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I would like to tell you a little story. Long ago, there was a king named Hiraṇyakaśipu. He went to the forest to perform austerity—tapasyā, sādhanā—to ask God to make him immortal. He underwent hard training, standing on his toes and performing many other disciplines. Finally, God appeared and asked him what he wished. Hiraṇyakaśipu said, "I wish to be ever young and immortal, ever living. My body should not become ill, I should not get old, and I should not die." God said, "Well, this is against the natural law and against the cosmic law." Hiraṇyakaśipu insisted, "But I want to have this." God replied, "That's not possible." The king then said, "Okay, then give me something I can hold on to, so that I cannot die." God asked, "How do you imagine this?" The king began to list his conditions: "Lord, bless me that I will not die in my house, and I will not die outside of my house. No weapons should be the cause of my death. No elements should be the cause of my death. Humans should not be the cause of my death, nor should any animals be the cause of my death. Naturally, death should not attack me, and illness should not be the cause of my death." God said, "Fulfilled, I bless you." Now that man became like a god himself. He thought, "No animals can kill me, neither mosquitoes, nor bacteria, nothing. No creatures and humans also not. I will not die. Yes, one more: I should not die at day times and nor in the night. Not in the house, not outside of the house." A clever man, no? But God always finds a way. Hiraṇyakaśipu returned to his kingdom and announced there is no God. Anyone who would believe in God or say the name of God would be punished, burned in the fire. He was angry because God didn't make him immortal, but he knew now no one could kill him. In the whole kingdom, there was to be no believing, no ceremonies, no temples, nothing. He didn't trust his soldiers, so sometimes he would go himself from village to village to see if people were making ceremonies or praying or singing the name of God. One day, he was riding on horseback through the villages at sunset when he saw a big fire burning. He went near and saw an elderly woman sitting there, singing the name of God. He listened carefully. She was praying, "O Lord, be merciful to me, now protect my life, my life should not go in vain." He got off his horse and stood in front of her. She saw him and asked, "Are you?" He said, "Yes, I am the king. I will put you in this fire, lady. Why did you remember God's name? What do you need? I will give you everything you need. Why? Where was the necessity that you sing the name of God? Punishment." Before calling his soldiers to put her in the fire, he asked her the reason why she prayed to God. She thought, now is the time to say the truth. She said, "King, I am a potter making clay pots, these big drinking water pots. I made my pots and dried them. Now it is the time to burn them in the fire so they will become waterproof. What happened? I have this one cat. You see, the cat is meowing round and round. Day before yesterday, she gave birth to five kittens, and they are in that pot. Mistakenly, I put that pot inside. All the pots are inside, and now there is fire there. The cat is meowing. I know that I am the guilty one. I did the sin. I put that pot. I pray to God for forgiveness and to protect them." The king said, "How could you imagine such a big fire burning? It will last more than 48 hours. No God can protect this. But I will sit here. If the kittens remain alive, I will forgive you. Otherwise, you will be the next one to be burned in the fire." His army sat there, and the woman prayed more from the heart. When we come to troubles, then we pray to God more. When we don't have troubles and are a little happy, then we blame God and find the mistakes of God. So she was praying, "God, help me, help me, ... help me." After 48 hours, the king led his soldiers to take out the pots one after the other to check for dead, burned kittens. They took about 50 pots away, then 80 pots away. Then they came to the middle. In the middle of all these pots, two pots were facing each other, totally unburned. These little kittens were jumping from one pot to the other. Can you imagine the happiness of that lady? Double happiness. First, the babies were saved from the cat. Second, her own life was saved. The king said, "I don't understand. You go, but don't remember God anymore. First and last time, I forgive you." The king had one son, and his son was a very great devotee of God. The first word he spoke was "Oṃ." Whatever he spoke was about