For a brief period of our devotional life we wore a Nrsimha kavaca. One hearty well-wisher pointed out that my guru, param guru and paramesthi guru never wore such a thing. He further reminded me of Srila Prabhupada's famous quote: "The reason for my success is that I had complete faith in the holy name of Krishna and in the words of my spiritual master." Off came the kavaca!
Seeing many devotees wearing nrsimha kavacas, we decided to lecture on the principle that Krishna alone specifically in His name rupa avatara, the holy name is our ONE AND ONLY source of protection and shelter. Surrender means believing this and following this. Without surrender, saranagati, our sraddha will never grow and develop into nishta, ruci, bhava and prema. Our humble request to you and any other souls dedicated to our words is to please cast aside all kavacas and take exclusive shelter of Krishna's ambrosial holy names.
In the words of Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura, "The holy name of Krsna is the only shelter in the fourteen worlds.”
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
Krsna's Protection & Surrender:
Six Symptoms of Saranagati (Surrender) —
This saranagati is the very life of the true devotees.
anukulyasya saikalpau pratikulyasya varjanam
raksisyateti visvaso goptrtve varanam tatha
atma-niksepa-karpanve sad-vidha saranagatih
SYNONYMS
änukülyasya—of anything that assists devotional service to the Lord: saìkalpah—acceptances; prätikülyasya—of anything that hinders devotional service; varjanam—complete rejection; raksisyati—He will protect; iti—thus; visväsah—strong convition; goptrtve—in being the guardian, like the father or husband, master or maintainer; varanam—acceptance; tathä—as well as; ätma-niksepa—full self-surrender; kärpanye—and humility; sat-vidhä—sixfold; sarana-ägatih—process of surrender.
Translation:
"The six divisions of surrender are the acceptance of those things favorable to devotional service, the rejection of unfavorable things, the conviction that Krsna will give protection, the acceptance of the Lord as one's guardian or master, full self-surrender and humility.
PURPORT
One who is fully surrendered is qualified with the six following characteristics (1) The devotee has to accept everything that is favorable for the rendering of transcendental loving service to Lord. (2) He must reject everything unfavorable to the Lord's service. This is also called renunciation. (3) A devotee must be firmly convinced that Krsna will give him protection. No one else can actually give one protection, and being firmly convinced of this is called faith. A devotee wants to remain always in the Lord's service. In this way, Krsna is merciful to His devotee and gives him all protection from the dangers found on the path of devotional service. (3) One should firmly believe that Krsna will protect one is a better protector than Krsna, one should always think that Krsna, or God, is great and that one is always protected by Him. [NBS]
(4) The devotee should accept Krsna as his supreme maintainer and master. He should not think that he is being protected by a demigod. He should depend only on Krsna, considering Him the only protector. The devotee must be firmly convinced that within the three worlds he has no protector or maintainer other than Krsna. (5) One should always remember that one's activities and desires are not independent. In other words, the devotee should feel completely dependent on Krsna, and thus he should act and think as Krsna desires. (6) The devotee is meek and humble." [Cc. Madhya 22.100] (7) One should always think himself the poorest of the poor and feel totally dependent on the mercy of Krsna.[NBS]
"A devotee who follows these six principles of surrender always thinks, "O Lord, I am Yours in every respect; I am Your eternal servant.” [NBS 12]
"The six symptoms of surrender are divided into a whole and parts. Accepting Lord Krsna as one's guardian or master is the whole or main principle; the other five items of surrender are parts or assistants of this one item. There are three stages of surrender: 1) Initial conviction that by following religious principles, going on pilgrimages and surrendering to the Lord will protect me from the reactions of past sins. 2) Intermediate stage is the conviction that I shall give to Krsna my wife, child, friends, wealth, and other things that are my property. 3) Highest stage of surrender is the conviction that I shall place at Lord Krsna's lotus feet, my self, my body and everything that is mine." [Satvata Tantra]
(Bhakti-sandarbha---"The conviction that Krsna will give protection is explained in the following words of Srimad Bhagavatam (3.16.37):
"My dear sons, the Lord is the controller of the three modes of nature and is responsible for the creation, preservation and dissolution of the universe. His wonderful creative power, yoga-maya, cannot be easily understood even by the master of yoga. That most ancient person, the Personality of Godhead, will alone come to our rescue. What purpose can we serve on His behalf by deliberation on the subject?"
