Vishnu and Prahlada
Once upon a time, in a timeless time, long ago- a demon king named Hiranyakashipu stood on his toes for 100 years and was granted a boon from Brahma that he would not die by earth or sky, day or night, man or beast. The demon, believing he of course, out smarted the gods. You see, Brahma is always rewarding the demons for tapas (heat, discipline) because of karma. You do the work, you reap the reward. However, the demons always ask for what the world doesn’t deliver; immortality. You cannot ask for what you cannot have- energy is not created or destroyed, energy simply transforms. We came from the void and we must return back.
After receiving his wish, Hiranyakashipu became extremely violent and was wreaking havoc on all three worlds (waking, dreaming, and dreamlessness). So Vishnu takes the form of Narasimha (nara=human, simha=lion). At dusk, Narasimha stalks Hiranyakashipu, reaches out with his sharp claws, pulls him onto his lap, and bites his head off. Only the demonic blood is so toxic that if Vishnu doesn’t throw up, he will surely die. Parvati, fearing her brothers life, runs to Shiva to ask for help. Shiva becomes the terrifying Sharaveshvara- the head of a lion, the body of dog, and the wings of garuda (he becomes something more-all of the missing, broken and extra pieces put together), and scares the poison out of Vishnu.
Meanwhile Hiranyakashipu’s heir, Prahlada (prince of the demons, but now king) has been performing daily austerities of his own. The gods, fearing the result, want to reward Prahlada so that he will stop doing tapas. To the gods surprise, Prahlada has decided that he doesn’t want to be a demon anymore. He wants to be on team Vishnu and asks Brahma for a boon. All of the other demons follow the actions of their demon king, and the entire world falls into deep samadhi (blissful union). All the living creatures just seem to float around in a daze. The gods suddenly realize that the world has lost all meaningful significance. We need separation of gods and demons. Why? Because otherwise mortals won’t know what a difference a difference makes. Without the dark, we won’t know the meaning of light. Vishnu blows his conch, wakes up Prahlada, and tells him he must be a GOOD demon king; one that opposes the gods. For without the paradox of love and grief, we cannot create meaning.