God, and his father was so nervous and angry. He sent him to nursery school, kindergarten, and told the teacher, "Teach him my name, not God's name." But this child was singing the name of God all the time; all the children were singing and coming home while singing the name of God: "Hari Oṃ Tat Sat, Hari Oṃ Tat Sat, Hari Oṃ Tat Sat. Hari Oṃ Tat Sat, Japā Kar, Japā Kar, Yahī Mantra Mahā, Hari Oṃ Tat Sat." Repeat this; it is a Mahā Mantra: "Hari Oṃ." Hari is Oṃ, Oṃ is God, and God is Oṃ; that is the truth. The father decided to send him to another school, but the boy taught mantras and God's name to all his school children; they came home and did nothing but chant mantras. The father got angry. The boy was growing. Indirectly, he told his soldiers, "Go and throw this boy in the lake where there are crocodiles." There were many hungry crocodiles, and they put him there. What happened? He walked on the water, and a lotus flower came up where his foot was. He sang, "Hari Oṃ Tat Sat, Hari Oṃ Tat Sat, Japākar, Japākar, Hari Oṃ Tat Sat." Then the king sent the child to be left alone where the wild elephants are. They left him behind among the wild elephants. He came home while singing. Then he sent his soldiers to put him on the peak of a mountain, somewhere on a hill, where he couldn't walk down and would fall and die. He came back happily. He hauled one tree; the tree broke down; there was another tree; he hauled that tree, and like this, he landed on the ground like a monkey, going from tree to tree. The father decided to kill him now himself. So, in his yard, he made one iron pillar with a thick iron plate, a nice pillar, and he put coal inside and fire. When the coal began to burn and become red, the whole iron pillar was red. The father was sitting about twenty-five meters away because of the strong heat. He called his son and said, "Come here, my son. You see, my child, it's not good to repeat the name of God. I am against it. You should forget it. If you do, then I will kill you. Either give up or go and hug the pillar. Then I will see what your God is. If you don't do this, I will chop your head off." The son, whose name was Prahlāda, said, "Better to die in the fire than be killed by such a devil." He said to his father, "My God." The father got angry and said, "Go hug the pillar." There is another story about that pillar: that king had one sister, and her name was Holikā. Holikā had a siddhi, a supernatural power, that she could sit in the fire, she could bathe in the fire, but not even one hair of her body would burn. Fire wouldn't burn her. So he also told her to take her nephew on her lap and sit in the fire. What happened? She burned, and he remained. So this is the day where she will be burned, and he will remain alive. The bhakta, the devotee of God, will remain alive. And she, who had a siddhi—fire couldn't burn her at all—on that day, the fire burned her. That's called Holī. Now, the further story continues. As Prahlāda approached the pillar, and he was about five meters near, three meters near, he felt such a strong heat, and he had a little doubt, thinking perhaps he would die in that minute. What happened? He saw on this hot iron pillar, ants were moving, little ants. Again he got confidence: if the ants will not die and burn on this hot pillar, how will I burn? So he said, "Oṃ Tat Sat, Hari Oṃ," and he ran to hug the pillar, and the pillar broke in two parts. Out of the pillar came one form, and he hugged that form. One form came out, a living creature, from the navel. Above was a lion, and from the navel down was a human. He took the child in his hand and said, "My child, you had to go through so many difficulties." That minute, Hiraṇyakaśipu, who was looking, holding his chair, began trembling; he knew what was going to happen. He stood up and wanted to run into the house. But the form was Narasiṃha. Nara means human, and Siṃha is a lion: the Narasiṃha Avatāra. He got up and caught the king at the door. Half his body was inside the house and half out. He sat on his chest and said, "King, open your eyes. Look, are you inside or outside of your house?" The king said, "No, neither outside." Narasiṃha asked, "Look, in the day or the night?" It was just sunset. "Look at me; am I a human or an animal?" The king said, "I can't tell, decide. You are half animal and half human, so neither human nor animal. And now look here. What do you call it? Claws. Are these any weapons? Say no." All promises were fulfilled. Now your death is here, and he killed him. That was the holy incarnation that's called Narasiṃhāvatāra. Recording location: Australia, Sydney, Australian Tour