all human beings, and it is the duty of the father, spiritual master, and ultimately the state to take up the responsibility of leading the citizens towards this end. The whole creation of material existence is made for this purpose, just to give a chance to the fallen souls who rebelled against the will of the Supreme Father and thus became conditioned by material nature. The force of material nature gradually leads one to a hellish condition of perpetual pains and miseries. Those going against the prescribed rules and regulations of conditional life are called brahmojjhita-pathas, or persons going against the path of the Absolute Truth, and they are liable to be punished. Lord Parasurama, the incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, appeared in such a state of worldly affairs and killed all the miscreant kings twenty-one times...That is the order of the Almighty."

We can see two important points in the above purport.

1. Turning astray from the path of the Absolute Truth:- In , during the incarnation of Parasurama, the varnashrama system was well in place and only the kshatriyas were degraded and all the other three varnas were followed nicely and people in those varnas were clear about the aim of life. So Parasurama destroyed only those degraded kings to save the rest of the population. But in yuga, the entire varnashrama system has collapsed and almost all the people have totally lost the aim of life. Even aspiring devotees like us are not exemption to this rule. We have been gifted with the seed of devotional service by the causeless mercy of the Supreme Lord and spiritual master and we have been hearing so much about the glory of for so many years. We are also experiencing the ghastly nature of this material world especially . Inspite of this, we many times tend to freak out and try to stray away from devotional service, due to the anarthas in our heart. And we also take devotional service very cheaply at times.So we're also brahmojjhita-pathas at times, as we stray from the path of Absolute Truth. But Lord Parasurama does not destroy us but He tries to bring us back to the path of Absolute (brahma patha) by speaking through the scriptures, spiritual master and devotees. The Lord destroys our anarthas through the Guru, and as the keenly sharpened chopper. When we get rid off these anarthas, the tendency to stray from Aboslute Truth is removed and we can stay fixed at the lotus feet of Lord Parasurama.

2.Suffering hellish condition of perpetual pains and miseries:- When we turn stray away from the path of Absolute Truth, the result is perpetual misey and pain since we continue in the cycle of birth and death. During the incarnation of Parasurama, the kings were unrighteous and and saintly people were suffering at the hands of these kings. The kings were also destined for hellish suffering in the future because of their sinful actions. By destroying those kings, the Lord saved the saintly people from suffering and the kings were also saved from future hellish conditions because they were purified by the touch of Parasurama (killed by Him). Otherwise, they would have suffered severe hellish punishment for their sinful action. So the Lord displayed great both to the kshatriyas and rest of the population by removing their suffering.

So it is imperative to offer prayers to the Lord in His incarnation as Parasurama to destroy our anarthas and protect us from hellish conditions. The following sloka from purana gives a beautiful prayer in this regard.

sa jāmadagnyo bhuvanasya goptāḥ hiranyagarbho asurahā prapātu

"Lord Parasurama is the protector of the entire cosmos. He is called Hiranyagarbha (the creator of the cosmos) and He is the destroyer of all evil forces. May that son of protect us from all evil tendencies"

Let us all pray to our beloved Spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada for their blessings so that we can remember this great incarnation of the Lord incessantly. We will see the qualities of Lord Parasurama in the next mail, Krishna willing.

Thank you very much, Yours in the service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna das, Chennai. The Lord's Warrior Incarnation - Part 2

Date: 2011-05-07 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

As a continuation of the previous offering, we can relish the transcendental qualities of Lord . In each of the incarnation, the Lord displays specific qualities as it is required for the purpose. Srila Prabhupada explains in the commentary to Srimad Bhagavatam verse 1.3.20 regarding the nature of the Lord's . "Originally the Lord is full of all opulences, all prowess, all fame, all beauty, all knowledge and all renunciation. When they are partly manifested through the plenary portions or parts of the plenary portions, it should be noted that certain manifestations of His different powers are required for those particular functions. When in the room small electric bulbs are displayed, it does not mean that the electric powerhouse is limited by the small bulbs. The same powerhouse can supply power to operate large-scale industrial dynamos with greater volts. Similarly, the of the Lord display limited powers because so much power is needed at that particular time." Some of His incarnations display knowledge (like Vyasadeva, ), some display bewitching beauty (like ). The incarnations of Parashurama and display great powers as Srila Prabhupada explains below.

