Book Review:
Sri Narasimha
by
Paramananda das
Reviewed
by Lori Erbs, MLS
366 pages, Lulu 2020
This is a fascinating compilation of prayers, mantras, scriptural accounts, illustrations, as well as descriptions about sacred sites of India and authoritative commentaries on Narasimha, the half-man, half-lion incarnation of God. Various spiritual camps offer diverse depictions of God, ranging from an old man cloaked in gray robes to the White Light or a blue cowherd boy.The Vaishnava or bhakti yoga tradition offers an astounding narrative of God assuming the form of a ferocious divine man-lion personality in order to protect His devotees from demoniac forces.
He is a boy playing in the forest. He is a king exiled in the forest. He is a deva in the world of the devas. He is a lion with a glorious mane and razor claws….Who can place limits on the prince of Vraja? Who can stop Him from being a sage, or a fish, or a turtle, or a lion, or a formless blaze of light?...O Lord Nrsimha, please cut, cut, cut, cut the ropes of passion and ignorance that bind me to this world of birth and death.
Next are 108 and 1000 names of Narasimha, followed by mantras for protection from the Upanisads and Puranas, including the famous Sri Nrisimha Kavacha of Prahlada from the Brahmanda Purana. Significant emphasis is given to the teachings of Lord Chaitanya in relation to Lord Narasimha and his devotee, Prahlada, as well as pastimes associated with Chaitanya’s pilgrimage to holy places such as Jiyada-nrsimha and Ahovalam (where Narasimha emerged from a pillar). Of special interest are detailed descriptions of the temples at Ahovalam. Amazing stories from the Laxmi Narasimha temple at Mangala Giri in Andhra Predesh are also shared.
Commentaries by Srila Rupa and Sanatan Goswamis accentuate the deep devotion inherent in the child-saint Prahlada, while selections from Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Navadvipa Bhava Taranga reveal the causeless grace of Lord Narasimha to not only protect His followers from danger but to remove negative propensities:
Within my sinful heart the six enemies headed by lust perpetually reside, as well as duplicity, the desire for fame, plus sheer cunning. At the lotus feet of Lord Narasimha, I hope that He will mercifully purify my heart and give me the desire to serve Lord Krishna.
Paramananda concludes with highlights about Prahlada from the Vishnu Purana and quotes by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada concerning the importance of Sri Narasimha in protecting the missionary movement of Lord Chaitanya. He also addresses misconceptions that worship of Sri Narasimha might somehow jinx exclusive devotion to Radha-Krishna, clarifying that Narasimha can greatly assist in purifying souls so they may progress to higher realizations in Vraja Bhakti. Despite occasional typos and grammatical blips, this is an intriguing publication that will not only greatly enhance an understanding of Lord Narasimha but also advance comprehension of God’s complex network of expansions.
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Book Review:
Aindra: Kirtan
Revolution
by
Kalachandji das
Reviewed
by Lori Erbs, MLS
419 pages, ISBN: 978-0-9995419-I-3
419 pages, ISBN: 978-0-9995419-I-3
Inword
Publishers, 2022
This
compelling biography portrays
the swift transformation of Eddie Striker into a contemporary bhakti
yogi and
kirtan artist christened Aindra dasa. Seeking spiritual inspiration
amidst the
American cultural revolution of the seventies, Eddie met the Hare
Krishna
devotees and quickly assimilated into their effusive lifestyle of
street
chanting, colorful festivals, distribution of literature and sacred
vegetarian
food. He received formal initiation in January 1974 from His Divine
Grace A.C.
Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada into the International Society for
Krishna
Consciousness (ISKCON), in direct lineage from the Gaudiya Vaishnava
Sampradaya. Early in his pursuit of philosophical enlightenment he was
seeking
the highest expression of perfection and truth, at times boldly
challenging the
fledgling ISKCON to adhere to the original teachings of its founder,
Srila
Prabhupada.
By
the turn of the decade, Aindra
navigated his way to Vrindavan, India, a sacred village described by
his guru
as a place where:
“The
trees of that land are all
desire trees: you can have anything you want from any tree. The land is
made of
touchstone and the water is nectar. In that land all speech is song,
all
walking is dancing, and the constant companion is the flute.”
