my trip to ahobilam, the land of lord narasimha

7/25/2014 My Trip to Ahobilam, The Land of Lord Narasimha

http://www.indiadivine.org/news/temples-and-holy-places/my-trip-to-ahobilam-the-land-of-lord-narasimha-r718 2/7

Published on May 13 2014 02:56 PM | Posted by Gauridas Pandit Dasa | Temples and Holy Places | 8,435 views

Please help spread hinduism by sharing these articles on facebook:

[Editor's note: Today is Narasimha Chaturdasi, the appearance day of Lord

Narasimha. The following is a devotee's recollection of his visit to

Ahobilam in the 1970's.]

I love India and have been there 17 times now. During this time I was

fortunate enough to travel to some of the Holy places, which seem to be

unlimited. My favorite places are Vrindavan, Rishikesh and Ahobilam.

Ahobilam is the place where Lord Sri Narasimha deva appeared. I went

there with an entourage of about 16 devotees headed by Achyutananda

Swami and Yasodanandan Swami. We traveled all around India putting on

public pandal programs. Our morning program always included chanting

the Brahma Samhita and other mantras together. That was always a

pleasure and very purifying and powerful. We traveled in a nice bus and

thus were able to go to a lot of special places off the beaten path.

We arrived in the holy land of Ahobilam in the heat of the summer. At

first the Ashram/hotel keeper said we could not stay, but was persuaded

by Achyutananda Swami who had a letter from the Governor of Madras

giving us permission. Once situated we were treated like royalty by the

head pujari and his good family. They served us multi-courses of excellent

prasadam on silver plates and even fanned us against our protests while

we honored Lord Narasimha deva's prasadam.

There are eight temples in a circle situated north, south, east, west and

the directions in between, northwest etc. There is also a main temple in

the middle. It was over 100 degrees when we started hiking up a

mountain trail about five miles to reach one of the temples that Lord

Chaitanya Himself visited. On the way we could see the cliff where Sri

115

Like



Prahlada Maharaja was thrown off and caught by Krsna. I was weak from

the heat and was even thinking of staying back that day. I decided to go

and depend on the Lord for the strength to hike up the mountain trail in

the heat. I'm glad I decided to go after all.

When we arrived at the temple in the cave Achyutananda Swami told us

to put some of the water on our heads from the creek called Rakta Kunda,

that flowed by the temple before taking darshan of the self-manifested

deity of Lord Sri Narasimha deva. I looked at the water and it was reddish

so I didnt want to use it thinking that someone must of sacrificed an

animal up stream or something. Achutyananda told us that it was red

because thats where Narasimha deva washed his nails after killing

Hiranyakasipu. Wow! After putting some of the water on my head I felt so

refreshed and all of my fatigue disappeared. Our sweet Lord takes care of

His devotees! Thank God!

We entered the temple which is situated in a cave. The pujari opened

gate after gate to let us in to the end of the cave where Lord Narasimha

deva is situated. A couple of ghee lamps light the cave and waves of

spiritual energy were coming from the Deity. Lord Chaitanya is said to

have passed out in ecstasy there. Being there in the same place was so

ecstatic. It was so awesome that we didnt want to leave! To see the

self-manifested effulgent deity of Lord Narasimha deva and stand right

there where Lord Chaitanya went into ecstatic trance was one of my most

awesome experiences I've ever had. It was one of the highlights of my

life. All of the austerites of being in India became worth it at that time.

Each of the eight temples in Ahobilam are situated in a different

environment. One of the temples is situated in a desert area. The temple

and deity are both self-manifested which is very rare! The Temple is a big

round blackish rock about 10 feet high that is hollow with a hat like top.

Lord Narasimha deva is called Yogananda Narasimha because he is

teaching Prahlada Maharaja some yoga asanas. He is blackish and about

seven feet high, seated! He has a big powerful chest and a small waist.

You can go in the temple and circumambulate the awesome Deity of Sri

Narasimha deva and Prahlada Maharaja.

I highly recommend to all devotees that can, to go to Ahobilam and

experience the awesome atmosphere and kind Vaisnava hospitality that

we experienced there. These are the treasures of the world. By visiting

this and other holy places we attained the enthusiasm and strength to

push on with the sankirtan mission of Sri Sri Guru and Gouranga.