14. In the Brahma-vaivarta Purana it is said: "Lord Krsna is never far from they who are humble. Many tall mountains stand between Lord Krsna and they who are proud."
15. One who proudly thinks he is independent must stay in the material world of repeated birth and death. This is described in the Brahma's prayers in the Third Canto (Srimad Bhagavatam 3.9.9).
16. "O my Lord, the material miseries are without factual existence for the soul. Yet as long as the conditioned soul sees the body as meant for sense enjoyment, he cannot get out of the entanglement of material miseries, being influenced by Your external energy.”*
17. Humility is described in the following verse (Srila Rupa Gosvami's Sri Padyavali 66):
"O Lord, no one is more merciful than You and no one is more pathetic (wretched sad) than I. I am very lowly and fallen. O Lord Yadunatha, please reflect on my case and do whatever is appropriate."
18. Acceptance of the Lord as one's guardian or master is described in the Narsimha Purana. Where Lord Nrsimhadeva says:
"Anyone who prays unto Me and takes shelter of Me becomes My ward, and I protect him always from all sorts of calamities."*
19. One may surrender to the Lord in three ways: with the body, mind, and words. This is explained in the following words of Sri Hari-bhakti-vilasa. (11.677):
"One who with words and thoughts says, "O Lord, I am Your's, and who surrenders in his body to the Lord, becomes filled with bliss."
21. One who surrenders his entire body to the Lord at once attains all good fortune. Others attain different degrees of good fortune according to the degree of their surrender. Surrender to the Lord is glorified in the following words (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.19.9):
täpa-trayenäbhihatasya ghore
santapyamänasya bhavädhvanisa
pasyami nänyac charanam tavänghri-
dvandvätapaträd amrtäbhivarsät
22. “My dear Lord, for one who is being tormented on the terrible path of birth and death and is constantly overwhelmed by the threefold miseries, I do not see any possible shelter other than Your two lotus feet, which are just like a refreshing umbrella that pours down showers of delicious nectar."***
23. This verse means that the showers of the Lord's sweetness chase all miseries far away from the surrendered souls.
Anuccheda 237
1. In this way taking shelter of the Lord is described. Without first taking shelter of the Lord one cannot attain perfection. If one takes shelter of the Lord, then one attains all perfection.
{While describing the relation between faith and surrender in his Jaiva dharma, Srila Bhaktivinode Thakura says that a surrendered devotee will take the following vow: "I will do whatever is favorable for pure devotional service and I will reject whatever is not favorable for it. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Lord Sri Krishna is my protector. I cannot protect myself. I will serve the Lord as far as I am able, and He will protect me. In this way I will be protected. Who am I? I am His property. Whatever He wishes, that I will do. In this way I will offer myself to Him. I own nothing, I am poor and lowly." In this way one understands his lowly position. When this vow, along with trust, confidence that the Lord will give protection, complete self-surrender, and humility are manifested in the heart, that is called faith". When this faith is manifested in the heart one is qualified to engage in devotional service. This faith is the first step to becoming pure and eternally liberated." (Jaiva dharma)
Further in Jaiva Dharma--Vijaya-kumara asked his guru a question: "What does it mean that in every condition a devotee should be surrendered soul?"
His Guru replied: "To think, "O Lord, I am Yours" and "O Lord, I surrender unto You" is called "being a surrendered soul."
The Bhagavad-Gita describes Surrender in its last and most important instruction —(18.66)
sarva-dharmän parityajya mäm ekam saranam vraja
ahaà tväm sarva-päpebhyo moksayisyämi mä sucah
Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear.
PURPORT by Srila Prabhupda---
There is no need of strenuous effort to free oneself from sinful reactions. One should unhesitatingly accept Krsna as the supreme savior of all living entities. With faith and love, one should surrender unto Him.