He
joined the ISKCON sanctuary in
Vrindavan and began serving the deities as a pujari, or priest,
spending free
time in the temple room chanting and playing mridanga, a traditional
drum used
in Vaishnava circles. He was surprised that the 24-hour kirtan, which
Srila
Prabhupada had ordained as a vital element of this shrine, had ceased.
After a
few months he decided to return to America and launch an innovative
traveling
festival so as to share such divine culture with others. By Spring 1983
he’d
established regular daily kirtan performances at Rockefeller Plaza,
Times
Square and Bryant Park (behind the New York City Public Library), and
convinced
an ISKCON leader to loan money for a down payment on a truck. After
months of
painstaking and overtime labor this masterpiece was unveiled before his
superiors:
“On
the outside, the vehicle appeared
to be just a basic white truck, but the two side doors opened to an
ornate
temple room, with golden pillars supporting North-Indian-style arches
constructed with polyurethane, backdropped by red curtains reaching
down to a
black-and-white checkered floor. The ceiling was draped with beautiful
Indian
cloth and held a pair of crystal chandeliers….Early every morning,
before rush
hour traffic began, the white truck would pull up to a sidewalk and
Aindra, in
saffron robes, would emerge from the driver’s door and fill the parking
meter
with coins. The two side doors would swing open, clouds of incense
would billow
out while exotic Indian shenai ragas
resounded from a Peavy sound-system…”
<>Each
day Aindra and his five-man
musical ensemble would chant the Hare Krishna mantra from the mobile
temple for
eight to twelve hours, stopping to chat with and sharing food that had
been
blessed with onlookers. Finally, in Spring
1986, after enduring excessive organizational politics and what he
perceived as
a watering-down of the Krishna conscious discipline, Aindra decided to
return
to Vrindavan.
He
resumed his eight-hour daily
kirtan at the ISKCON temple in Vrindavan (also known as Vraja), with
only a few
devotees joining him at first. On October 12, 1986, after hearing of a
dream by
an elderly local temple authority in which Srila Prabhupada was crying
and
asking why there was not 24-hour kirtan any more, Aindra re-initiated
24-hour
kirtan at the Vrindavan ISKCON temple. Bhurijana (a senior devotee and
teacher)
explained:
“Aindra’s
kirtan became a trademark
for the temple—and Krishna-Balarama was one of the only temples in
Vraja where
kirtan went on continuously. And then…the temple became famous
throughout
India….everyone would dance and chant, and it had such an extreme
effect.”
Organizing
and maintaining constant
kirtan at this temple involved not only recruiting and training Krishna
monks
or Vrindavan residents in the art of chanting the holy names of God,
but also
fundraising, providing shelter and spiritual guidance for his team. He
made a
vow to never leave Vrindavan, even during the extremely hot summer
season,
voluntarily accepting the harsh life of a renounced ascetic in a
habitat that
afforded few material comforts. Aindra advised his followers:
“…one
can cultivate the mood of
Vraja-bhakti, which basically means pure unalloyed exclusive selfless
devotional service which is exclusively dedicated to the pleasure of
Radha and
Krishna…that’s what Prabhupada is trying to teach, train us up from the
very
beginning.”
Aindra
not only offered exceptional pujari
service to the deities of Radha-Shyamasundara at the temple, but taught
others
the intricacies of such exalted devotional dealings. His lifelong quest
for
deeper internal realizations led him to meet with and inquire about his
eternal
relationship with Krishna from Bhaktivedanta Narayana Maharaja:
“…Maharaja
replied that he could
reveal the desired information but that Aindra would first have to
accept his
shelter. ‘I refused him,’ Aindra later told a few of his closest
associates….‘I
said that I already had a spiritual master.’”
Aindra
stressed to friends and students
that one did not have to go outside ISKCON for revelation or higher
esoteric
knowledge of bhakti, that Srila Prabhupada had already provided a solid
foundation for attaining perfection and was still available to his
disciples
and followers, through ISKCON society, Prabhupada’s books, teachings
and
transcendental presence.
