श्रीनृसिंहस्तोत्रम् श्रीरामचन्द्र प्रणीतम्
Introduction:-
Ahobilam is a pilgrimage centre situated in Andhra pradesh, India.
It has temples dedicated to Lord Narasimha. The Lord is said to have
appeared here from a pillar, destoyed the famous demon Hiranyakasipu
and given darsan to Prahlada. The temples are very old, over 1000 years old.
It has attracted many saints and devotees who had sung in praise of the
Lord who is an avatar or incarnation of Vishnu
It is said in Harivamsa (Seshadharma) that Sri Rama visited Ahobilam
during His wanderings in search of Sita and prayed to Lord Narasimha
for succes of His endeavour. These verses form His prayer.
In the last verse it is said that these verses are known as Panchamritam.
Hari (हरिः।) is one of the names of Vishnu - (No.360 in the Vishnu
Sahasranama Stotram).
हरिः - स्मृति मात्रेण पुंसां पापं संसारं वा हरतीति।
He removes the sins and ignorance that is the cause of the cycle of
repeated birth and death just by being thought of. But the word Hari
also means a lion. So, some ascribe this meaning to the name Hari and also
add that the form of the Lord available in Vaikunta is that of Narasimha only.
Nrisimhapurvatapaniya
Upanishad talks about meditating on the Lord. It advises one to meditate on the
form of Narasimha as reclining on the snake-bed of Adisesha in the ocean of milk.
क्षीरोदार्णवशायिनं नृकेसरिं योगिवदासीनं शेषभोगमूर्धावृतम्।
Sri Sankaracharya repeats this idea in the opening verse of his LakShminrisimha
Stotram and addresses Lord Narasimha as श्रीमत्पयोनिधिनिकेतन = One
who has the ocean of milk as His residence and
भोगीन्द्रभोगमणिराजितपुण्यमूर्ते = whose form is shining with the light
emanating from the gems in the hoods of the serpant king Adisesha. He opines
that the same NArasimha came down and appeared from a pillar in order to remove
the sufferings of His devotee Prahlada. In the tenth verse of the same
Stotra he addresses the Lord as प्रह्लादखेदपरिहारपरावतार।
In keeping with this thought, a Tamil saint - Nammalvar, in one of his verses,
had praised the Lord Narasimha and said that his heart yearns to go to
Vaikuntam to have His darsan .
The Vishnu Sahasranama Stotram (VS) refers to Narasimha more than once.
नारसिम्हवपुः VS(21), सिंहः VS(488), वीरहा VS(741) and
सर्वप्रहरणायुधः VS(1000) are examples.
अहोबिलं नारसिंहं गत्वा रामः प्रतापवान् ।
नमस्कृत्वा श्रीनृसिंह-मस्तौषीत् कमलापतिम् ॥
गोविन्द केशव जनार्दन वासुदेव विश्वेश विश्व मधुसूदन विश्वरूप ।
श्रीपद्मनाभ पुरुषोत्तम पुष्कराक्ष नारायणाच्युत नृसिंह नमो नमस्ते ॥ १॥
देवाः समस्ताः खलु योगिमुख्याः गन्धर्व-विद्याधर-किन्नराश्च ।
यत्पादमूलं सततं नमन्ति तं नारसिंहं शरणं गतोऽस्मि ॥ २॥
वेदान् समस्तान् खलु शास्त्रगर्भान् विद्यां बलं कीर्तिमतीं च लक्ष्मीम् ।
यस्य प्रसादात् पुरुषा लभन्ते तं नारसिंहं शरणं गतोऽस्मि ॥ ३॥
ब्रह्मा शिवस्त्वं पुरुषोत्तमश्च नारायणोऽसौ मरुतां पतिश्च ।
चन्द्रार्कवाय्वग्निमरुद्गणाश्च त्वमेव तं त्वां सततं नतोऽस्मि ॥ ४॥
स्वप्नेऽपि नित्यं जगतामशेषं स्रष्टा च हन्ता विभुरप्रमेयः ।
त्राता त्वमेकस्त्रिविधो विभिन्नः तं त्वां नृसिंहं सततं नतोऽस्मि ॥ ५॥
इति स्तुत्वा रघुश्रेष्ठः पूजयामास तं हरिम् ।
पुष्पवृष्टिः पपाताशु तस्य देवस्य मूर्धनि ॥
साधु साध्विति तं प्रोचुः देवा ऋषिगणैः सह ॥ ६॥
देवाः:-
राघवेण कृतं स्तोत्रं पञ्चामृतमनुत्तमम् ।
पठन्ति ये द्विजवराः तेषां स्वर्गस्तु शाश्वतः ॥ ७॥
॥ ॐ तत्सत्॥
Endoded and proofread by N. Balasubramanian bbalu@satyam.net.in