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EDITORIAL April 29, 1999 VNN3727 Lord Nasringadeva's Protection BY GAURIDASA PANDITA DASA  EDITORIAL, Apr 29 (VNN) — Lord Nasringadeva is my favorite incarnation of Lord Krishna besides Lord Chaitanya. He is the favorite of most Gurukuli's and many devotees. It's probably because we all need protection and call for it in the times of need. Especially the time of death! Srila Prabhupada always asked the devotees to pray to Lord Nasringadeva when he was sick or when we needed to protect the devotees.On Nasringadeva's appearance day in 1977 I took my Deity of Nasringadeva into Srila Prabhupada's quarters in Vrindavan and set Him up on a table. Srila Prabhupada noticed it and said the Deity was very nice. I used to like to chant mantras on Srila Prabhupada's steps after my services. I would like to chant the Brahma-Samhita and the Nasringa-Kavaca. I heard through the grapevine that Srila Prabhupada heard the chanting sometimes and said he liked it. We also had 24 hour kirtan going on for Srila Prabhupada at that time because he said he was going to leave the planet soon. There were many very good chanters such as Satchitananda Prabhu who would please Srila Prabhupada by their nice chanting. One day in the garden there was no one there to chant so I put down the chamara and sat down in front of Srila Prabhupada and began to chant. I wasn't as good a chanter as Visnujana Swami or others, but Srila Prabhupada wanted chanting so I started. I wondered if it was ok; so I looked at Srila Prabhupada who had his eyes closed. He looked over at me with kind of a puzzled look but then shut his eyes again, so I assumed it was ok to keep chanting. I chanted the Nasringadeva mantras along with the standard chants. I have been to India seven times for a total of three and a half years. 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, Hrishikesh and Ahobelum. Ahobelum is the place where Lord Nasringadeva appeared. I went there with an entourage of about 16 devotees headed by Achutyananda 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 potent. Ahobelum is not reachable by public transportation, so not many devotees have gone there. We traveled in a nice Mercedes bus and thus were able to go to a lot of special places. We arrived in the Holy place in the heat of the summer. At first the Ashram/hotel keeper said we could not stay, but was persuaded by Achutyananda 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 Nasringadeva's prasadam. There are eight temples in a circle situated north, south, east, west and the directions in between. 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 is said to have visited. On the way we could see the cliff where Sri Prahlada Maharaja was thrown off and caught by Krishna. I was weak from the heat etc. and was even thinking of staying back this day. I'm now glad I went! When we arrived at the temple Achutyananda said to wash up in the creek that flowed by the temple before taking darshan of the self-manifested Deity of Lord Sri Nasringadeva. I looked at the water and it was reddish so I didn't want to wash up there thinking that someone must of sacrificed an animal up stream or something. Achutyananda told us that it was red because that's where Nasringadeva washed his nails after killing Hiranyakasipu. It's called Rakta kunda and the water has remained reddish. After putting some of the water on my head I felt like a newborn baby as all of my fatigue disappeared. 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 Nasringadeva is situated. A couple of ghee lamps light the cave and it appeared that heat waves of spiritual energy were coming from the Deity. Lord Chaitanya is said to have passed out in ecstasy there. Just being there was so ecstatic, it was awesome. I didn't want to leave. To see the self-effulgent Deity of Lord Nasringadeva and stand right there where Lord Chaitanya went into ecstatic trance was pretty awesome! It was one of the highlights of my life. All of the austerites of India become worth it at times like those. Each of the eight temples in situated in a different environment. One of the temples is situated in a desert area. The temple is self-manifested. It's a big round blackish rock about 8 feet high that is hollow with a hat like top. Lord Nasringadeva is also self-manifested. He is called Yogananda Nasringa because he is teaching Prahlada 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 Nasringadeva and Prahlada Maharaja. I highly recommend to any devotee that can to go to Ahobelum and experience the awesome atmosphere and kind Vaisnava hospitality that we experienced there. These are the treasures of the Earth; the Holy places of pilgrimage. By visiting this and other Holy places we attained the strength to push on with the Sankirtan Mission. We used to perform Maha Harinama Pandal programs all over South India. Everywhere we went we were well received by the people. We made a lot of life members and devotees and introduced thousands of people to the chanting of the Hare Krsna Mahamantra. Another nice Nasringadeva Deity is at the back of the Sri Rangam Temple. The Gurukula kids gather and chant nice mantras to Him. It is a powerful experience. Lord Nasringadeva certainly protects His devotees. He's helped me alot! Sri Nasringa Jai Nasringa Jai Jai Nasringa!!! Your servant, Gauridasa Pandita Dasa About the Author | Other Stories by this Author Comment on this Story | Contact VNN regarding this Story
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