Eventually,
financial pressure to
maintain the 24-hour kirtan motivated Aindra to record and sell
cassette tapes
of his kirtans, including the famous Vrindavan
Mellows album, which became an overnight sensation around the globe.
“In
1999 Aindra released Vraja
Vilasa, a double CD, which…conveyed the vibrancy…of his live festival
kirtans….The recordings were at the forefront of a developing worldwide
kirtan
culture—a progressive, even revolutionary, movement that was bringing
back an
enthusiasm…for the kind of nama-sankirtana
[chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra] that had marked the early days of
ISKCON.”
Although
constantly absorbed in
chanting the holy names of God and attending to external and internal
care of
the deity forms of God, Aindra still pushed himself and others to
engage in
intense menial labor such as cleaning and renovating the restrooms and
courtyards of the temple ashram. Seekers would flock to hear him
perform at the
Vrindavan temple kirtan and some begged for initiation, but he did not
feel
himself qualified to become a guru.
In
2002 Aindra had a series of
dreams in which Srila Prabhupada asked him to write a manuscript about
book
distribution. As with other projects he immersed himself completely in
this
endeavor, entitling it The Heart of
Transcendental Book Distribution. Far surpassing the basic tactics of
marketing books and bhakti outreach, this work capsulized Aindra’s
realizations
about reawakening one’s spiritual identity, the actual mission of
ISKCON and
flaws therein.
At
the 2009 observance of Srila
Prabhupada’s disappearance anniversary, Aindra, the last devotee to
speak
before the Vrindavan temple assembly, revealed the full extent of his
radical
nature:
“To
hell with toeing the party line!
To
hell with the institutionalism of
the institutionalists!
…To
hell with being a Hare Krishna
yes-man!
…I
say to hell with the Hindu cash
cow!”
Aindra
continued his unabashed
critique of ISKCON, exceeding his time limit for speaking and shocking
his
audience. After leaving the temple to return to his quarters the Master
of
Ceremonies knocked on his door to inform him that the authorities did
not wish
for him to lead kirtan that evening—the first time in over twenty years
that
Aindra would not be chanting in Srila Prabhupada’s room on his
disappearance
day. The leaders demanded an immediate apology, which he delivered the
next morning
before the devotees. However, they were not satisfied with his
explanation; they
thought he should have admitted he was wrong for what he said and the
way he
expressed his emotions, but Aindra refused to retract his statements,
asserting
that he “only spoke the truth.” From then on, Aindra faced constant
threats of
expulsion from the temple and censorship of his controversial book,
which had
not yet been released. Although withdrawing into a cloistered ring of
trusted
friends, he still continued the 24-hour kirtan, but began to
contemplate his
death:
“‘I
don’t really want to stay in this
world anymore,’ he told Mukunda Datta.
‘I
want to die in Vrindavan,’ he told
Giridhari and Ati Sundari. ‘In the hottest heat of the summer, when
there is no
one around, at the feet of my Nitai saci-suta, and all alone with no
one to
bother me…’”
On
the evening of July 15, 2010
devotees heard an explosion outside near the Vrindavan temple gurukula
and
others noticed smoke coming out of the pipe from Aindra’s back window.
They
knocked on his door, but he didn’t answer and his DO NOT DISTURB sign
was in
place. When he didn’t arrive the next morning at the temple to dress
the
deities they broke open the door to his room, thickly permeated with
gas and
blackened from a scorching fire. Aindra’s dead burnt body was
prostrated before
his Nitai saci-suta deities, somehow fulfilling his desire to leave
this world
as previously articulated.
Although
including his personal dealings with Aindra, Kalachandji das presents
this
narrative in a flowing, transparent manner that reveals the heart of a
unique
kirtan revolutionary, who surrendered blood, sweat and tears to
cultivate the
chanting program in Vrindavan and around the planet via his recordings.
A saint
of such caliber is a rare find in this age: an ordinary American whose
devout
spark was ignited into a flame and subsequent firestorm that detonated
bhakti
fervor and blazed trails of principles and integrity for generations
into the
future.