We used to perform maha harinama pandal programs all over South India.

Everywhere we went we were well received by the people, sometimes we

had crowds of thousands at our huge pandal programs. We made a lot of

life members and devotees and introduced thousands of people to the

chanting of the Hare Krishna mahamantra. When large numbers of people

chant the holy names together it has a very purifying and powerful effect.

Swami Srila Prabhupada said that when he was a boy of just a few years

old he did harinam sankirtan to save his birth city of Calcutta from a

plague. He said he was only up to the knees of the other devotees, but

9



he joined in and they stopped the plague by the power of the holy names.

Harinam sankirtan ki jai!

Another nice Narasimha deva deity is at the famous ancient Sri Rangam

temple. The gurukula children gather there daily and chant nice mantras

to Lord Narasimha deva. It is a very pure and powerful experience. Lord

Narasimha deva certainly protects His devotees!

Lord Narasimha deva is my favorite incarnation of Lord Krishna after Lord

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He is a favorite of a lot of gurukuli students

and most of the devotees. In this material world we all need protection

and call for it in the times of need. Especially at the time of severe

sickness and at the time of our or others death! Srila Prabhupada always

asked the devotees to pray to Lord Narasimha deva when he was sick or

when we needed to protect the movement and the devotees.

On Narasimha deva's appearance day in 1977, I took my deity of

Narasimha deva into Srila Prabhupada's quarters in Vrindavan and set Him

up on a table. Srila Prabhupada said the deity was very nice. I used to

like to chant mantras on Srila Prabhupada's steps after my regular

services. I would like to chant the Brahma Samhita and the Narasimha

Kavacha. I heard from the secretary that Srila Prabhupada heard my

chanting of those prayers and liked it.

We had 24 hour kirtan going on for Srila Prabhupada in Sri Vrindavan

Dhama at that time, in May of 1977, because he said he was going to

leave the planet. There were many very good singers such as

Satchitananda Prabhu and the gurukuli students who would please Srila

Prabhupada by their nice chanting.

Sometimes scheduled singers did not show up on time. One day in the

garden there was no one there to chant so I stopped fanning Srila

Prabhupada and sat down and began to chant. Srila Prabhupada looked at

me then shut his eyes so I kept chanting. I chanted the Narasimha deva

prayers along with the mahamantra to try to get Lord Narasimha deva to

help Srila Prabhupada recover his health so we could benefit from his

personal association long as possible.

Now I have a beautiful Deity of Lord Narasimha deva dancing with

Lakshmi Devi on His lap. Its a South Indian style, very ecstatic. The Lord

is like a kitten to the devotees but a lion to the demons, like the evil king

who he killed with his nails, Hiranyakasipu. Hiranya means gold and

Kasipu means soft bed. Those are what the evil kings main concerns

were, instead of protecting the citizens and keeping the peace. So Lord

Narasimha deva appeared to protect His five year old pure devotee, Sri

Pralada Maharaja and He continues to protect us all!

Sri Nrisimha Jai Nrisimha,

Jai Jai Nrisimha!!!

Hoping this meets you in best of health and happiness in Krishna

Consciousness!



Dr.C.Srideva May 14 2014 03:25 AM

Dr.G.B.Ramakrishna sastryMay 14 2014 04:11 AM

Suresh S May 14 2014 04:27 AM

Krishnan SV May 14 2014 04:38 AM

vipra

Your servant,

Gauridasa Pandita Dasa

Please help spread hinduism by sharing these articles on facebook:

Author's

Name:

Gauridas Pandit Dasa

11 Comments

Dear Sir ,

Is it possible to get me the address and telephone number of Sri Gauridasa

Panditadasa ,the author of the above article giving us the wonderful experience that

he has had

Thank you,

Srideva

srilanka

Lord Narasimha Deva Is always in me ,behind me ,before me,beside me and is omni

present,omni potent

Lord Nrisimha is sweet (Madhur), this article is sweet and hence this website is sweet.

Thanks for such articles.

Very good narration which would definitely induce devotees to make a visit to this holy

shrine in case they have not done so till now.

Likable and encouraging narration of the Lord by a pour-heart devotee.

115Like

Quote Report

Quote Report

Quote Report

Quote Report

my trip to ahobilam, the land of lord narasimha

Documents