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 Parashurama. 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 avatars. "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 incarnations of the Lord display limited powers because so much power is needed at that particular time." Some of His incarnations display knowledge (like Vyasadeva, Kapila), some display bewitching beauty (like Mohini murti). The incarnations of Parashurama and Narasimha 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 Bhagavata purana as follows. aaste 'dyaapi mahendraadrau / nyasta dandah prashaanta dhih upageeyamaana caritah / siddha gandharva caaranaih

"Parashurama still lives as an intelligent brahmana in the mountainous country known as Mahendra. Completely satisfied, having given up all the weapons of a kshatriya, he is always worshiped, adored and offered prayers for his exalted character and activities by such celestial beings as the Siddhas, Caranas and Gandharvas." (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 set 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 Mahavishnu 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 Shiva and worshipped Lord Shiva perfectly as an obedient disciple. Lord Shiva pleased with His obedience and surrender gifted Him with the chopper called, Parashu. 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 Bhishma deva 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, Karna 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.