"For example, Lord Parashurama and Lord Narasimha displayed unusual opulence by killing the disobedient kshatriyas twenty-one times and killing the greatly powerful atheist Hiranyakashipu. Hiranyakashipu was so powerful that even the demigods in other planets would tremble simply by the unfavorable raising of his eyebrow... But even Hiranyakashipu was cut into small pieces by the nails of Lord Narasimha. Similarly, Jaamadagnya displayed the Lord's power to kill all the disobedient kings powerfully situated in their respective states." Apart from showing His great powers, Parashurama also displayed wonderful qualities which are glorified by everyone and this point is stated in as follows. aaste 'dyaapi mahendraadrau / nyasta dandah prashaanta dhih upageeyamaana caritah / siddha caaranaih

"Parashurama still lives as an intelligent in the mountainous country known as Mahendra. Completely satisfied, having given up all the weapons of a , he is always worshiped, adored and offered prayers for his exalted character and activities by such celestial beings as the Siddhas, Caranas and ." (SB-9.16.26)

His qualities are infinite and the following two qualities are a sample of His exalted nature.

1)Very obedient and strict disciple:- Though He is omniscient, Lord Parashurama learnt the Vedic knowledge from His father and spiritual master Jamadagni (to example for us) and served Him in a very humble way. Once when Jamadagni asked Parashurama to cut off the heads of His mother and brothers, the Lord did it immediately and pleased His father. When Jamadagni asked Him to choose a boon for this obedience, He asked his father to bring back His mother and brothers back to life. In this pastime, He displayed exemplary obedience to spiritual master and His great love for His mother. This incident was quoted by our beloved spiritual master, H H Goswami Maharaj, on the subject of obedience many times. And this pastime was quoted by Mahaprabhu and other acharyas. Though He is the source of all power, He learnt the art of fighting from Lord and worshipped Lord Shiva perfectly as an obedient disciple. Lord Shiva pleased with His obedience and surrender gifted Him with the chopper called, . In this way, He demonstrated how to behave as an ideal and strict disciple.

2)Very Merciful spiritual master:- Though Lord Parashurama was very strict with Himself as a disciple, as a spiritual master, He was very merciful with his students. He extended Himself to any limit to bring glory to His disciples. In one occasion He was forced to fight with His student and if Bhishma was defeated he would have to marry a princess, which would break Bhishma's vow of life long brahmacharya. In order to protect the vow of His disciple Bhishma, Parashurama who is unconquerable, accepted defeat. Another student of Him, lied to Him that he was a brahmana and learnt military science from Parashurama.(Karna almost cheated His spiritual master and stole the knowledge from Him). When Parashurama learnt about this, He cursed Karna that he will forget all his knowledge. But when Karna pleaded forgiveness, He immediately forgave Karna and gave the boon, "You will remain famous forever." Even after this incident, he continued to guide Karna whenever he approached Him.

Our beloved Gurudeva was a personification of the above qualities. While he was very strict with himself in following the principles of devotional service and his service to Srila Prabhupada, he was very merciful to all of us in spite of our fallen condition. He gave his shelter, knowing well that we are all rejects and always tolerated our misgivings and wrong behaviour.

Let us all remember the wonderful qualities of our beloved Gurudeva, Srila Prabhupada and Lord Parashurama on this auspicious occasion and pray for their blessings to advance in devotional service. Krishna willing, we will relish more qualities of the Lord in the next offering.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna Dasa, Chennai. The Lord's Warrior Incarnation - Part 3

Date: 2011-05-10 Author: Narahari Krishna das

Hare Krishna Prabhujis and Matajis, Please accept my dandavat pranams. All glories to Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva.

In the previous two offerings titled, "The Lord's Warrior Incarnation", we had seen that 1) Lord Parashurama brings us back to the path of Absolute Truth whenever we go astray. In Sat-yuga, He killed the demoniac kings using chopper. Now in Kaliyuga, the Lord destroys our anarthas through guru, sadhu and shastra as the keenly sharpened chopper. 2) By doing so He is saving us from suffering hellish condition of perpetual pains and miseries. 3) His glories are unlimited. We had discussed two of His qualities - He is very obedient and strict disciple. At the same time, He is very merciful spiritual master.

In this concluding offering let us continue to relish one more divine quality of Lord Parashurama.

