The Lord's Warrior Incarnation - Part 1 Date: 2011-05-05 Author: Narahari Krishna 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 Bhagavata 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 brahma dhrug ujjhita-patham narakaarti lipsu uddhanty asaau avanikantakam ugra - viiryas trih sapta kritva urudhaara parashvadhena "When the ruling administrators, who are known as the kshatriyas, turned astray from the path of the Absolute Truth, being desirous to suffer in hell, 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 God 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 Satya Yuga, 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 kali 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 bhakti for so many years. We are also experiencing the ghastly nature of this material world especially Kali yuga. 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, Sadhu and Shastra 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 brahmanas 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 compassion 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 Varaha 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 Jamadagni 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 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.