One should be confident that in all circumstances Krsna will protect him from all difficulties. There is no need of thinking how one should keep the body and soul together. Krsna will see to that. One should always think himself helpless and should consider Krsna the only basis for his progress in life." (pur. Bg 18.66)
In the nine processes of devotional service, nava vidha bhakti, the final limb of bhakti is ATMA NIVEDANAM (which means surrendering everything to Krsna as seen in the life of the king Bali Maharaja who gave and surrendered everything he had to Lord Vamanadeva)---In JAIVA DHARMA, Srila Bhativinode Thakura describes the type of thinking one should adopt to attain this final platform of devotional service, namely Atman Nivedanam—"Residing in the material body, the conditioned soul tends to think “I am this material body” or "This material body is mine". Both these ideas should be surrendered, offered to Lord Krishna. Thus renouncing the ideas “I am this material body” and "This material body is mine" one should think, "I am a servant of Lord Krsna" and “I am dependent on Lord Krishna’s mercy”, and “this material body is a machine that I shall use in Lord Krishna’s service”. To spend one’s time within this material body, in this way, is called “atma-nevadana” (offering everything to the Lord)
Nrsimha Kavacas—
(circa 1967 N.Y.C. Srila Prabhupada has heart attack and is hospitalized. He is in a very critical condition and could leave his body. At that time he introduced the Nrsimha Prayers for his protection.
Satsvarüpa: "Swamiji said we should pray to Lord Nrsimha and the prayer should be "My master has not finished his work."
Jaduräni : He taught us the prayers to Lord Nrsimhadeva. He said the words one by one, and I wrote them down. I called up the temples in San Francisco and Montreal and told them the prayer. Swamji said, "You should pray to Krsna that, my spiritual master has not yet completed his work, so please let him finish." [SPL chp.25: "Our Master Has Not Finished His Work"]
Krsna & Kavacas—
"Mother Yasoda recovered from her swoon, because of Krishna's blissful embrace as Krishna forced her to drink the nectar of parental love. She became overwhelmed with feelings of love as she protected her son's body with the names of Lord Nrsimhadeva.” [Krsna Bhavanamrta chp. 7 Purvahna-lila]
"O Boys, headed by Vijaya, stay close to Krsna with your swords, bows and arrows and always protect Him!" With her hand, mother Yasoda lovingly touched all of her son's limbs, pronouncing the mantras with the Lord's names and the Nrsimhabija for protection, binding a protecting stone on His wrist. Krsna fell at His parents' feet and said: "Mother; father! Allow Me to go now!" They held Him to their hearts in their arms and moistened Him with tears and breastmilk, kissing Him, wiping His lotus face with their hands and smelling His head, saying with choked voices: " May Lord Nrsimha protect You, may the earth, the sky, the path, the forest and all directions be auspicious!" (Govinda lilamrta chp.5)
Sakama Bhaktas--The devotees who serve Krsna in order to satisfy selfish desires are called sakama-bhaktas. NBS 56
These are practiced by sakäma devotees, who approach the Supreme Lord when in distress, when seeking wealth, or when seeking knowledge. One should transcend these secondary types of devotion and approach the Supreme Lord only with love." NBS.66
Conclusion: We need no other shelter besides Krsna and His holy names. At all times and in all places we should always chant the holy names for all protection, shelter and perfection. Within the Hare Krsna —maha-mantra all the other avatars and incarnations are contained. Just as Lord Nrsimha immediately manifested from the stone pillar to protect Prahlada Maharaja, similarly, Lord Nrsimha will also instantly manifest from the syllables of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra to protect any sincere devotee. Srila Prabhupada describes this point in his Nectar of Devotion thus: "When Närada Muni was chanting the Hare Krsna mantra, he chanted so loudly that it was apprehended that Lord Nrsimha had appeared. Thus all the demons began to flee in different directions." (Nod chapter 27 Symptoms of Ecstatic Love, Singing Loudly)
Kavacas are Not Needed: "Regarding the Narayana Kavaca mantra, the Hare Krsna mantra is everything." (Letter to Jayapataka – Hyderabad 4 December 1976)
"Therefore, we should not forget the chanting of the Hare Krsna mantra under any circumstances. It will help us in the greatest danger, as we find in the life of Gajendera." Pur SB. 8.3.1)
Conclusion--Chandogya Upanisad (8.13.1) it is said:
syamac chavalam prapadye savalac chyamam prapadye
"To attain Lord Krsna I surrender to Sri Radha. To attain Sri Radha. I surrender to Lord Krsna."