Beyond the modes of nature:- Whatever activities the Lord does in His incarnations are beyond the modes of nature. The Lord is not influenced by passion and ignorance like an ordinary person is. When the sage Jamadagni was killed by Kartaviryarjuna's sons, Lord Parashurama took a vow to eliminate the kshatriya dynasties 21 times and He accomplished it. Many people think that He did this out of vengence (to take revenge for His father's death). However, the Bhagavata Purana explains that His father's death was only a plea for His eternal mission. tad raktena nadeem ghoraam / abrahmanya-bhayaavahaam hetum krtvaa pitr-vadham / kshatre 'mangala-kaarini trih-sapta-krtvah prithiveem / kritvaa nihkshatriyaam prabhuh samanta-pancake cakre / shonitodaan hradaan nava

"With the blood of the bodies of these sons, Lord Parashurama created a ghastly river, which brought great fear to the kings who had no respect for brahminical culture. Because the kshatriyas, the men of power in government, were performing sinful activities, Lord Parashurama, on the plea of retaliating for the murder of His father, rid all the kshatriyas from the face of the earth twenty-one times. Indeed, in the place known as Samanta-pancaka he created nine lakes filled with their blood." (Srimad Bhagavatam 9.16.18- 19)

A normal person retaliates with vengence when his near and dear ones are killed. However for the Lord who is transcendental and who is the Father of everyone, there is no reason to retaliate. So His anger was due to bent of His mind to protect His saintly devotees and so it is not influenced by passion or ignorance. Srila Prabhupada vividly brings out this point in the commentary as follows. "Parashurama is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His eternal mission is paritraanaaya saadhuunaam vinaashaaya ca dushkrtaam (Bg 4.8] - to protect the devotees and annihilate the miscreants. To kill all the sinful men is one among the tasks of the incarnation of Godhead. Lord Parashurama killed all the kshatriyas twenty-one times consecutively because they were disobedient to the brahminical culture. That the kshatriyas had killed his father was only a plea; the real fact is that because the kshatriyas, the ruling class, had become polluted, their position was inauspicious. Brahminical culture is enjoined in the shaastra, especially in Bhagavad-gita (caatur varnyam mayaa srshtam guna--vibhaagashah [Bg 4.13])."

It is important to note that Lord Parashurama did not kill all the rulers whimsically. He punished only those who were disobedient to brahminical culture. Kings like and Dasaratha were abiding by rules of the Lord and so Lord Parashurama did not punish them.

Now a question may arise, "Kali yuga is filled with fallen kshatriyas who are worse than mlecchas. Why the Lord is not incarnating to kill them?" Srila Prabhupada answers as follows in the same purport. "According to the laws of nature, whether at the time of Parashurama or at the present, if the government becomes irresponsible and sinful, not caring for brahminical culture, there will certainly be an incarnation of God like Parashurama to create devastation by fire, famine, pestilence or some other calamity. Whenever the government disrespects the supremacy of the Personality of Godhead and fails to protect the institution of varnashrama , it will certainly have to face such catastrophes as formerly brought about by Lord Parashurama." The states that the kshatriya women had to marry brahmanas to further the kshatriya race as few/no kings were left after Lord Parashurama's program of extermination.

The system of brahminical culture can be revived by the the congregational chanting of the Holy Names

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare by which humanity can receive the blessings of Lord Parashurama. While explaining the meaning of the maha mantra Srila Prabhupada explained that the word 'Rama' in the mantra refers to

1. Lord Krishna who is Ramana (one who gives pleasure to Srimati Radha). 2. It refers to Dasarathi Rama who gave pleasure to , Mother and other devotees. 3. It refers to who gives spiritual strength to all the devotees of Lord Krishna. 4. It also refers to Lord Parashurama who protected the , brahmanas and delighted the Bhrgu lineage (Bhrgu nandana).

So the sweetness of Lord Krishna, the bliss of Lord Rama, the spiritual strength of Lord Balarama and the power and protection of Lord Parashurama are fully invested in the mahamantra and by chanting it sincerely we can receive all the blessings and protection of the Lord in His various forms.

In Bhagavata purana, Sri Sukadeva Goswami concludes the narration of Parashurama avatara by this beautiful sloka evam bhrgushu visvaatmaa / bhagavaan harir ishvarah avateerya param bhaaram / bhuvo'han bahusho' nrpaan

"In this way the Supreme soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the Lord and the supreme controller, descended as an incarnation in the Bhrgu dynasty and released the universe from the burden of undesirable kings by killing them many times." (Srimad Bhagavatam 9.16.27)

Let us all pray for the mercy of our beloved Gurudeva and Srila Prabhupada and Lord Parashurama so that we'll get a little taste for chanting the Lord's holy names and relishing His different incarnations.

Thank you very much. Yours in service of Srila Prabhupada and Srila Gurudeva, Narahari Krishna Dasa, Chennai.