The Beauty and the Beast.
Not that one can tell which one of them is which. The half-lion form surely surprises Chenchita but the unsaid attachment she has to him troubles her. The far she wishes to go, the closer she seems to getting.
"He is Srim...
On the fifty-second day, Prahlada had very well depicted that he was very dedicated to performing penance.
Every day, at Sri Yogananda Narasimha temple, the King would arrive to listen to the great sages talking about Vedas and Narayana. The boy King spent long years hearing the great discourses given by his grandfather, Maharishi Kashyap, about Narayana. The one who had, at a very young age, become deeply attached to Sri Hari had begun to arrive at the stage of vairagya when he was reaching old age.
After handing over his kingdom to his son, Virochana, Prahlada arrived at the small temple of Chenchita to seek her permission to reside in the hills. He spent 52 days trying to convince Sri Yogananda Narasimha that he was dedicated to the idea of penance.
Chenchita, on the 52nd day, decided that he had really become ready for it. She met him at the foothills of Ahobilam where Prahlada stayed. Prahlada become ecstatic seeing her. "Have you come for me, Amma?" He asked.
She saw him and felt a deep emotion of motherhood fill her. The boy she knew was so young. A boy who became a King. He had now begun to seem old. His hair had begun to turn grey and his long beard had grey streaks too. His feet were cracking with the absence of footwear and trekking up and down the hill every day. He even was using a walking cane to help him. Wrinkles formed on his skin reminding her that while she was nitya kishori, everyone else grew older.
Her parents, Sagara and Taranga, had fulfilled the curse and returned as Ksheera Samudra and Tarangini Devi.
Prahlada took a few moments before he could properly offer her a shashtanga namaskara. When he stood up again, slowly, she smiled at him and placed her hand over his head. He happily pressed the two hands of Jagadamba over his eyes. He looked at soft hands and chuckled.
"I wonder how your hands have not become as course as the hard skin of the Mrugahari while serving and doing his sringaara." He said. She just smiled at him. "I know you think that this son of yours has grown very old and he may not be able to trek up the hill all by himself but I'll have you know, Amma, that I can very well climb up the hill."
He started walking ahead uphill to prove her.
"I do the yoga every day that your swami taught me. It allows me to have a very good physical form to move uphill and downhill." He added while walking on.
Chenchita followed behind him. "Well, then, at least as an appreciation for coming downhill just for you, would you sing for me as we climb up the hill?" She asked him.
Prahlada chuckled and began to sing a song praising Narayana. It was so pleasant to him to sing praises of Narayana.
"Ee prapanchamulo nenu okkadine goppani anukunti.... Ee prapanchamula nenu okkadine goppani anukunti.... o rakshendra, chudara raati ni matram me antam chesitivi.... etu Hari ledu ani anukuntavi... Samstham ee Hari ani chuduta koti janmula teesitivi" The songs made Hiranyakashyapu so angry that he ordered the soldiers to push him off the cliff.
He walked over the same path ahead toward the cliff, followed by the soldiers behind him. It seemed as if the birds cooed in rhythm to his songs. A koel landed on the tiny shoulder and sang along until the soldiers shooed away the bird.
She watched him walk up the same path ahead toward Vedadri, singing similar songs about Hari.
His voice was extremely beautiful, the pleasure that he felt singing the praises of Sri Narasimha. It was surely hard for him walk at the stage of life but while singing greatness of Narayana, he almost couldn't think of anything else. He didn't think about tiredness.
Chenchita felt absolutely happiness hearing it. His love for Narayana touched her.
While he was singing, his throat was troubled and he coughed a little. It irritated him when the voice didn't come out. Chenchita sang the prose for him.
Her sweet voice resounded through the whole hills. As if they reverberated all over the place and echoed it back.
Prahlada looked back at her. For a moment he just stared at her and then smiled brightly.
"Naa Swami anandame anandam, bhagyalu icche thalli ke bhagyamu ayyinadu..." He sang chuckled and praising Narasimha that he had the world's most beautiful woman as his Queen.
Narasimha opened his eyes from his meditation. Then heard Chenchita singing along with Prahlada singing. The demon-devotee of his almost began crying in happiness.
Prahlada sighed as his legs gave up. Seeing the goddess before he offered her a namaskaram.
"Ledu le ee dehaaniki ninnu chende shakti... Narayana..." He sang looking at the hills where Narasimha stayed, "Daachukole ee pradakshina... Vibhuni raani unnadi kada ne gundallalo... Daachukole ee namaskaramu..." He sang and performed pradakshina to Chenchita.
To his surprise, he saw Narayana emerge out of her.
"Ask for any boon you wish for. I would give it to you." Narasimha told him.
He chuckled. "Have I not passed all your tests yet, swaami?" He asked. Narasimha chuckled.
"This is not a test. I am extremely pleased with you, so I wish to you offer anything you want."
"I never wish for anything other than you, swaami. If you really wish to offer me anything then I want you to appear at a place I wish and then allow me to offer your Pooja every day. Give me the fortune to build you a temple." He asked.
Narasimha smiled at him. "Tathastu..." He blessed Prahlada. He whispered the mantra in Prahlada's ears for him to perform a penance.
Prahlada travelled a long distance away from the forests of Nallamala to a place close by to the Kingdom ruled by his son.
Closer to the coast, Prahlada was confident that it would be a great place for his penance. He remembered the years when Samudra would very often meet at the coast with him and ask him about the beloved daughter. So, Prahlada assumed that if the beloved consort of Narasimha had moved closer by to the coast, even Samudra would become happy.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Translations:-
Ee prapanchamulo nenu okkadine goppani anukunti.... Ee prapanchamula nenu okkadine goppani anukunti.... o rakshendra, chudara raati ni matramme antam chesitivi.... etu Hari ledu ani anukuntavi... Samstham ee Hari ani chuduta koti janmula teesitivi
I am the only great one in this world is what you think, King of Rakshasas. See that you have only destroyed the stone. Where do you think Hari is absent from. You take thousands of births to see that this entire creation is Hari
Naa Swami anandame anandam, bhagyalu icche thalli ke bhagyamu ayyinadu...
My lord's happiness is the true happiness because he has become the husband to those who gives long lives to her devotees' husbands.
Ledu le ee dehaaniki ninnu chende shakti... Narayana...
This body no longer has the energy to reach you, Narayana
Daachukole ee pradakshina... Vibhuni raani unnadi kada ne gundallalo... Daachukole ee namaskaramu...
You take this pradakshina. Isn't Mahalakshmi within your heart? Accept this as my respects.
