BG 7.29

Nalla malai range is believed to be Serpent Adisesha. Its hood is Thiruvenkatam [Thirumala], Ahobilam is its body and tail is Srichailam, says Purana. With Adisesha spreading its hood over His head, Sri Malola is gracing. Earlier we saw Sri Jwala Narasimha, with cave like wide opened mouth and tongue like the flames of fire, and from there we have come down. Here with all anger vanished the Lord is gracing with Sri Mahalakshmi Thayar on His left lap. While the left arm is embracing the Sri Thayar, right arm is assuaging the fears of devotees and guaranteeing protection. Upper two arms are holding the Sudarshana and Panchajanya. The Lord is called Sri Malola. Ma means Mother, that is Sri Mahalakshmi Thayar, lola means playing wth Her. It shows the unique intimacy between them. In the pasuram nallainenje naam thozhudum, Thirumangai Alwar says Allimadhar pulgi ninra aayiram tholudaya [அல்லி மாதர் புல்கி நின்ற ஆயிரம் தொளுடைய ], that is Sri Mahalakshmi is embracing the Lord from His left. Alwar pats his mind, which is after the Lord as Sri Malola. The Lord graces with a smile and blessing Prahalada. In Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam, two divine names come together - Narasimhavapu and Sriman. Narasimha vapu [नारसिम्ह वपु] means body of lion and man. Sriman [श्रीमान] means Husband of Sri or Sri Mahalakshmi Thayar. So the Lord Sri Narasimha is the Husband of Sri Thayar. Another way to interpret it is, Sriman means owner of Wealth and so Sri Narasimha is the owner of wealth, which is His great image. How such a fearful looking Sri Jwala Narasimha, has calmed down and looks amenable here? It is all because of the prayer of Prahalada. Nammalwar says azhagiyaan thane arivuruvam thane [அழகியான் தானே, அரி உருவம் தானே]. When we go with bhakti like Prahalada, this Lion looks very beautiful. Here we see the Moolavar. Utsava moorthy of this Lord is accompanied by Srimad Azhagiyasingar, pontiff of Sri Ahobila mutt and He graces all by touring all over the country. In circa 1378, some 600 years back, Swami Srinivasacharya was born. He was the son of Kidambi Kesavacharya. They were in Melkote, near Mysore. Srinivasacharya went to Kanchipuram and learnt all scriptures from Swami Gadikasatham Ammal. When he was 20 years old, he was commanded by Lord Sri Narasimha to come to Ahobilam. The Lord in the guise of an elderly Brahmin, administered mantras and made Srinivasacharya a sanyasi [ascetic]. He was christened as Sri Satakopa yathi. This is the title with which all Azhagiya singars are decorated. At that time the Utsava moorthy of Sri Malola, sprang up and reached the hands of this sanyasi and commanded that He should be carried to all places to bless the devotees [sancharam]. We will now see the 23rd sloka:

antavat tu phalam tesam
tad bhavaty alpa-medhasam
devan deva-yajo yanti
mad-bhakta yanti mam api

"Men of small intelligence worship the demigods, and their fruits are limited and temporary. Those who worship the demigods go to the planets of the demigods, but My devotees ultimately reach My supreme planet."

Arjuna asks. Suppose one prays Varuna for rains and it is granted. Another prays Sri Krishna for rains and he also gets it. What is the difference between the results of both prayers? Sri Krishna tells that there is a great difference in the same result obtained by praying gods and Him. The results obtained by praying to gods suffers from two defects. One, they can grant only inferior rewards. They can never grant Moksham, the most superior reward. Secondly, they grant rewards by sheer delegation of powers by the Lord and such rewards are not given independently by them. Whereas when Sri Krishna grants, it is by His independent nature and none persuades Him to do so. We can make two categories of devotees - intelligent and naive. Those who do not know Sri Krishna and He should be our supreme objective, are all naive or unintelligent group. The intelligent group, though, is aware of His greatness, they seek material and worldly benefits and do not approach Him for serving Him. Slightly better than this group is the category of devotees who seek to serve Him, but they think that they can do it by their own efforts. But the best among all devotees is he, who thinks that serving Him is the reward and He only should accomplish that for him. They neither go to others to seek Him nor seek Him for other rewards. Only His blessings should get their objectives realized and not their efforts. Sri Krishna discards those naive persons. Deva yaja yanti = those who worship other gods reach, devan = those gods [only], mad -bhakta = My [Sri Krishna's] devotees, yanti = reach mam api = only Me [Sri Krishna]. By worshiping these gods, those devotees go to them and after a tenure have to come back. But those worshiping Sri Krishna reach Him in Vaikuntam and never return. His Eight great qualities are bestowed on these devotees. No more samsaram and all associated problems of life. Prahalada prayed the Lord to bestow him everlasting Bhakti in Him. When the Lord wanted to bless Prahalada with reward, Prahalada wanted that he should not seek rewards from Him! Whatever birth he might take, he should never miss the devotion to Him. Praying that Sri Malola's blessings should be showered on all.

SRI MALOLA NARASIMHA